Ocean Science Journal Online ISSN 2005-7172

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12601-022-00079-7 Print ISSN 1738-5261

ARTICLE

Current Structure and Volume Transport in the Jeju Strait Observed

for a Year with Multiple ADCP Moorings
Chang‑Woong Shin1   · Hong Sik Min1 · Seok Lee1 · Hyoun‑Woo Kang2 · Bonhwa Ku1 · Dong Guk Kim1 ·
Joonseong Park3 · Soonyeol Kwon4 · Byoung‑Ju Choi5

Received: 24 August 2021 / Revised: 4 April 2022 / Accepted: 4 April 2022

© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Korea Institute of Ocean Science & Technology (KIOST) and the Korean Society of Oceanography (KSO) and
Springer Nature B.V. 2022

Abstract
The seasonal and spatial variation of the current structure and volume transport across the Jeju Strait (JS) is described based
on an analysis of the data from five bottom mounted acoustic Doppler current profilers from February 13, 2020 to Febru-
ary 23, 2021. The current was weak and the mixed layer was well developed in winter, so the vertical current shear was
not large. Whereas in summer, the inflow of high-temperature and low-salinity surface water built up the stratification, and
the surface current velocity increased, resulting in a large vertical current shear. One salient feature to be found was that a
westward flowing counter current in the lower layer appeared from June to December near the bottom trough of the JS. We
named this seasonal counter current in the lower layer the Jeju Strait Under Current. The eastward net volume transport
passing through the JS was large in summer–autumn and small in winter-spring, but did not follow a simple sinusoidal pat-
tern. The annual mean net volume transport was 0.48 Sv (Sv ≡ ­106 ­m3 ­s−1), with a minimum (0.27 Sv) in December and a
maximum (0.79 Sv) in October 2020. When there were strong northerly winds in winter, a net volume transport to the west
was temporarily caused by Ekman transport, but the direction reverted to the east as soon as the northerly winds lessened.
When there were strong northwesterly (southeasterly) winds due to typhoons, the volume transport decreased (increased)
sharply and then recovered rapidly.

Keywords  Counter current · Current structure · Ekman transport · Jeju strait · Stratification · Volume transport

1 Introduction width between Wan-do and Woljeong-ri in Jeju, and the

The Jeju Strait (JS) is located between the south coast of
Korea and Jeju (Jeju-do or Jeju Island, also referred to as
Cheju-do in the past) (Fig. 1a). The JS is about 80 km in
* Chang‑Woong Shin
cwshin@kiost.ac.kr
1
Ocean Circulation Research Center, Korea Institute of Ocean
Science and Technology, Busan 49111, Republic of Korea
2
Ocean Climate Prediction Center, Korea Institute of Ocean
Science and Technology, Busan 49111, Republic of Korea
3
Insturment Development and Management Center, Korea
Institute of Ocean Science and Technology, Busan 49111,
Republic of Korea
4
Jeju Marine Research Center, Korea Institute of Ocean
Science and Technology, Jeju 63349, Republic of Korea
5
Department of Oceanography, Chonnam National University,
Gwangju 61186, Republic of Korea
water is on average about 60 m in depth (Fig. 1b). The bot-
tom trough, which is deeper than 100 m, in the JS is closer
to Jeju than the southern coast of Korea and is connected
to the Okinawa Trough to the west of Kyushu. The JS is
located near the border of the Yellow Sea, East China Sea,
and East Sea (or the Sea of Japan), which are marginal seas
in East Asia, and links the East China Sea to the East Sea.
Therefore, to understand the material circulation in the East
Asian marginal seas, it is necessary to know the currents and
estimate the volume transports in the Taiwan Strait, JS, and
Korea Strait (e.g., Teague et al. 2003; Senjyu et al. 2009). In
that sense, the amount of volume transport in the JS is one
piece of the puzzle needed to solve the material circulation
in the East Asian marginal seas. Further, to calculate the
nutrient flux through the JS (e.g., Suk et al. 1996; Chung
et al. 2000) that affects the ecological environment of the
south sea of Korea and the East Sea, the current structure in
the JS needs to be ascertained.

