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Kitack Lee

Pohang University of Science and Technology · Earth and Planetary Sciences

About the Lab

Professor Kitack Lee's research lab specializes in marine biogeochemistry, with a focus on the global carbon cycle, oceanic uptake of anthropogenic CO₂, and the impacts of atmospheric deposition on marine nutrient dynamics. The lab employs high-precision field measurements and advanced inverse modeling techniques to quantify changes in oceanic inorganic carbon, alkalinity, and nutrient budgets across diverse oceanic regimes. Key research directions include developing robust algorithms for estimating surface alkalinity from salinity and temperature, assessing the role of atmospheric nitrogen deposition in enhancing marine productivity, and refining carbonate system thermodynamics for improved climate modeling. The lab’s work bridges observational oceanography with climate system modeling to enhance understanding of ocean carbon sequestration and ecosystem responses to anthropogenic forcing.

ocean carbon cycleanthropogenic CO₂atmospheric depositionmarine biogeochemistrycarbonate system

Research Overview

Papers
224
Total Citations
19,370
Papers (5y)
46
Primary Field
Earth and Planetary Sciences

Research Output Trend

Figures are computed from collected data and may differ slightly.

Publications per year (5y)
46total
2022
2023
2024
2025
2026
Citations per year (5y)
322total
20222023202420252026

Selected Papers

15
1
Article|682 citations·2010
The universal ratio of boron to chlorinity for the North Pacific and North Atlantic oceans
Kitack Lee, Tae‐Wook Kim, Robert H. Byrne, Frank J. Millero, Richard A. Feely, Yongming Liu
SJR Q1Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta
OceanographyEarth and Planetary Sciences
2
Article|595 citations·2006
Global relationships of total alkalinity with salinity and temperature in surface waters of the world's oceans
Kitack Lee, Lan T. Tong, Frank J. Millero, Christopher L. Sabine, Andrew G. Dickson, Catherine Goyet, Geun‐Ha Park, Rik Wanninkhof, Richard A. Feely, Robert M. Key
SJR Q1Geophysical Research LettersOA

A simple function of sea surface salinity (SSS) and temperature (SST) in the form A T = a + b (SSS − 35) + c (SSS − 35) 2 + d (SST − 20) + e (SST − 20) 2 fits surface total alkalinity (A T ) data for each of five oceanographic regimes within an area‐weighted uncertainty of ±8.1 μ mol kg −1 (1 σ ). Globally coherent surface A T data (n = 5,692) used to derive regional correlations of A T with SSS and SST were collected during the global carbon survey in the 1990s. Such region‐specific A T algorit

OceanographyEarth and Planetary Sciences
3
Article|280 citations·2011
Increasing N Abundance in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean Due to Atmospheric Nitrogen Deposition
Tae‐Wook Kim, Kitack Lee, Raymond G. Najjar, Hee-Dong Jeong, Hae Jin Jeong
SJR Q1Science

The relative abundance of nitrate (N) over phosphorus (P) has increased over the period since 1980 in the marginal seas bordering the northwestern Pacific Ocean, located downstream of the populated and industrialized Asian continent. The increase in N availability within the study area was mainly driven by increasing N concentrations and was most likely due to deposition of pollutant nitrogen from atmospheric sources. Atmospheric nitrogen deposition had a high temporal correlation with N availab

OceanographyEarth and Planetary Sciences
4
Article|202 citations·2001
Global net community production estimated from the annual cycle of surface water total dissolved inorganic carbon
Kitack Lee
SJR Q1Limnology and OceanographyOA

Global net community production is determined, for the first time, from the decrease in salinity (S)ߚnormalized total dissolved inorganic carbon (NC T = C T × 35/S) inventory in the surface mixed layer corrected for changes due to net airߚsea CO 2 exchange and diffusive carbon flux from the upper thermocline. Changes in the mixed layer NC T inventory are estimated using a derived annual cycle of NC T and global records of the mixed layer depth. The annual NC T cycle is deduced from regional algo

