Korean Ocean Research and Development Institute

About: Korean Ocean Research and Development Institute is a facility organization based out in Busan, South Korea. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Sea surface temperature & Gene. The organization has 1770 authors who have published 3032 publications receiving 50142 citations.

Rectification of ENSO Variability by Interdecadal Changes in the Equatorial Background Mean State in a CGCM Simulation

Abstract: The link between the changes in equatorial background stratification and El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) modulation is investigated using a simulation from a 260-yr-long coupled general circulation model (CGCM). The work focuses on the role of nonlinearities associated with equatorial wave dynamics. As a first step, the low-frequency change in mean stratification is diagnosed and documented from the shallow-water parameters derived from a vertical mode decomposition of the CGCM. The parameters vary differently according to the baroclinic mode order, which may explain why a flattening thermocline does not necessarily lead to reduced ENSO activity. Estimations of baroclinic mode contributions to zonal current anomalies indicate that the decadal variability projects differently for the baroclinic modes as compared to the interannual variability. In particular, the high-order modes associated with decadal variability have a more pronounced signature in the western Pacific, whereas that associated with interannual variability (i.e., ENSO) shows more energy in the eastern Pacific. In the light of the results of the CGCM vertical mode decomposition, an intermediate coupled model (ICM) is used to test whether the nonlinearities associated with the changes in the baroclinic mode energy distribution can lead to coherent ENSO modulation. The results indicate that rectification of the interannual variability (ENSO time scales) by the interdecadal variability associated with changes in the oceanic mean states takes place in the ICM. The rectified effect results mostly in an increased variability and skewness of the zonal advection, which tends to produce a zonal seesaw of the sea surface temperature anomaly. A tropical mechanism for producing ENSO modulation is then proposed that reconciles both the rectified effect resulting from nonlinearities associated with equatorial wave dynamics and the tropical decadal mode of thermocline depth arising from Ekman-pumping anomalies located in the central South Pacific.

Proteomic Characterization of Plasmid pLA1 for Biodegradation of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in the Marine Bacterium, Novosphingobium pentaromativorans US6-1

Abstract: Novosphingobium pentaromativorans US6-1 is a halophilic marine bacterium able to degrade polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Genome sequence analysis revealed that the large plasmid pLA1 present in N. pentaromativorans US6-1 consists of 199 ORFs and possess putative biodegradation genes that may be involved in PAH degradation. 1-DE/LC-MS/MS analysis of N. pentaromativorans US6-1 cultured in the presence of different PAHs and monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (MAHs) identified approximately 1,000 and 1,400 proteins, respectively. Up-regulated biodegradation enzymes, including those belonging to pLA1, were quantitatively compared. Among the PAHs, phenanthrene induced the strongest up-regulation of extradiol cleavage pathway enzymes such as ring-hydroxylating dioxygenase, putative biphenyl-2,3-diol 1,2-dioxygenase, and catechol 2,3-dioxygenase in pLA1. These enzymes lead the initial step of the lower catabolic pathway of aromatic hydrocarbons through the extradiol cleavage pathway and participate in the attack of PAH ring cleavage, respectively. However, N. pentaromativorans US6-1 cultured with p-hydroxybenzoate induced activation of another extradiol cleavage pathway, the protocatechuate 4,5-dioxygenase pathway, that originated from chromosomal genes. These results suggest that N. pentaromativorans US6-1 utilizes two different extradiol pathways and plasmid pLA1 might play a key role in the biodegradation of PAH in N. pentaromativorans US6-1.

The cooling heat transfer characteristics of the supercritical CO 2 in micro-fin tube

Abstract: This study intended to verify the cooling heat transfer characteristics of supercritical gas for refrigerating and air-conditioning devices that use CO2, a natural refrigerant, as the operating fluid. Experiments were performed with a gas cooler, which was the test part. The gas cooler was a heat exchanger made of a micro-fin tube with an inner diameter of 4.6 mm and an outer diameter of 5.0 mm. The experiment results are summarized as follows. The heat transfer coefficient, according to the mass flux, peaked at the low cooling pressure of 8.0 MPa in the gas cooler, and reached its minimum at the high pressure of 10.0 MPa. Furthermore, when the mass flux of the refrigerant increased, the coefficient increased faster with the lower cooling pressure in the gas cooler. The heat transfer coefficient, according to the shape of the heat transfer tube, showed that the maximum values of the CO2 cooling heat transfer coefficients of the smooth tube and the micro-fin tube were found at 44.7 °C, which were the pseudo-critical temperatures for the entrance pressures. It was found that the cooling heat transfer coefficient of the micro-fin tube increased by 12–39 % more than that of the smooth tube. The experiment results for the CO2 heat transfer coefficients of the smooth tube and the micro-fin tube were compared with the results estimated from previous correlations. It was found that the experiment values generally significantly differed from and the experiment values greater than the estimated values. The differences were especially greater in the vicinity of the critical temperature points. Based on these results, a new correlation was suggested that includes the density ratio and the specific heat ratio.