13
Vol.:(0123456789)

Fig. 1  Study area (the black box) in the east Asian marginal seas (a)
and station map (b). The bottom topography was based on ETOPO1
of a one-minute grid (a) and GEBCO_2020 of a 15 arc-second grid
(b). TS, ECS, CJ, YS, KS, and ES indicate the Taiwan Strait, East
China Sea, Changjang River, Yellow Sea, Korea/Tsushima Straits,
and East/Japan Sea, respectively. The TRBM stations for the current
The Jeju Warm Current turns clockwise around the west
of Jeju and passes through the JS; it is formed by an inflow
of seawater that is influenced by Kuroshio water and East
China Sea water (Lie and Cho 2016). In winter, a low-tem-
perature and low-salinity water mass from the southeast of
the Yellow Sea and a relatively high-temperature and high-
salinity water mass from the west of Jeju meet to form a
thermohaline front along an east–west direction to the west
of the JS (Lie 1985; Chang et al. 2000). The relatively high-
temperature and high-salinity water in the southwest of
Jeju is from the western boundary of the Eastern Kuroshio
Branch (EKB) (Lie and Cho 2016). In winter, this relatively
high-temperature and high-salinity water flows into the JS
and occupies most of it. However, in summer a strong sea-
sonal thermocline is formed, and low-salinity coastal water
and Changjiang (Yangtze River) diluted water flow into the
JS (Kim et al. 1991; Kim and Rho 1994; Lie et al. 2003).
Therefore, the temperature and salinity distribution range
in the JS vary greatly depending on the season. In winter,
the upper and lower layers are mixed, and the temperature
and salinity ranges (10–15 ℃, 33.5–34.5 psu) are not great,
whereas in summer the water column is stratified and there
is low-salinity water in the upper layer, so the water tempera-
ture and salinity ranges (10–29 ℃, 29.0–34.5 psu) are greater
than in winter (Pang et al. 2003).
There is a mixed tidal characteristic in the JS with a
predominant semi-diurnal tide (Cha and Moon 2020).
The tidal currents in the JS run mainly along an east–west
direction (Kang 2002; Lee et al. 2019; Oh et al. 2020),
and are much stronger than oceanic currents. Therefore, to
13
C.-W. Shin et al.
measurements are indicated by the upward-pointing green triangles.
The red and green circles indicate the hydrographic stations observed
by KIOST and NIFS, respectively. The downward-pointing yellow tri-
angle indicates the meteorological buoy of the Korea Meteorological
Administration. The blue contour lines indicate 100 and 200  m in a
and 100 m in b 
understand the current structures in the JS, the flow veloc-
ity of at least more than one tidal cycle should be observed
(about 25 h). However, due to ongoing fishing activities
(Kim and Rho 1998), it is difficult to moor a current meter
in the JS, so there have been few long-term observations
of the current for more than several months.
Various methods were used to investigate the current in
the JS, such as drift bottle experiments (Lee 1983), short-
term current meter observations, drift plate tracking dur-
ing the tidal cycle (Chang et al. 1995, Kim and Rho 1997;
Pang et al. 2003), satellite drifter tracking experiments
(Lie et al. 2000), and repeated observations with acoustic
Doppler current profilers (ADCP) mounted on the hull
of a vessel along a north–south line in the JS during the
tidal cycle (Suk et al. 1996; Chang et al. 2000), etc. The
path of the Jeju Warm Current, which turns clockwise to
the west of Jeju and flows into the JS, was revealed for the
first time during a satellite drifter tracking experiment (Lie
et al. 2000). Further, from a short-term current observa-
tion in the JS, it was reported that the eastward current
was up to 0.17 m ­s−1 in winter and 0.3 m ­s−1 in summer
(Chang et al. 2000). The amount of volume transport in
the JS was calculated by adding the barotropic component
obtained from the current observation and the baroclinic
component obtained from the geostrophic current; it was
reported that the eastward volume transport was 0.3 Sv
(Sv ≡ ­106 ­m3 ­s−1) in winter and 0.6 Sv in summer (Pang
et al. 2003). As a result of repeatedly examining the line
crossing the JS using the ADCP to remove the tidal cur-
rents, the volume transport to the east was calculated as
Running title: Current and Transport in Jeju Strait

0.37–0.45 Sv in winter–spring and 0.51–0.66 Sv in sum-
mer–autumn (Chang et al. 2000).
So far, attempts to investigate the Jeju Warm Current have
been made by short-term observations at limited stations,
so the average and seasonal cycles of current structure and
volume transport have not been sufficiently ascertained.
In this study, the current velocity data obtained by bottom
moored ADCPs on a line crossing the JS at five stations for
one year were analyzed to present the means and standard
deviations of the current velocities and volume transports,
and to describe the structural change of the currents in the
JS. In addition, changes in the current structure and volume
transport caused by winds and typhoons are discussed.
2 Data and Methods
To observe the current velocity in the JS, ADCPs were
moored on the sea bottom at five stations along the 126.8°E
meridian between Cheongsan-do off the south coast of
Korea and Woljeong-ri in Jeju (Fig. 1b, Table 1). The cur-
rent measurement interval for every ADCP was ten min-
utes. The ADCPs were mounted on Trawl Resistant Bottom
Mounts (TRBMs), which were designed to protect against
fishing gear. At station T1 near Cheongsan-do, which is less
than 50 m in depth, a 614.4 kHz ADCP was moored, while
307 kHz ADCPs were used for the remaining stations. To
prevent the TRBMs from being buried and impossible to
recover due to deposition, maintenance work was performed
three times during a 378-day period, starting on February
12, 2020 and ending on February 23, 2021. Nevertheless, at
stations T3 and T5, the ADCPs were not recovered during
the second maintenance period, so there were gaps in the
data (Fig. 2).
After the quality control for the current velocity, the coor-
dinate axis of data was turned 7.575° clockwise to take the
magnetic deviation of the observation point into considera-
tion. The magnetic deviation was calculated using the World
Magnetic Model provided by NOAA (https://​www.​ngdc.​
noaa.​gov/​geomag/​calcu​lators/​magca​lc.​shtml#​decli​nation).
There were cells with no data because the observed values
did not meet the various quality test conditions. For these
cells, MATLAB's natural neighbor interpolation method was
applied to fill the data. To remove tidal currents from the
current data, a 25-h moving average was performed for each
cell depth and then daily averaged.
To estimate the amount of volume transport passing
through the JS, the current data for the section had to be
prepared, and the missing data had to be filled to understand
the time variation. When an ADCP is moored on the sea bot-
tom, the current velocity cannot be measured near the sea
bottom and the sea surface. To fill in these gaps, the daily
average data were extrapolated by assuming that the veloci-
ties at the sea bottom and the sea surface were the same
as the velocities at the nearest water depths, respectively.
After that, the data were obtained at intervals of 1 m for the
entire water depth. Data gaps caused by the maintenance
period were linearly interpolated. To interpolate the data for
the missing period, the data from the neighboring stations
were normalized with respect to depth; then the data were

