Korea POSEIDON project: Pacific Ocean Study on Environment and Interactions between Deep Ocean and National seas

Abstract

The abnormal changes (such as rising water temperature and sea level) in the marine environment around Korea have been observed. Consequently, the commercial landings of cold water fishes have been decreased but those of warm water fishes have been increased. Tropical species of marine organisms have been frequently found. In 2007, the 4th assessment report of the Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change confirmed that global and local climate and environmental changes are currently occurred due to global warming caused by increased CO2 level in the atmosphere. Therefore, this project is conducted to understand how the climate and marine environment around Korea have been and will be affected by the long- and short-term climatic and environmental variations of Northwest Pacific Ocean such as El Niño/La Niña, Pacific Decadal Oscillation, etc. Eventually, the results of this project will be used by the policy makers to minimize not only the impact of the climate changes on the marine resources and environment but also the damage on the properties and lives from natural disasters caused by the global climate changes in the future. This project (2006∼2015) is sub-divided into three different research stages. Currently, the first stage (2006∼2008) is in progress. During the first stage, the research mainly focuses on the understanding of the physical, chemical, and biological properties of the seas around Korea and Northwest Pacific Ocean through the field research surveys. The surveys are conducted in the extensive regions of Northwest Pacific Ocean from Warm Pool region to the Southeast China Sea and the South Sea of Korea which is chosen based on the trajectory of Kuroshio current. Other ongoing study is the reconstruction of the paleoclimatic and paleo-ocenographic records using the coral reefs and sediment cores that could be used to predict the future climatic and environmental changes.