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Daily News Analysis

Yellow Sea

12th December, 2023 Geography

Yellow Sea

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Context

  • A US F-16 fighter appears to have crashed into Yellow Sea waters off the coast of South Korea recently.

About the Yellow Sea

  • In the western Pacific Ocean, it is a marginal sea.
  • It is located between the Chinese mainland to the west and north, the Korean Peninsula to the east, and the Shandong and Liaodong Peninsulas to the
  • It is located north of the East China Sea.
  • The sea was named after the yellowish sand particles that settle on the water's surface from the Gobi Desert, giving it a golden yellow colour.
  • The Yellow Sea, also known as Huang Hai in China and the West Sea in North and South Korea, is 870 kilometers long and 556 kilometers wide, encompassing an area of 380,000 square kilometers.
  • Depth: It is one of the world's shallowest continental shelf sections, with an average depth of 44 meters and a maximum depth of 152 meters.
  • The Hai River, the Yalu River, the Han River, the Taedong River, and the Yellow River are the primary rivers that drain into the Yellow Sea.
  • The Yellow Sea is dotted with several islands, the largest of which are Jeju Island in South Korea, the Shandong Peninsula islands in China, and Ganghwa Island in South Korea.
  • The climate is defined by severely cold, dry winters and moist, warm summers.
  • Currents:
  • The warm current of the Yellow Sea is a part of the Tsushima Current, which diverges near the western part of the Japanese island of Kyushu and flows at less than 0.5 miles (0.8 km) per hour northward into the middle of the sea.
  • Along the continental coasts, southward-flowing currents prevail, which strengthen markedly in the winter monsoon period, when the water is cold, turbid, and of low salinity.

PRACTICE QUESTION

What is the geographical significance of the Yellow Sea. Discuss.