Table 1  Information on the ADCP moorings

St Location Start time Finish time Water depth (m) First bin Last bin Depth
depth (m) depth (m) cell size
Lat.(°N) Lon.(°E) (m)

T1 34.0795 126.8055 2020-02-13 03:50 2020-05-28 20:29 47.5 44.4 16.4 2

2020-05-29 11:15 2020-10-05 21:25 47.6 44.5 6.5 2
2020-10-06 09:50 2020-12-15 23:40 47.5 44.4 6.4 2
2020-12-17 00:20 2021-02-22 22:00 47.5 44.4 14.4 2
T2 33.9523 126.8065 2020-02-13 02:50 2020-05-28 22:10 72.3 68.3 12.3 2
2020-05-29 10:12 2020-10-05 23:02 72.2 68.2 10.2 2
2020-10-06 08:40 2020-12-15 22:50 72.0 68.0 10.0 2
2020-12-17 01:00 2021-02-22 23:40 72.3 68.3 10.3 2
T3 33.8246 126.8070 2020-02-13 01:50 2020-06-07 01:10 92.0 88.0 22.0 2
2020-12-31 01:30 2021-02-23 01:59 92.0 87.8 23.8 2
T4 33.7219 126.8072 2020-02-13 01:00 2020-05-29 01:00 122.0 115.8 31.8 4
2020-05-29 08:10 2020-10-06 01:10 122.2 116.0 16.0 4
2020-10-06 06:20 2020-12-17 07:20 120.8 114.5 14.5 4
2020-12-30 01:40 2021-02-23 01:50 121.4 115.2 15.2 4
T5 33.6160 126.8155 2020-02-12 23:00 2020-05-27 18:20 135.0 129.1 21.1 4
2020-12-18 06:00 2021-02-23 02:50 135.2 129.3 25.3 4

13
 C.-W. Shin et al.

Fig. 2  The zonal and meridional velocities observed by the ADCPs installed in the TRBM at stations T1 to T5 in the Jeju Strait. The positive
values in zonal and meridional current indicate the eastward and northward, respectively

averaged and converted back to the depth of the station to be
interpolated. The current velocity for the missing period for
station T4 in December was filled with the data from station
T5. For the missing period for station T3, the velocity data
were interpolated with stations T2 and T4. For station T5,
first, the data observed at the station T5 were averaged for
the time and normalized, then the observation data for sta-
tion T4 were normalized and interpolated with the normal-
ized data from station T5.
The cross-sectional distribution of the zonal cur-
rent velocity was prepared as follows. The northern end
(34.13°N) of the current velocity section was considered to
be the south of Bogil-do and Cheongsan-do, and the south-
ern end (33.57°N) was determined to be the northern part
of Jeju (Fig. 1). The distance between the two endpoints was
about 62 km. The current velocity inside the observation
station was interpolated, and it was assumed that the outer
northern and southern ends were equal to the velocity of sta-
tions T1 and T5, respectively. Since the bottom topography
was not flat, the interpolation was performed by dividing the
northern and southern ends into 50 grids to fill in the values
near the bottom; grid points deeper than the sea bottom were
excluded from the volume transport calculation.
ERA5 (the fifth-generation ECMWF (the European Cen-
tre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts) re-analysis) 10 m
wind data with a horizontal resolution of 0.25° (Hersbach
et al. 2018) were used to examine the relationship between
changes in the volume transport and winds. In this study,

