High-resolution circulation forecasting of the Maenggol Channel, south coast of Korea

• Published in: Acta oceanologica Sinica Vol. 34; no. 12; pp. 11 - 18
• Main Authors: Choi, Jinyong, Jun, Kicheon, Choi, Youngkwang, Cho, Kyoungho, Kwon, Jae-Il, Park, Jinsoon, Park, Kwangsoon
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Beijing The Chinese Society of Oceanography 01-12-2015; Springer Nature B.V; 0perational 0ceanography Research Center, Korea Institute of 0cean Science and Technology, Ansan 15627, Republic of Korea%Task Force for Construction of RV ISABU Support Facility, Korea Institute of 0cean Science and Technology, Ansan 15627, Republic of Korea%Division of Polar 0cean Environment, Korea Polar Research Institute, Incheon 21990, Republic of Korea%China - Korea Joint 0cean Research Center, Qingdao 266061, China%Coastal Development Research Center, Korea Institute of 0cean Science and Technology, Ansan 15627, Republic of Korea
• Subjects: Capsizing; Climatology; Coasts; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Ecology; Electric power; Electric power sources; Engineering Fluid Dynamics; Environmental Chemistry; Evacuations & rescues; Ferries; Fisheries; Forecasting; High resolution; Islands; Man made disasters; Marine; Marine & Freshwater Sciences; Mathematical models; Modelling; Navigation; Ocean circulation; Ocean currents; Oceanography; R&D; Rescue operations; Research & development; Research centers; Science; Scuba diving; Spring tides; Tidal currents; Tidal effects; Weather; 下线; 服务; 迁移; South Korea; China; INW, Korea, Rep; circulation forecasting; Maenggol Channel; Sewol ferry accident
• ISSN: 0253-505X; 1869-1099
• DOI: 10.1007/s13131-015-0774-9

The Maenggol Channel and Uldolmok Strait, located on the south-west coast of Korea, have notably strong and complex currents due to tidal effects and to local geological factors. In these areas, electric power has been generated using strong tidal currents, the speed of which is more than 3 m/s during spring tides. The region also provides a shortcut for navigation. These tidal conditions are therefore sometimes useful, but may also cause terrible accidents or severe economic damage, in the absence of accurate information regarding ocean conditions. In April 2014, the passenger ferry MV Sewol capsized in the Maenggol Channel, with 295 passengers killed and 9 still missing. While this was unquestionably a man-made disaster, strong currents were one of the contributing causes. It was also difficult to conduct scuba diving rescue operations given strong current speeds,and accurate prediction of the time when the tide would turn was thus critically needed. In this research, we used the high-resolution coastal circulation forecasting system of KOOS（Korea Operational Oceanographic System） for analysis and simulation of strong tidal currents in such areas with many small islands, using measurements and modeling from this research area. For accurate prediction of tidal currents, small grid size-modeling was needed,and in this study, we identified a suitable grid size that offers efficiency as well as accuracy.