Sea of Japan

Physiography

The sea is almost elliptical, having its major axis from southwest to northeast. To the north it is approximately bounded by latitude 51°45′ N, while to the south it is bounded by a line drawn from the Japanese island of Kyushu westward through the Gotō Islands of Japan to the South Korean island of Cheju and then northward to the Korean Peninsula.

The sea itself lies in a deep basin, separated from the East China Sea to the south by the Tsushima and Korea straits and from the Sea of Okhotsk to the north by the La Perouse (or Sōya) and Tatar straits. To the east it is also connected with the Inland Sea of Japan by the Kanmon Strait and to the Pacific by the Tsugaru Strait.

The Sea of Japan is a classic semienclosed sea, since its connections with adjacent bodies of water are greatly restricted by the narrow straits. Inflow of water takes place primarily through the eastern and western channels of the Korea Strait; the inflow of water into the Sea of Japan through the narrow and shallow Tatar Strait is negligible, while through the Tsugaru and La Perouse straits the water flows out of the Sea of Japan.

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Water and its Varying Forms

Underwater the sea is separated into the Japan Basin to the north, the Yamato Basin to the southeast, and the Tsushima Basin to the southwest. While a narrow continental shelf fringes Siberia and the Korean Peninsula, on the Japanese side of the sea there are wider continental shelves, as well as groups of banks, troughs, and basins lying offshore. The banks lying off the coasts of Japan are divided into groups, which include Okujiri Ridge, Sado Ridge, Hakusan Banks, Wakasa Ridge, and Oki Ridge.

Geology

Yamato Ridge consists of granite, rhyolite, andesite, and basalt, with boulders of volcanic rock scattered on the seabed. Geophysical investigation has revealed that, while the ridge is of continental origin, the Japan Basin and the Yamato Basin are of oceanic origin.

Bottom deposits in the Sea of Japan indicate that sediments of continental origin, such as mud, sand, gravel, and fragments of rock, exist down to depths of some 650 to 1,000 feet (200 to 300 metres); hemipelagic sediments (i.e., half of oceanic origin), mainly consisting of blue mud rich in organic matter, are found down to depths of about 1,000 to 2,600 feet (300 to 800 metres); and deeper pelagic sediments, consisting of red mud, are found down to the sea’s greatest depths.

The four straits connecting the sea either to the Pacific Ocean or to marginal seas were formed in recent geologic periods. The oldest of these are the Tsugaru and Tsushima straits, the formation of which interrupted the migration of elephants into the Japanese islands at the end of the Neogene Period (about 2.6 million years ago); the most recent is La Perouse Strait, which was formed about 60,000 to 11,000 years ago and which closed the route used by the mammoths whose fossils have been found in Hokkaido.

Climate

The Sea of Japan influences the climate of Japan because of its relatively warm waters; evaporation is especially noticeable in winter, when an enormous quantity of water vapour rises in the region between the cold, dry polar air mass and the warm, moist tropical air mass. From December to March the prevailing northwest monsoon wind carries cold and dry continental polar air masses over the warmer waters of the sea, resulting in snow along the mountainous western coasts of Japan. In summer the southerly tropical monsoon blows from the North Pacific onto the Asian mainland, causing dense fog when its warm and moist winds blow over the cold currents that prevail over the northern part of the sea at that season. The winter monsoon brings rough seas and causes coastal erosion along the western coasts of Japan.

The northern part of the sea, especially off the Siberian coast as well as in the Tatar Strait, freezes in winter; as a result of convection, melted ice feeds the cold currents in that part of the sea in spring and summer.

Hydrology

The waters of the sea generally circulate in a counterclockwise pattern. A branch of the Kuroshio (Japan Current), the Tsushima Current, together with its northern branch, the East Korea Warm Current, flows north, bringing warmer and more saline water before flowing into the Pacific through the Tsugaru Strait as the Tsugaru Current, as well as into the Sea of Okhotsk through the La Perouse Strait as the Sōya Current. Along the coast of the Asian mainland three cold currents—the Liman, North Korea, and Central (or Mid-) Japan Sea cold currents—bring cooler, relatively fresh water southward.

The enclosed nature of the Sea of Japan and its three deep basins facilitate the formation of distinct water masses. In the summer months, when the surface is heated by higher air temperatures, a distinct thermocline separates the surface water from the middle water, which is characterized by relatively high temperatures and salinities. The middle water’s origin is in the intermediate water layers of the Kuroshio off the coast of Kyushu that enter the Sea of Japan via the Tsushima Current during the winter and spring. A third water mass, the deep water, forms in February and March by the cooling of the water surface in the northern part of the sea; it is of very uniform character, with temperatures ranging narrowly between 32° and 33° F (0° and 0.5° C). The formation of these water masses, particularly the middle water, influences the concentration of dissolved oxygen, which is generally very high; and this contributes to the productive fisheries of the sea.