13
Running title: Current and Transport in Jeju Strait
the wind data from 12 points at 33.50–34.25°N latitude and
126.50–127.00°E longitude were averaged and then daily
averaged again. To examine the water properties and strati-
fied structure of the JS, conductivity, temperature, and depth
(CTD) observations were made along the current observa-
tion line in October and December 2020, and February 2021
(Fig. 1b). For the cross-sections in February, April, June,
and August 2020, the temperature and salinity data of the
standard depths of Line 203 from the National Institute of
Fisheries Science (NIFS) were used (http://​www.​nifs.​go.​
kr/​kodc/​soo_​list.​kodc). During the CTD observations, the
depth of the sea bottom was measured with an echo sounder
installed in the R/V Eardo and was used to draw the cross-
sectional map and to calculate the volume transport. To
know the reason for coastal current variation, the sea-level
data at Wan-do(http://​www.​khoa.​go.​kr/​ocean​g rid/​khoa/​
intro.​do) and wind data at Geomun-do meteorological buoy
(https://​data.​kma.​go.​kr/​cmmn/​main.​do) were also used.
3 Results
From the data obtained by mooring multiple ADCPs in the
JS, the following results were obtained regarding the current
structure according to time and space and variations of the
volume transports.
3.1 Variability of the Current Structure
Figure 3 shows the vertical distribution of the zonal and
meridional currents of the daily mean velocity over time. In
this figure, phenomena not ascertained through fragmentary
observations are shown. The direction and speed of the zonal
currents changed differently on the southern coast of Korea
(T1) and in the center of the JS (T4). The direction of the
zonal currents at T1 was maintained to the east, but from
September to mid-October, it changed to the west except for
the bottom layer. On the other hand, in the case of T4, the
current speed was weak in winter and the eastward direction
was dominant, although a westward current occasionally
appeared. It is worth noting that a westward current contin-
ued on the lower level at T4, except for a few interruptions
from June to December.
The meridional current speed was smaller than the zonal
one, and seasonal change was not clear at T4. However, it
was visible that the current direction of the upper and lower
layers changed with the seasons at T1 and T2. The current
directions of the upper and lower levels were generally dif-
ferent from June to December.
The zonal current speed showed no clear seasonal
variation in T1, whereas it changed seasonally in T4; the
speed gradually increased from spring and reached a maxi-
mum in October. The zonal daily mean current maximum
eastward value was 0.67 m ­s−1 at a depth of 96 m at station
T4 on October 10, and its maximum westward value was
− 0.36 m ­s−1 at a depth of 24 m at station T1 on September
3, 2020.
The annual mean value of the currents for each sta-
tion was calculated (Fig. 4a, Table 2). The zonal current
speed decreased from the surface layer as the water depth
increased at every station. At T4, there was a flow that ran
in the opposite direction to the surface layer between a water
depth of about 100 m and the sea bottom. The mean speed
of the meridional current was slower than that of the zonal
current from surface to middle layer. Also, the standard
deviation of the zonal component was larger than that of
the meridional component. Since the zonal surface current
(0.12–0.16 m ­s−1) was more than three times the meridional
one (0.04 m  ­s−1), the surface current could be said to be
an eastward flow. On the other hand, in the bottom layer,
the zonal component (-0.02–0.07 m ­s−1) and the meridi-
onal component (0.03–0.06 m ­s−1) were similar in magni-
tude. The reason that the zonal current standard deviation
of the bottom layer at T4 was larger than the mean value
was because the current direction changes according to the
season.
The range of the monthly mean current velocity (Fig. 4b)
for each station was much larger than that of the annual
mean. It was observed that the change in velocity accord-
ing to depth appeared from June to November at T2 and
T4. The vertical current shear gives information regarding
the baroclinicity intensity. The vertical current shear was
obtained by 20 m moving average on the rate of current
change of 1 m depth interval. The strongest vertical shear of
the zonal current was -8.6 × ­10–3 ­s−1 near the surface layer
(10–30 m depth) in August at T2, and − 8.4 × ­10–3 ­s−1 below
the middle layer (74–94 m depth) in October at T4. The
depth of the maximum velocity of the zonal current was
at the surface until August, but it is also interesting that at
T4 the depth became greater with time until October. The
maximum monthly mean eastward current velocity was
0.33 m  ­s−1 at T2 in August 2020 in the surface layer, but
0.34 m ­s−1 at 45 m depth at T4 in October. The maximum
monthly mean westward current velocity was also observed
at T4 in November 2020 as − 0.07 m ­s−1 at 107 m depth.
The annual and monthly mean surface and bottom cur-
rent values are presented in Table 3. The surface, middle,
and bottom currents vectors are shown in Fig. 5. The annual
mean current of the JS was an eastward flow from the sur-
face to the middle layer. However, the bottom layer flowed
to the northwest at T4, which was located near the bottom
trough at a depth of more than 100 m, while that of stations
T1–T2 flowed toward the northeast.
With regard to the monthly mean current vectors, the
direction of the surface and middle current changed slightly,
and it was mainly an eastward current. The current was weak
13

Fig. 3  The zonal and meridional daily mean velocities observed at stations T1 to T5 in the Jeju Strait. The positive values in zonal and meridi-
onal current indicate the eastward and northward, respectively
in winter, but became stronger in summer. At the obser-
vation station that was at a depth of less than 100 m, the
current direction in the bottom layer was maintained in the
northeast, and it flowed in a similar direction to the upper
layer until April. However, there was vertically a large dif-
ference in current direction from May to December. Station
T4 showed a weak northward flow in May and a northwest-
ward flow from June to December. At station T5, a north-
westward flow also appeared in December. In summer and
autumn, the surface current velocity at T4 was greater than
that of T1–T2, but in winter, it was lower. In January 2021,
the current direction changed little from surface to bottom.
Conversely, the current direction changed vertically large
13
C.-W. Shin et al.
at T1–T2 on the southern coastal side of Korea in Septem-
ber and at T4–T5 on the Jeju side in December 2020. The
maximum monthly mean current speed on the surface layer
was 0.33 m ­s−1 to the eastward direction at T2 in August.
On the bottom layer, it was 0.13 m ­s−1 to the northeastward
direction at T1 in December 2020 (Table 3).
The monthly mean zonal current sections are shown in
Fig. 6. Before April 2020, the surface layer speed was less
than 0.15 m ­s−1, but it increased from May. The surface layer
speed reached 0.32 m ­s−1 in August, and it weakened in
September for a while. The eastward current speed increased
again in October, reaching a maximum of 0.34 m ­s−1 at a
depth of 45 m at station T4. After that, the current speed
Running title: Current and Transport in Jeju Strait

Fig. 4  The vertical profiles of the zonal and meridional veloci- the dotted lines indicate their standard deviations. The vertical green
ties at each station in the Jeju Strait. One-year mean profiles (a) and lines denote the zero value. The profiles for the annual means at sta-
monthly mean profiles for each station (b). The thick blue and red tions T3 and T5 without summer observation data and for months
lines indicate the zonal and meridional velocities, respectively,  and with fewer than 13 observation days were omitted

