The Korea Hydrographic and Oceanographic Administration announced that a research paper entitled "Analysis of Oceanic Current Maps of the East Sea in the Secondary School Science Textbooks," published in the Korea Earth Science Society Journal in 2011, became the winner of the Twenty-second Science Technology Superior Paper Award of the Korean Federation of Science and Technology Societies

※ The date and venue of the award ceremony: Thursday, July 5, 2012, at COEX, Seoul

The paper, a proud accomplishment of the research on "mapping the oceanic currents of the East Sea" jointly conducted by the Korea Hydrographic and Oceanographic Administration, Seoul National University, and Kunsan National University, pointed out errors that occurred in the illustration of oceanic current maps of the East Sea in science textbooks by acquiring, analyzing, and comparing the oceanic current maps of the seas around Korea that had been published in the research papers from home and abroad and in secondary school science and earth science textbooks of 27 kinds, in addition to suggesting technical elements that are required when mapping oceanic currents of the East Sea, such as unification of the projection methods and the points to be considered concerning the description of the East Sea oceanic currents.

※ Points to consider when it comes to describing the East Sea oceanic currents: the vicinity of the Straits of Korea and the oceanic current basins past the Straits of Korea, coastal key distances of the East Korean Warm Current, the latitude of turning to the east of the East Korean Warm Current and its northward-propagating, the Tsushima Warm Current that flows along the Japanese coast, the Tsushima Warm Current of the center area of the East Sea, etc.

Unfortunately, in the marine science academic circle of Korea, so far, there has been no oceanic current maps about the seas that surround the country, so the vast majority of the oceanic current maps published in reference books or textbooks simply resorted to relying on a documentation (1934) made by Uda, a Japanese marine scientist during the Japanese Colonial Era, as a source of reference.

The Korea Hydrographic and Oceanographic Administration, after creating an oceanic current map reflecting the opinions of experts in academia based on last year's analysis results of documents on oceanic currents, started a research project on creating an oceanic current map of the vicinity areas of Korea this year in order to suggest an oceanic current map of the seas that surround Korea in a unified manner.  Going forward, after taking various measures, such as taking inputs from academia, the Korea Hydrographic and Oceanographic Administration plans to suggest a comprehensive oceanic current map of the surrounding seas of Korea that most closely reflects the up-to-date scientific knowledge