Th or collective redistirbution of any portion article of any by of this or collective redistirbution SPECIAL ISSUE ON THE JAPAN/EAST SEA articleis has been in published Oceanography A HISTORY OF 19, Number journal of Th 3, a quarterly , Volume PHYSICAL only permitted is means reposting, or other machine, photocopy OCEANOGRAPHIC RESEARCH IN THE 2006 by Th e Oceanography Society. Copyright JAPAN/EAST SEA with the approval of Th approval the with BY MIKHAIL A. DANCHENKOV, VYACHESLAV B. LOBANOV, STEPHEN C. RISER, gran e Oceanography is Society. All rights reserved. Permission or Th e Oceanography [email protected] Society. Send to: all correspondence KUH KIM, MASAKI TAKEMATSU, AND JONGHWAN YOON Oceanographic research in the Japan/East Sea (JES) has a histo- all reviews of the history of the oceanographic research in the ry similar to other marginal seas that are surrounded by coun- region prior to these two programs mostly described national tries that play a central role in world economics and politics investigations (e.g., Istoshin, 1950; Kawai, 1974; Hahn, 1994). (Figure 1). However, due to the specifi cs of the region’s history, The Bibliography on the Japan Sea Oceanography (Danchen- its varied cultures, and the different languages of the nations kov et al., 2000) tried to list and annotate briefl y all available in the region, most regional oceanographic research has been literature, published before the end of last century, from coun- carried out independently by each country. This research has tries in the region. The relative numbers of results published Repu article for use and research. this copy in teaching to ted often taken place without complete knowledge of neighboring (Russia: 40 percent; Japan: 36 percent; Korea: 20 percent; USA: e Oceanography Society, PO Box 1931, Rockville, MD 20849-1931, USA. nations, although in recent years a new degree of international 3 percent) were similar, indicating the existence of a substantial cooperation in the region has emerged. research community in each country. Yet, because of language Perhaps the fi rst truly international oceanographic forum in diffi culties and a lack of availability of some national publica- the region was provided by JECSS (the Japan and East China tions, much of this published material is not familiar to the Sea Study), started under the close collaboration between Japa- international community. In this paper we try to partially rem- nese and Korean scientists in 1981. This program was followed edy this problem by describing the history of oceanographic by the CREAMS (Circulation Research of East Asian Mar- research in the region and the development of our knowledge blication, systemmatic reproduction, ginal Seas) project in 1993, where, for the fi rst time, Russian of physical oceanography of the JES, indicating the most im- oceanographers joined the international team. Consequently, portant results and publications. 18 Oceanography Vol. 19, No. 3, Sept. 2006 126° 130° 134° 138° 142° EEZ Border Maximum Observed Depth Location of Main Oceanographic Labs NS = Nevelskogo (Mamiya) Strait NS 52° TsS = Tsushima (Korean) Strait LS = La Perouse (Soya) Strait TS = Tsugaru Strait PGB = Peter the Great Bay PR = Pervenets Rise OS = Oki Spur VV = Vladivostok 48° YS = Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Tartar Strait FU = Fukuoka YS MA = Maizuru NI = Niigata SA = Sapporo 1500 LS PU = Pusan SE = Seoul Russia 3669 44° WO = Wonsan VV 3300 SA PGB Japan Basin PR TS 3720 DPRK Yamato Rise 40° 1500 WO SE Yamato Basin NI lleung Basin Rep. of U 1500 Korea OS Japan 36° PU MA TsS FU 32° Figure 1. Main geographic features of the Japan/East Sea region. Oceanography Vol. 19, No. 3, Sept. 2006 19 A CHRONOLOGY of southern Sakhalin Island to Japan Current transporting warm water from As late as the end of the eighteenth cen- following the Russian-Japanese War of the East China Sea through the Tsushima tury, knowledge of the large-scale cir- 1904–1905 and the annexation of Korea Strait, and the Liman Current carrying culation of the JES was lacking, mostly in 1910 initiated wider research in the re- cold water from the north along the Rus- due to the fact that China and Japan, the gion by Japan. The Russian Revolution in sian coast (Academician Shrenk believed main national powers in the region at the 1917, followed by fi ve years of civil war that the Liman Current originated in time, did not sail far from their shores in Russia, greatly interrupted scientifi c the Amur River estuary, or “liman” in because of a lack of appropriate vessels. research activity in the region. Little new the Russian language). Later investiga- The fi rst European voyages with scien- work took place during World War II tions yielded fi fteen more papers on the tifi c groups on board included a French (1941–1945), but after the war’s end, the thermal structure of the sea, the sea-ice expedition led by J.F. La Perouse in 1787, independence of South Korea in 1948 regime, and surface currents, all