Table 2  One-year mean velocities (m s­−1) and their standard devia- weakened, reaching 0.15 m ­s−1 or less in January 2021.
tions in the surface and bottom layers for each station from February In the lower layer, there was a westward current, contrary
14, 2020 to February 13, 2021
to the surface layer, from June to December at station T4.
Station Zonal velocity Meridional velocity The maximum westward current speed in the lower layer
was − 0.06 m ­s−1 in November. The westward currents also
T1 Surface 0.12 ± 0.10 0.04 ± 0.04
appeared in surface and middle layers at station T4 in Feb-
Bottom 0.07 ± 0.03 0.05 ± 0.03
ruary and December 2020, and above the middle layer of
T2 Surface 0.16 ± 0.10 0.04 ± 0.06
station T1 in September.
Bottom 0.05 ± 0.03 0.06 ± 0.03
According to the cross-sectional distribution of poten-
T4 Surface 0.13 ± 0.14 0.04 ± 0.06
tial temperature, salinity, and potential density of the cur-
Bottom -0.02 ± 0.05 0.03 ± 0.03
rent observation line (Fig. 7), stratification began to form
The depths of the surface and bottom are the same as the first and last weakly in April and was strongest in August. In August, the
bin depths in Table 1

13
 C.-W. Shin et al.

Table 3  Monthly mean speeds T1 T2 T3 T4 T5

(m ­s−1) and directions (°) at the
surface and bottom for each Spd Dir Spd Dir Spd Dir Spd Dir Spd Dir
station
Feb-20 Surface 0.10 57 0.14 46 0.07 59 0.03 289 0.16 85
Bottom 0.06 52 0.05 38 0.04 31 0.01 339 0.00 54
Mar-20 Surface 0.12 66 0.13 65 0.13 71 0.06 85 0.12 93
Bottom 0.09 55 0.09 51 0.08 48 0.04 13 0.01 309
Apr-20 Surface 0.13 68 0.15 67 0.15 62 0.08 59 0.12 82
Bottom 0.10 60 0.09 52 0.10 38 0.05 14 0.01 359
May-20 Surface 0.11 77 0.17 73 0.16 62 0.14 56
Bottom 0.08 59 0.09 42 0.10 36 0.06 360
Jun-20 Surface 0.17 77 0.20 81 0.18 73
Bottom 0.09 54 0.10 38 0.05 317
Jul-20 Surface 0.10 87 0.17 93 0.19 75
Bottom 0.08 55 0.08 33 0.06 285
Aug-20 Surface 0.27 84 0.33 89 0.32 81
Bottom 0.09 53 0.09 25 0.06 293
Sep-20 Surface 0.06 349 0.19 80 0.24 76
Bottom 0.05 69 0.09 41 0.05 325
Oct-20 Surface 0.09 50 0.16 85 0.27 78
Bottom 0.07 52 0.10 31 0.05 321
Nov-20 Surface 0.10 78 0.16 77 0.12 69
Bottom 0.09 39 0.07 25 0.07 292
Dec-20 Surface 0.16 77 0.11 75 0.02 186 0.02 134
Bottom 0.13 48 0.09 31 0.06 302 0.05 301
Jan-21 Surface 0.10 63 0.12 51 0.11 47 0.04 14 0.03 68
Bottom 0.09 55 0.06 52 0.06 47 0.02 48 0.03 49
Feb-21 Surface 0.16 71 0.14 65 0.15 69 0.07 64 0.05 118
Bottom 0.12 53 0.10 51 0.09 50 0.06 31 0.02 355

Spd and Dir denote speed and direction, respectively. The depths of the surface and bottom are the same as
the first and last bin depths in Table 1. The monthly mean values for months with fewer than 13 observa-
tion days were omitted

potential density of the surface layer was lower than 20 σθ,
and 24 σθ isopycnals appeared at a depth of about 25–30 m.
This strong pycnocline was an effect of high-temperature
and low-salinity surface water. This low-salinity surface
water that appears in the JS in summer is considered to be
Changjiang dilution water (Lie et al. 2003). In October, both
the temperature and salinity of the sea surface were lower
than in August, and the mixed layer and pycnocline layer
became thicker than in August, and the 24 σθ isopycnal sank
to a depth of 45–75 m. The horizontal gradient of density
centered on the 24 σθ was the largest during the observation
period. Due to these influences the baroclinic current com-
ponent was increased in the subsurface layer. Thus, it can
be inferred that the maximum current velocity that appeared
in the surface layer in August sank to a depth of 44 m in
October (Figs. 4b, 6).
The strengthening of the thermocline in June seems to be
mainly due to the increase in the surface water temperature
by solar radiation and the inflow of the cold water below
the thermocline from the west of the JS. The observation
of cold water below 14 °C from the west of the JS in June
or August has also been reported in previous studies (Cho
and Kim 1994; Pang et al. 2003). As suggested by Senjyu
et al. (2009), the intensification of the thermocline due to the
inflow of the cold water and the horizontal density gradient
create a baroclinic current and the eastward current becomes
faster, which can be a condition for easier inflow of surface
warm and less saline water.
3.2 Volume Transport
After calculating the volume transport using the daily mean
zonal current vertical distribution of the 126.8°E line, the
monthly mean volume transports and standard deviations
were calculated (Fig. 8, Table 4). This is the first result to
estimate the volume transport by directly observing the cur-
rents for a year in the JS.

13
Running title: Current and Transport in Jeju Strait
Fig. 5  The current vectors and standard deviation ellipses for one-
year mean (the isolated figure on top left) and monthly mean. The
red, blue, and black colors indicate the surface, middle, and bottom
layer, respectively. The scale vectors and ellipses are shown in the
upper right-hand in the mean and February figures. The vector plots
In the JS, not all currents flow to the east, there are also
westward currents, so the eastward and westward volume
transports were separately calculated. The annual mean
for the annual means at stations T3 and T5 without summer observa-
tion data and for months with fewer than 13 observation days were
omitted. The standard deviation ellipse represents the major axis as
the standard deviation of zonal component and the minor axis as that
of the meridional component
eastward volume transport (0.51 Sv) is 17 times larger than
the westward volume transport (0.03 Sv). In this study, it is
not known how far westward flow is maintained and what
13
 C.-W. Shin et al.