OceanographyEarth and Planetary Sciences
5
Article|175 citations·1998
Low interannual variability in recent oceanic uptake of atmospheric carbon dioxide
Kitack Lee, Rik Wanninkhof, Taro Takahashi, Scott C. Doney, Richard A. Feely
SJR Q1Nature
Global and Planetary ChangeEnvironmental Science
6
Article|135 citations·2003
An updated anthropogenic CO2 inventory in the Atlantic Ocean
Kitack Lee, Sung‐Deuk Choi, Geun-Ha Park, Rik Wanninkhof, T.‐H. Peng, Robert M. Key, C. L. Sabine, Richard A. Feely, John L. Bullister, Frank J. Millero, Alex Kozyr
SJR Q1Global Biogeochemical CyclesOA

This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the basin‐wide inventory of anthropogenic CO 2 in the Atlantic Ocean based on high‐quality inorganic carbon, alkalinity, chlorofluorocarbon, and nutrient data collected during the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) Hydrographic Program, the Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS), and the Ocean‐Atmosphere Carbon Exchange Study (OACES) surveys of the Atlantic Ocean between 1990 and 1998. Anthropogenic CO 2 was separated from the large pool of d

OceanographyEarth and Planetary Sciences
7
Article|129 citations·2014
Impact of atmospheric nitrogen deposition on phytoplankton productivity in the South China Sea
Tae‐Wook Kim, Kitack Lee, Robert A. Duce, Peter S. Liss
SJR Q1Geophysical Research LettersOA

The impacts of anthropogenic nitrogen (N) deposition on the marine N cycle are only now being revealed, but the magnitudes of those impacts are largely unknown in time and space. The South China Sea (SCS) is particularly subject to high anthropogenic N deposition, because the adjacent countries are highly populated and have rapidly growing economies. Analysis of data sets for atmospheric N deposition, satellite chlorophyll-a (Chl-a), and air mass back trajectories reveals that the transport of N

OceanographyEarth and Planetary Sciences
8
Article|110 citations·2000
The recommended dissociation constants for carbonic acid in seawater
Kitack Lee, Frank J. Millero, Robert H. Byrne, Richard A. Feely, Rik Wanninkhof
SJR Q1Geophysical Research Letters

A coherent representation of carbonate dissociation constants and measured inorganic carbon species is essential for a wide range of environmentally important issues such as oceanic uptake of anthropogenic CO 2 and carbon cycle depictions in ocean circulation models. Previous studies have shown varying degrees of discordance between calculated and measured CO 2 ‐system parameters. It is unclear if this is due to errors in thermodynamic models or in measurements. In this work, we address this iss

OceanographyEarth and Planetary Sciences
9
Article|104 citations·2017
Observational evidence for the formation of DMS-derived aerosols during Arctic phytoplankton blooms
Ki‐Tae Park, Sehyun Jang, Kitack Lee, Young Jun Yoon, Min‐Seob Kim, Kihong Park, Hee-Joo Cho, Jung‐Ho Kang, R. Udisti, Bang‐Yong Lee, Kyung‐Hoon Shin
SJR Q1Atmospheric chemistry and physicsOA

Abstract. The connection between marine biogenic dimethyl sulfide (DMS) and the formation of aerosol particles in the Arctic atmosphere was evaluated by analyzing atmospheric DMS mixing ratio, aerosol particle size distribution and aerosol chemical composition data that were concurrently collected at Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard (78.5° N, 11.8° E), during April and May 2015. Measurements of aerosol sulfur (S) compounds showed distinct patterns during periods of Arctic haze (April) and phytoplankton bloo

Atmospheric ScienceEarth and Planetary Sciences
10
Article|91 citations·2000
Global relationships of total inorganic carbon with temperature and nitrate in surface seawater
Kitack Lee, Rik Wanninkhof, Richard A. Feely, Frank J. Millero, Tsung‐Hung Peng
SJR Q1Global Biogeochemical CyclesOA

High quality total inorganic carbon ( C T ) measurements made in the major ocean basins as part of the Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Ocean Atmosphere Carbon Exchange Study (NOAA/OACES), and the Department of Energy/World Ocean Circulation Experiment (DOE/WOCE) programs are related to sea surface temperature (SST) and nitrate (NO 3 − ). A simple two‐parameter function with SST and NO 3 − of the form NC T = a + b SST + c SST 2 + d NO 3 −