pub- an English study of the region under the and the end of the Korean War in 1953 lished before 1917. With the exception of supervision of W.R. Broughton in 1796, allowed for important developments in the monograph by Admiral Makarov in and Russian cruises led by I.F. Kruzen- South Korean research efforts. The po- 1894, most of these papers are rarely ref- shtern in 1805. Such studies resulted in litical and economic changes that took erenced but are quite important works, the fi rst detailed maps of coastal areas, place in Russia in 1991 had the effect of including Maidel (1877, 1878, 1879, including data on bottom topography signifi cantly decreasing Russian national 1880), Zuev (1887), Kolchak (1899) and and surface currents. These forays into activities in the region; however, these Zhdanko (1913). These works provided the region by Europeans also stimulated changes resulted in Russian portions of more details on the distribution of wa- Japan to increase its marine research in the JES being opened for wide interna- ter temperature, density, and currents the area, leading to the exploration of tional collaboration for the fi rst time. in the northern and western parts of the Hokkaido. By mid-century, the Opium In 1859, the Russian Navy conducted Sea. In particular, the Krillion Cold Cur- Wars of 1840–1842 and 1856–1860 had the fi rst systematic hydrographic surveys rent, carrying water from the Okhotsk weakened China and led to a chain of of the JES that included observations of Sea into the JES through the Soya Strait, geopolitical changes in the region that water temperature, density, and currents. was found, and the lack of a relationship had important infl uences on oceano- A decade or so later, the fi rst two mono- between the Liman Current and Amur graphic research activities. Perhaps the graphs on the physical oceanography River discharge was noted. It should be most important of these changes was of the region appeared based on these mentioned that special care was taken in the Beijing Treaty of 1860, effectively investigations (Shrenk, 1870, 1874). The to ensure the accuracy of the observa- confi rming Russian jurisdiction of the monographs suggested for the fi rst time tions. The thermometers were calibrated northwestern coast of the JES and stimu- a scheme for the surface circulation in at the Greenwich Observatory in Great lating intense marine exploration of this the basin, and they coined the names for Britain and an areometer was used to area. Half a century later, the transfer its major components—the Tsushima measure density of sea water. During this period, Russian research efforts domi- Mikhail A. Danchenkov is Leading Research Scientist, Far Eastern Regional Hydrometeoro- nated in the basin. However, the Rus- logical Research Institute, Vladivostok, Russia. Vyacheslav B. Lobanov ([email protected]. sian studies were abruptly ended after ru) is Deputy Director, V.I. Il’ichev Pacifi c Oceanological Institute, Far Eastern Branch, Russian the October revolution of 1917 and the Academy of Sciences, Vladivostok, Russia. Stephen C. Riser is Professor, School of Ocean- following civil war; for a period, oceano- ography, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA. Kuh Kim is Professor, School of Earth graphic research in the region was con- and Environmental Sciences/Research Institute of Oceanography, Seoul National University, centrated mostly in coastal areas. But, Seoul, Republic of Korea. Masaki Takematsu is Professor Emeritus, Research Institute for the synthesis of the data collected before Applied Mechanics, Kyushu University, Kasuga, Fukuoka, Japan. Jong-Hwan Yoon is Profes- the revolution, and reviews of Japanese sor, Research Institute for Applied Mechanics, Kyushu University, Kasuga, Fukuoka, Japan. publications at the time continued (Vize, 20 Oceanography Vol. 19, No. 3, Sept. 2006 1923; Rudovits, 1927, 1929, 1934; Deryu- In particular, Uda remarks on the ex- began with a few surveys of the JES gin, 1930; Bubnov, 1939; Batalin, 1941; tremely low temperature, high oxygen implemented in 1949, 1951, and 1955 by Rumyantsev, 1951). content, and remarkable homogeneity the Soviet Academy of Sciences using the After the Russian Revolution, Japa- of the deep waters of the JES, indicating Research Vessel (R/V) Vityaz. Observa- nese investigations in the region intensi- their formation by wintertime convec- tions were conducted in various seasons fi ed and became the dominant research tion and frequent renewal. It should be and resulted in new data concerning the efforts in the Sea during the period of mentioned, however, that for Japan and distributions of physical and chemical 1922–1945. These studies provided new data on the basin interior. During that era, the major topographic features of the sea (the Yamato Rise and the deep ...because of language difficulties and a lack Japan Basin, with depths in excess of of availability of some national publications, 3500 m) were found (Figure 1).