Fig. 6  Vertical sections of the zonal velocities across the Jeju Strait. The red and gray blank triangles and dotted lines indicate the TRBM sta-
tions. The areas corresponding to the stations with fewer than 13 observation days are shaded in white

will eventually happen. So, it was assumed that the water
flowing westward meets the eastward currents, and moves
eastward. Therefore, the net volume transport was calculated
as the eastward volume transport minus the westward one.
The annual mean net volume transpor t was
0.48 ± 0.16 Sv, with a maximum (0.79 ± 0.19 Sv) in Octo-
ber and a minimum (0.26 ± 0.20 Sv) in February 2020.
Compared to the volume transport through the Korea Strait
(Fukudome et al. 2010), the annual mean volume trans-
port was 18% of the total (2.65 Sv) and 33% of that of the
Western Channel (1.45 Sv). Except for July, from April to
October, the net volume transport was greater than aver-
age. The maximum and minimum values of the volume
transport were estimated to be larger and smaller than
those previously reported by Chang et al. (2000) or Pang
et al. (2003). Also, what was unusual about the seasonal
variation in the net volume transport was that it showed
slightly different results from what was expected. Namely,
it did not change to a simple sinusoidal waveform with
a low in winter–spring and a high in summer–autumn.
During the period of increase from winter (February) to
autumn (October), the net volume transport underwent
two periods of decline in June–July and September. This
change pattern was similar to that of total volume transport
in the Korea Strait estimated by Fukudome et al. (2010).

13
Running title: Current and Transport in Jeju Strait

Fig. 7  Vertical sections of the potential temperature (℃), salin- the standard depths of data. The contour intervals are 1℃ in potential
ity (psu), and potential density (σθ, kg ­m−3) along the 126.8°E line temperature, 0.5 psu in salinity, and 0.5 kg ­m−3 in potential density
and NIFS (see Fig.  1). The red dots in the top four panels indicate

13
 C.-W. Shin et al.

4.1 Uncertainty of current and transport

There were gaps in the summer data, because the instru-

ments at T3 and T4 were not recovered. Thus, the cur-
rent velocity was unavoidably interpolated to calculate
the volume transport. Therefore, there may be errors in
describing the current structure or estimating the amount
of volume transport. When the summer T3 and T5 data
were replaced with the T4 data to calculate the net volume
transport, the annual mean was 0.52 Sv and the maximum
transport was 0.97 Sv in October. Compared to the annual
Fig. 8  Time variations in the daily mean net volume transports (the
blue solid line), and their monthly mean net volume transports and average (0.48 Sv) and the maximum value (0.79 Sv) calcu-
standard deviations (the red circles with vertical lines). The red solid lated in the results section, the annual average was 0.04 Sv
line indicates the 30-day moving average of the daily mean net vol- and the maximum value was 0.18 Sv larger.
ume transports In addition, due to the nature of the ADCPs’ mooring on
the sea bottom, there were no observational data near the sea
surface and near the sea bottom, so extrapolation was inevi-
table. For example, the data obtained from the first moor-
ing at T4 were judged to be useful from a depth of 31.8 m,
Table 4  Monthly mean volume transports (Sv ≡ ­106 ­m3 ­s−1) and their and the same current velocity was assumed from the sea
standard deviations through the Jeju Strait surface to a depth of 31.8 m. Therefore, various extrapola-
Eastward Westward Net tion methods may be tried, and it is possible that the results
contained some errors. Here, we compared the volume trans-
Feb-20 0.31 ± 0.14 − 0.05 ± 0.10 0.26 ± 0.20
port calculated by extrapolating the current velocities using
Mar-20 0.43 ± 0.16 − 0.01 ± 0.03 0.42 ± 0.18
three methods: linear, spline, and pchip (piecewise cubic
Apr-20 0.49 ± 0.17 − 0.01 ± 0.02 0.48 ± 0.18
Hermite interpolating polynomial). The mean volume trans-
May-20 0.50 ± 0.10 0.00 ± 0.01 0.50 ± 0.10
ports obtained by linear and spline methods equally resulted
Jun-20 0.50 ± 0.09 − 0.01 ± 0.01 0.49 ± 0.10
in a value of 0.47 Sv, and the pchip method obtained a value
Jul-20 0.45 ± 0.08 − 0.03 ± 0.03 0.42 ± 0.10
of 0.46 Sv. All extrapolation methods are determined by the
Aug-20 0.72 ± 0.10 − 0.02 ± 0.01 0.70 ± 0.10
data gradient closest to the surface or floor layer. The aver-
Sep-20 0.65 ± 0.16 − 0.03 ± 0.04 0.61 ± 0.18
age value of volume transport was calculated to be 0.02 Sv
Oct-20 0.81 ± 0.19 − 0.02 ± 0.02 0.79 ± 0.19
(approximately 4%) smaller than that in the case of using
Nov-20 0.45 ± 0.16 − 0.04 ± 0.03 0.41 ± 0.18
the data closest to the surface or bottom gaps without data
Dec-20 0.33 ± 0.14 − 0.05 ± 0.06 0.28 ± 0.19
as it is.
Jan-21 0.33 ± 0.17 − 0.06 ± 0.12 0.27 ± 0.26
Although observation using a vessel-mounted ADCP is
Feb-21 0.46 ± 0.14 − 0.02 ± 0.06 0.44 ± 0.18
different from the bottom mount mooring method, there are
Mean 0.51 ± 0.14 − 0.03 ± 0.04 0.48 ± 0.16
similarly gaps without data near the sea surface and near the
Data were used from March 2020 to February 2021 to calculate the sea floor. It is reported that the Ekman transport near sea sur-
mean values face not measured by a vessel-mounted ADCP in the Korea
Strait did not significantly affect seasonal volume transport
fluctuations in the ADCP section (Fukudome et al. 2010).
Based on the results of the above calculation, the effect of
the interpolation of the current velocity for the period during
which the equipment was not recovered was greater regard-
4 Discussion ing the uncertainty in volume transport than the current
velocity extrapolation on the sea surface and the sea floor.
Through the direct observation of the current velocity in
the JS, we were able to identify some phenomena regard- 4.2 Coastal Counter Current
ing the current structures and the volume transports. First,
in this section, the uncertainties that may arise in the data To investigate the cause of the westward current at the T1
processing are discussed, and then countercurrents in the station of the southern coast of Korea in September, the
coastal side and the bottom trough, and fluctuations in wind data of the meteorological buoy near Geomun-do (see
volume transport due to wind are discussed. Fig. 1) and sea-level data at Wan-do were examined (Fig. 9).

