Using particle tracking modeling and satellite data, the origin and pathway of the floating Sargassum reaching southwestern part of Korea were investigated. The origin of Sargassum was estimated not only to the Zhejiang coast of the East China Sea (ECS), but also to the northern coast of the Yellow Sea (YS), which was previously unknown. In particularly, the particles of the northern coast of the YS origin showed two paths that reached Jeju Island and the southwestern part of the Korean Peninsula due to the influence of monsoon and coastal currents in winter, or moved to the ECS and reached by southerly wind in spring. The time of reaching the coast of the Korean peninsula, which varies from year to year, was greatly influenced by anomalous westerly wind in last December. In addition, the anomalous wind field from January to March also determined Sargassum distribution in spring. In relation to the growth of Sargassum, the influence of temperature and the supply of nutrients of human origin released to the coast of China were important. During the period of 2010–2020, the trend of surface temperature on the coast of China and the ECS was about 10 times higher than that of the past 30 years, and 5–6 times the global surface average. This indicates that accelerated algae growth and warming of coastal and sea areas are related, and continuous monitoring is necessary.

Primary Presenter: YOUNG GYU PARK, Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology (ypark@kiost.ac.kr)

Authors:

Seongbong Seo, Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology   ()

Jin Hwan Hwang, Seoul National University  (jinhwang@snu.ac.kr)