Sea level change in China adjacent seas studied using satellite altimeter, satellite gravity, and thermohaline data

doi:10.7523/j.issn.2095-6134.2017.03.011

Abstract

Abstract: We study the sea level changes of China adjacent seas using satellite gravity data, satellite altimeter data, and thermohaline data. The results show that, compared with the global mean sea level rising rate during the period from 1993 to 2014, the sea level rising rate of the South China Sea is very fast, while the rates of the Yellow Sea and East China Sea are slow. The results and analysis based on these three kinds of data indicate that water mass change is the main reason for the sea level rising from 2003 to 2012, but the sea level of the South China Sea is mainly influenced by steric sea level change. The sea level interannual changes of the coastal waters of China have some correlations with ENSO, but the correlation coefficients are small. The sea level of China adjacent seas declined during the period from 2000 to 2005, and then rised again.

Key words: altimeter, GRACE, thermohaline change, coastal waters of China, sea level change

CLC Number:

P731.2

CHANG Le, QIAN An, YI Shuang, XU Changyi, SUN Wenke. Sea level change in China adjacent seas studied using satellite altimeter, satellite gravity, and thermohaline data[J]. , 2017, 34(3): 371-379.

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