13
Running title: Current and Transport in Jeju Strait
Fig. 9  Time plots for daily mean zonal wind at Geomun-do meteoro-
logical buoy and daily mean residual sea level at Wan-do (a) and their
scatter plot (b). Time plots for daily mean zonal wind and daily mean
zonal current at T1 station (c) and their scatter plot (d). The residual
The residual sea level at Wan-do was obtained by adjusting
for inverted barometric effect and removing the tides, and
then averaging for every day. For the current velocity data to
compare with the wind, the velocity data at a depth of 20 m
where the westward current was the largest in September at
the T1 station were used.
The time series of the zonal wind and the residual sea
level showed that the sea level was lowered by Ekman trans-
port when the wind blew to the east and rose conversely
when the wind blew to the west (Fig. 9a). Therefore, the
zonal wind and residual sea level showed a fairly high nega-
tive correlation (r = − 0.63, p < 0.01) (Fig. 9b). When the
wind blew to the west and the sea level on the southern coast
of Korea rose, the pressure gradient force acted to the south
and the Coriolis force acted to the north, creating a west-
ward current or weakening an eastward current. Conversely,
when the wind blew to the east, the sea level at Wan-do
went down and the eastward flow strengthened (Fig. 9c). If
we exclude an outlier on September 3, 2020, when a strong
eastward wind blew under the influence of a typhoon but a
westward current occurred instead of an eastward current,
the correlation coefficient between the zonal wind and the
zonal current was 0.50 (p < 0.01) (Fig. 9d). This correla-
tion coefficient was lower than that between wind and sea
level. In the California coast of the United States, it has been
reported that wind parallel to the coast affects the rise and
fall of sea level, and that the coastal current changes (Huyer
sea level at Wan-do was calculated by adjusting inverted barometric
effect and removing tide. The horizontal green lines in a and c indi-
cate that the zonal wind is zero
et al. 1979). Their study also showed that the correlation
coefficient between wind and coastal current was lower than
that between wind and coastal sea level. The reason is prob-
ably because the sea level is changed by the wind and then
the parallel coastal currents are generated along the coast,
so there is a time lag between them and factors other than
the wind also have an effect.
Meanwhile, the period with the highest residual sea
level at Wan-do was from mid-September to mid-October
(Fig. 9a). This period approximately coincided with the
period in which the westward coastal current appeared at
the T1 station (Fig. 3). In the present study, only the effect
of wind was considered to explain the phenomenon of west-
ward flow at the T1 station. However, the correlation coef-
ficient between the wind and the currents is 0.5, and detailed
studies are needed in future.
4.3 Jeju Strait under Current
In our observations, a current flowing in the opposite direc-
tion to the surface layer near the seabed valley at a depth of
more than 100 m was observed for the first time from June
to December at station T4 (Fig. 6). This period corresponded
to the period between the formation of the stratification and
its extinction. It is expected that the westward current in the
bottom trough of the JS will appear repeatedly when the
stratification is formed. Therefore, it may be appropriate to
13