OceanographyEarth and Planetary Sciences
11
Article|89 citations·2011
Roles of marginal seas in absorbing and storing fossil fuel CO2
Kitack Lee, Christopher L. Sabine, Toste Tanhua, Tae‐Wook Kim, Richard A. Feely, Hyun‐Cheol Kim
SJR Q1Energy & Environmental ScienceOA

We review data on the absorption of anthropogenic CO2 by Northern Hemisphere marginal seas (Arctic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, Sea of Okhotsk, and East/Japan Sea) and its transport to adjacent major basins, and consider the susceptibility to recent climatic change of key factors that influence CO2 uptake by these marginal seas. Dynamic overturning circulation is a common feature of these seas, and this effectively absorbs anthropogenic CO2 and transports it from the surface to the interior of the

Environmental ChemistryEnvironmental Science
12
Article|88 citations·2020
Anthropogenic nitrogen is changing the East China and Yellow seas from being N deficient to being P deficient
Ji‐Young Moon, Kitack Lee, Weol‐Ae Lim, Eunil Lee, Minhan Dai, Yang‐Ho Choi, In‐Seong Han, Kyoungsoon Shin, Ja‐Myung Kim, Jinho Chae
SJR Q1Limnology and OceanographyOA

Abstract Addition of the increased anthropogenic nitrogen (NO x and NH y ) emitted from northeast Asian countries to the Yellow and East China seas and coastal waters around Korea has resulted in an unparalleled increase in the nitrate (N) concentration relative to the phosphate (P) and silicate (Si) concentrations in the upper ocean. We found that for the Yellow Sea the increase in N over P was largely explained by increased atmospheric nitrogen deposition, whereas for the northern East China S

OceanographyEarth and Planetary Sciences
13
Article|82 citations·2002
Global estimates of net carbon production in the nitrate‐depleted tropical and subtropical oceans
Kitack Lee, David M. Karl, Rik Wanninkhof, Jia‐Zhong Zhang
SJR Q1Geophysical Research LettersOA

Nitrate availability is generally considered to be the limiting factor for oceanic new production and this concept is central in our observational and modeling efforts. However, recent time‐series observations off Bermuda and Hawaii indicate a significant removal of total dissolved inorganic carbon (C T ) in the absence of measurable nitrate. Here we estimate net carbon production in nitrate‐depleted tropical and subtropical waters with temperatures higher than 20°C from the decrease in the sali

OceanographyEarth and Planetary Sciences
14
Article|79 citations·1995
Thermodynamic studies of the carbonate system in seawater
Kitack Lee, Frank J. Millero
SJR Q1Deep Sea Research Part I Oceanographic Research PapersOA

Laboratory measurements of the components of the carbonate system (pH, fCO2, TCO2 and TA) were made on Gulf Stream seawater and Certified Reference Material (CRM) as a function of salinity (33–37), temperature (0–40°C) and the ratio TA/TCO2 (1.02 to 1.25). The pH (±0.002) was determined by spectrophotometry; the fCO2 (±2 μatm) with an infrared detector; the TCO2 (±2μol kg−1) by coulometry; and theTA (±2μmol kg−1) by potentiometric titrations. The results were used to examine the internal consist

OceanographyEarth and Planetary Sciences
15
Article|77 citations·1997
The carbon dioxide system in the Atlantic Ocean
Kitack Lee, Frank J. Millero, Rik Wanninkhof
SJR Q1Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres

During the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Ocean Atmosphere Carbon Exchange Study expedition in the eastern North Atlantic in summer 1993, measurements of four CO 2 parameters, along with hydrographic properties, were made: fugacity Of CO 2 , ƒCO 2 (measured at 20°C and in situ); p H (measured at 20°C); total inorganic carbon, TCO 2 ; and total alkalinity, TA. The major objective of this cruise was to establish a benchmark against which future measurements of the transient inva

OceanographyEarth and Planetary Sciences

Research Areas

OceanographyAtmospheric ScienceGlobal and Planetary ChangeEcologyEnvironmental ChemistryElectrical and Electronic Engineering

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