Southwestward intrusion of the Korea Strait Bottom Cold Water

Abstract

In the trough of western channel of Korea Strait, bottom water temperature is cold in summer but warm in winter in contrast with surface water. The temperature of the Korea Strait bottom cold water is below than 10C. To investigate an intrusion of the bottom cold water from the East Sea to the western channel of Korea Strait, we carried out hydrographic surveys four times, in March and August 2003 and June and November 2004. The results showed that the bottom water colder than 10C appeared except in March 2003. In August 2003 and November 2004, we observed that the bottom cold water flowed to the southwestward with a width of 20 km along the shelf of Korean side and the maximum current speed is about 25 cm/s.