name this westward current the seasonal Jeju Strait Under
Current (JSUC). The salt water higher than 34.0 psu which
occupied the JS from the surface to the sea bottom in Febru-
ary 2020 occupied an area on the Jeju side in June, but was
limited to the sea bottom from August to December (Fig. 7).
Therefore, it was observed that the high-salinity water in the
bottom trough of the JS in summer–autumn did not come
from the west of the JS, but flowed from the southeast along
the bottom trough. In fact, the current at the station near the
bottom trough was directed to the northwest from June to
December (Fig. 5).
When the stratification is strengthened, low-density water
with high-temperature and low-salinity from the west of the
Jeju Strait quickly passes through the Jeju Strait. On the
other hand, in the trough on the east of the JS, which is
deeper than the west of the JS, a counter current occurs. It
is presumed that the origin of the counter current water may
be the lower layer water of the EKB, which corresponds to
the upstream of the Tsushima Warm Current or the water
that moved along the deep valley from the western trough
of Kyushu. When the stratification disappears in winter,
the current also becomes vertically homogeneous, and this
counter current in the trough disappears. It is thought that
the counter current water flowed into the JS will be entrained
by the low-salinity upper layer water flowing to the east,
or flowed back to the east as it goes west the bottom depth
become shallow. Further studies on this counter current
are beyond the scope of the present study. To elucidate the
mechanism in detail, it is required to conduct numerical
model experiments and to perform an analysis based on the
detailed water properties in a more extended area.
4.4 Variability of Daily Mean Transports and Winds
To see the relationship between the daily mean net volume
transport and the wind, the time plots of the transport and
Fig. 10  Time variations for the daily mean net volume transports
(a), stick plots for the daily mean winds (b). The black dotted lines
numbered 1 to 7 indicate when the westward volume transport
13
C.-W. Shin et al.
the stick plots of the wind of the ERA5 data in the JS are
presented in Fig. 10. The volume transport varied from a
minimum of − 0.49 Sv on January 8, 2021 to a maximum
of 1.41 Sv on October 10, 2020. During the observation
period, there were seven events when the westward volume
transport occurred. Except for the sixth event on January
23, 2021, these all occurred when there was a northwesterly
wind stronger than 10 m ­s−1 or shortly thereafter. On January
23, there was a strong northeasterly wind. In other words,
when there is a strong northerly wind in the JS, the net vol-
ume transport temporarily changes to the west by Ekman
transport.
There were four typhoons that affected the study area
in 2020. First, Typhoon No. 5, Jangmi, passed through the
study area on August 10; the typhoon’s central pressure was
weak (998 hPa), it passed through quickly, and it had no
significant effect on the study area. Second, Typhoon No.
8, Bavi, passed through the Yellow Sea on August 26; the
typhoon’s central pressure was 945–950 hPa, which was
very strong. At that time, there was a strong southeasterly
wind of more than 10 m ­s−1 in the study area, and the net
volume transport increased sharply compared to the previ-
ous day, up to 1.0 Sv. The next typhoon was Typhoon No.
9, Maysak, on September 3; it was a strong typhoon with a
central pressure of 950 hPa when it passed the study area.
At that time, there was a strong northerly wind, and the
net volume transport decreased sharply to nearly zero. The
fourth typhoon that had an impact was Typhoon No. 10,
Haishen. On September 7, when the typhoon passed through
the study area, its central pressure was 955 hPa, which made
it a medium-sized typhoon. In the study area, there was a
northerly wind followed by an easterly wind, and the net
volume transport increased slightly compared to the previ-
ous day. Summarizing the above, not only the strength of the
wind but also the duration of the strong wind are important
in changing the amount of volume transport in the JS. It is
occurred. The magenta dotted lines numbered 1 to 4 indicate when
the typhoons passed through the study area
Running title: Current and Transport in Jeju Strait
thought that the ocean does not have enough time to react
when the wind direction changes rapidly like it did during
typhoon Haishen. A more detailed study is needed on the
ocean’s response to typhoons.
On October 10, 2020 there was a medium northeasterly
wind, but the net volume transport increased and reached
a maximum. The current structure at the same time as the
maximum net volume transport comprised a strong current
velocity core (0.67 m ­s−1) at a depth of 27 m, slightly deeper
than the surface layer. On the other hand, in the current
structure of January 8, 2021 a westward current developed
at stations T3 to T5, with a westward current in the surface
layer (− 0.27 m ­s−1) at T5. When the net volume transport
was at a maximum, the stratification was strong enough that
even a temporary medium wind blowing across the surface
did not reversibly affect the current, which was fast. On the
other hand, when the net volume transport in the westward
direction was at a maximum, it was considered to be eas-
ily affected by the wind because the current was weak and
stratification had not formed.
5 Summary
From February 13, 2020 to February 23, 2021, ADCPs were
moored at five stations along the 126.8°E meridian line in
the JS and the current velocity was observed. The currents
within the JS changed according to time and location rather
than constantly flowing eastward. Seasonal changes were
more pronounced in the center of the JS than on the northern
JS. The monthly mean surface zonal current speed was at a
minimum (− 0.03 to 0.16 m ­s−1) in winter and a maximum
(− 0.01 to 0.33 m ­s−1) in summer. In the bottom trough of
the JS, from June, when the stratification was formed, to
December, before the stratification disappeared, the JSUC
(maximum velocity − 0.06 m ­s−1) was found to be flowing
westward opposite to the surface current. It could be inferred
that the high-salinity water in the lower layers of the JS in
summer moved from the southeast with the JSUC. Also,
from September to mid-October, the existence of a west-
ward current was confirmed in the surface and middle layer
off the Korean south coast. It was thought to have been due
to the easterly wind, but additional research is needed. The
annual mean net volume transport was 0.48 ± 0.16 Sv, with a
minimum (0.26 Sv) in February and a maximum (0.79 Sv) in
October. The net transport increased from winter to autumn,
but decreased temporarily in June–July and September. The
strong northerly wind in winter caused the daily mean net
volume transport direction to change temporarily from east
to west, and the typhoons passing through the study area also
temporarily affected the transport. The results of this study
can serve as basic data to study the transport and effects
of heat, salt, nutrients, plastics, marine debris, and floating
organisms entering the south sea of Korea through the JS,
and to verify the results of the ocean circulation numerical
model.
Acknowledgements  This study was done with the support of the
KIOST research project (PEA0011) ‘Influences of the Northwest
Pacific circulation and climate variability on Korean water changes and
material cycle I—The role of Jeju warm current and its variability’, the
KIMST research project (PM63130) ‘Study on Northwestern Pacific
warming and genesis and rapid intensification of typhoon’, and the
Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foun-
dation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (NRF-
2016R1A6A1A03012647). We thank the two anonymous reviewers
who provided comments to make this paper more complete.
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