Development of the Operational Oceanographic System of Korea

Abstract

 The Korea Operational Oceanographic System (KOOS) was developed at the Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology (KIOST) to produce real-time forecasting and simulation of interdisciplinary multi-scale oceanic fields. This offers valuable information to better mitigate coastal disasters, such as oil spills and other marine accidents, and provides the necessary ocean predictions to support the marine activities of government agencies, marine industries, and public users. The KOOS became operational in March 2012, and consists of several operational modules and realtime observations, including satellite remote sensing, coastal remote monitoring stations using high-frequency radar, and ocean observatories. The basic forecasting system includes weather, regional and high-resolution coastal circulation and wave prediction models; the practical application system includes storm surges, oil spills, and search and rescue prediction models. An integrated maritime port prediction system and data information and skill assessment systems are also part of the KOOS. In this work, the performance of the numerical models was evaluated by the skill assessment systems. From the monthly and yearly skill assessments, the models showed reasonable skill in predicting atmospheric and oceanic states except for the regional ocean circulation models. The ongoing development and improvement of the KOOS includes improvement of the model skills through the upgrade of the satellite-based sea surface temperature algorithm, the enhancement of the ocean monitoring ability, the upgrade of the forecasting models for higher spatial resolutions and the application of data assimilation techniques improved with the feedback from the skill assessment report.

Mapping distribution of cysts of recent dinoflagellate and Cochlodinium polykrikoides using next-generation sequencing and morphological approaches in South Sea, Korea

“…Geological characteristics, such as currents along coastlines, and also determine the abundance of cysts 17 . As showing the characteristics of currents along Tongyeong coasts 18 the cysts in Tongyeong coastal area may be introduced by currents. Moreover, Tongyeong area is one of the richest ecosystems and highest primary productivities in the Korean coast 19 , 20 .…”

Submesoscale Surface Tidal, Vortical, and Residual Circulations in a Semienclosed Bay

“…These outputs are comparable to the spatial and temporal resolutions of the observed HFR‐derived surface current maps and provide information on the dynamically consistent regional circulation in a broader spatial context, particularly for subsurface circulation. As a sanity check of the numerical model outputs, in situ temperature and salinity data sampled at the surface of Yeosu Bay are compared with the model outputs and found to be qualitatively consistent (e.g., Ahn, ; Park et al, ). In this paper, the regional tidal and residual circulations, which are inferred from observations, are compared with the results of the numerical simulations run with realistic boundary conditions and driving forces (case ).…”

A Yellow Sea Monitoring Platform and Its Scientific Applications

“…This system consists of various numerical models from atmospheric to oceanic models including Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF), KOOS-OPEM, Coastal KOOS, and a Simulating Waves Nearshore (SWAN) model. The KOOS takes advantage of the observed time series of water temperature, winds, and waves from the KORS for its skill assessment (Park et al, 2015). Intermittent experiments have been conducted near the S-ORS during the annual ship-based surveys by deploying various surface drifts equipped with GPS tracking systems.…”