Eight different data sets are examined in order to gain insight into the surface heat flux traits of the East Asian marginal seas. In the case of solar radiation of the East Sea (Japan Sea), Coordinated Ocean-ice Reference Experiments ver. 2 (CORE2) and the Objectively Analyzed Air-Sea Fluxes (OAFlux) are similar to the observed data at meteorological stations. A combination is sought by averaging these as well as the Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR) and the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP)-1 data to acquire more accurate surface heat flux for the East Asian marginal seas. According to the Combination Data, the annual averages of net heat flux of the East Sea, Yellow Sea, and East China Sea are −61.84, −22.42, and −97.54Wm−2 , respectively. The Kuroshio area to the south of Japan and the southern East Sea were found to have the largest upward annual mean net heat flux during winter, at −460- −300 and at −370- −300Wm−2 , respectively. The long-term fluctuation (1984-2004) of the net heat flux shows a trend of increasing transport of heat from the ocean into the atmosphere throughout the study area.

Introduction
 Data and Methodology
 Characteristics of the Heat Flux ofthe Reanalysis Data
  Annual average
  Comparison of shortwave radiation betweenreanalysis and observed data
  Criteria for selecting heat flux data
 Characteristics ofthe Combination Data
  Annual averages
  Seasonal variations
  Long-term variation trend
  Horizontal heat transport in the East Sea
 Summary and Conclusion
 Appendix
 References

• Jung-Eun Sim(GeoSystem Research Corporation, Gunpo 15807, Korea)
• Hong-Ryeol Shin(Department of Atmospheric Science, Kongju National University, Kongju 32588, Korea) Corresponding author
• Naoki Hirose(Research Institute for Applied Mechanics, Kyushu University, Kasuga 816-0811, Japan)