In this work, the present concentration levels of total gaseous mercury (TGM) are compared among three East Asian countries, Korea, China, and Japan. Comparison of Hg distribution patterns was made by selecting representative figures for each type of land use among those three countries. The results of the analysis indicate that Hg concentrations within a country can fall into a wide range due probably to the diversity of source processes. It is seen that the urban areas of China and Japan generally exhibit large spatial variability with notably high Hg levels (above 10 ng m-3), compared to their Korean counterparts. Although the presence of high Hg levels in Chinese locations can be accounted for by the major man-made source processes (e.g., the use of coal), the causes of unexpectedly high Hg data in Japanese sites appear to be rather complicated. The Hg concentration levels in relatively remote locations however show much reduced values, above 3 ng m-3, which is still higher than the typical background concentrations of 1 to 2 ng m-3 in Europe or America. Considering that the presence of unusually high Hg levels in urban areas of Asia is the consequence of man-made activities, the prevalence of excessively high Hg values in certain regions of the Asian continent needs further research to accurately assess the fundamental picture of Hg geochemistry in the East Asia.
The state-of-art third generation wave prediction model WAM was applied to the Korean seas for a winter monsoon period of January 1997. The wind field used in the present study is the global NSCAT-ERS/NCEP blended winds, which was further interpolated using a bi-cubic spline interpolator to fine grid limited area shallow water regime surrounding the Korean seas. To evaluate and investigate the accuracy of WAM, the hindcasted wave heights are compared with observed data from two shallow water buoys off Chil-Bal and Duk-Juk. A detailed study has been carried with the various meteorological parameters in observed buoy data and its inter-dependency on model computed wave fields was also investigated. The RMS error between the observation and model computed wave heights results to 0.489 for Chil-Bal and 0.417 for Duk-Juk. A similar comparison between the observation and interpolated winds off Duk-Juk show RMS error of 2.28 which suggest a good estimate for wave modelling studies.
Temporal and spatial variability of precipitation (P), evaporation (E), and moisture balance (P-E; precipitation minus evaporation) has been investigated over the tropical ocean during the period from January 1998 to July 2001. Our data were analyzed by the EOF method using the satellite P and E observations made by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Precipitation Radar (PR) and the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I). This analysis has been performed for two three-year periods as follow; The first period which includes the El Niño in early 1998 ranges from January 1998 to December 2000, and the second period which includes the La Niño events in the early 1999 and 2000 (without El Niño) ranges from August 1998 to July 2001. The areas of maxima and high variability in the precipitation and in the P-E were displaced from the tropical western Pacific and the ITCZ during the La Niño to the tropical middle Pacific during the El Niño, consistent with those in previous P studies. Their variations near the Korean Peninsula seem to exhibit a weakly positive correlation with that in the tropical Pacific during the El Niño. The evaporation, out of phase with the precipitation, was reduced in the tropical western Pacific due to humid condition in boreal summer, but intensified in the Kuroshio and Gulf currents due to windy condition in winter. The P-E variability was determined mainly by the precipitation of which the variability was more localized but higher by 2-3 times than that of evaporation. Except for the ITCZ (0-10˚N), evaporation was found to dominate precipitation by ∼2 mm/day over the tropical Pacific. Annual and seasonal variations of P, E, and P-E were discussed.
The preliminary results of the study on the physics of rain using disdrometer data are shown for an area located on the northern coastal board of Maceiб, Alagoas (9˚33'17.24' and 35˚46'54.84' W), at approximately 80 meters above the sea level. The data were obtained during January 2002 using a disdrometer RD-69 (Joss-Waldvogel). After definining the criteria for determining rain type (convective and stratiform), a set of Z-R pairs was analyzed for estimating the Z-R relation for each rain type. The results were quite similar to those for other regions of the globe. This preliminary analysis will be used to study the structure of rain with the meteorological radar as well as to permit a better understanding of the physics of tropical rain.
This study is made for examining the characteristics of the lead-zinc deposition from the mineralogy of pyrrhotite at the Yeonhwa 1 Mine, Korea. The pyrrhotite of the Yeonhwa 1 mine is divided two species; the pynhotites I and II. The pyrrhotite I that represents the product in Stage II mineralization is characterized by hexagonal pyrrhotite occurring as the mechanical mixtures of hexagonal and monoclinic phases with various proportion. These mixtures might be formed from 'primary' hexagonal pyrrhotite by the subsequent retrograde reaction and/or by the influence of later mineralization in Stage III. Whereas the pyrrhotite II crystallized out in later Mineralization Stage III (hydrothermal stage) is always monoclinic variant with ferromagnetic properties; no two phase mixtures have been recognized.
In Namyang Bay of western Korea, macrotidal-flat deposits are divisible into three late Quaternary units: Unit M1 of upper marine mud, Unit T1 of middle siderite-bearing terrestrial clay, and Unit M2 of lower marine mud. Unit M1 represents typical Holocene intertidal mudflat deposits, showing a coarsening-upward textural trend. It probably resulted from the continual retrogradation of tidal flat during the mid-to-late Holocene sea-level rise. Reddish brown-color Unit T1 consists of homogeneous clay with abundant freshwater siderite grains and plant remains. Unit T1 is clearly separated from the overlying Unit M1 by a sharp lithologic boundary. Radiocarbon age, siderite grains and lithologic features indicate that Unit T1 is originated from freshwater bog or swamp deposition infilling the localized topographic lows during the early Holocene age. Overlain unconformably by early Holocene swamp clay, Unit M2 is orange to yellow in color and mottled, suggesting significant degree of weathering during the sea-level lowstand. Such subaerial oxidation is confirmed in the vertical profiles of geotechnical properties, clay mineral assemblages and magnetic susceptibility. Unit M2 appears to be correlated with the upper part of the late Pleistocene tidal deposits developed along the western Korean coast. The sedimentary succession of the Namyang-Bay tidal-flat deposit provides stratigraphic information for the Holocene-late Pleistocene unconformity and also permits an assessment of the preservation potential of the late Pleistocene marginal marine deposit along the western coast of Korea.