Sea level rise along China coast in the last 60 years

Hui Wang; Wenshan Li; Wenxi Xiang

doi:10.1007/s13131-022-2066-5

Volume 41 Issue 12

Dec. 2022

Turn off MathJax

Article Contents

Article Navigation > Acta Oceanologica Sinica > 2022 > 41(12): 18-26

Hui Wang, Wenshan Li, Wenxi Xiang. Sea level rise along China coast in the last 60 years[J]. Acta Oceanologica Sinica, 2022, 41(12): 18-26. doi: 10.1007/s13131-022-2066-5

Citation:

Hui Wang, Wenshan Li, Wenxi Xiang. Sea level rise along China coast in the last 60 years[J]. Acta Oceanologica Sinica, 2022, 41(12): 18-26. doi: 10.1007/s13131-022-2066-5

Hui Wang, Wenshan Li, Wenxi Xiang. Sea level rise along China coast in the last 60 years[J]. Acta Oceanologica Sinica, 2022, 41(12): 18-26. doi: 10.1007/s13131-022-2066-5

Citation:

Hui Wang, Wenshan Li, Wenxi Xiang. Sea level rise along China coast in the last 60 years[J]. Acta Oceanologica Sinica, 2022, 41(12): 18-26. doi: 10.1007/s13131-022-2066-5

PDF( 1769 KB)

Sea level rise along China coast in the last 60 years

doi: 10.1007/s13131-022-2066-5

National Marine Data and Information Service, Tianjin 300171, China

More Information

Corresponding author: E-mail: xwx@nmdis.org.cn
Received Date: 2022-04-20
Accepted Date: 2022-05-01

Available Online: 2022-09-19

Publish Date: 2022-12-30

Abstract

Abstract

Based on long-term tide gauge observations in the last 60 years, the temporal and spatial variation characteristics of sea level change along the coast of China are analyzed. The results indicate that the sea level along the coast of China has been rising at an increasing rate, with an estimated acceleration of 0.07 mm/a². The rise rates were 2.4 mm/a, 3.4 mm/a and 3.9 mm/a during 1960–2020, 1980–2020 and 1993–2020, respectively. In the last 40 years, the coastal sea level has risen fastest in the South China Sea and slowest in the Yellow Sea. Seasonal sea levels all show an upward trend but rise faster in winter and spring and slower in autumn. Sea level change along the coast of China has significant periodic oscillations of quasi-2 a, 4 a, 7 a, 11 a, quasi-19 a and 30–50 a, among which the 2–3 a, 11 a, and 30–50 a signals are most remarkable, and the amplitude is approximately 1–2 cm. The coastal sea level in the most recent decade reached its highest value in the last 60 years. The decadal sea level from 2010 to 2019 was approximately 133 mm higher than the average of 1960–1969. Empirical orthogonal function analysis indicates that China’s coastal sea level has been changing in a north-south anti-phase pattern, with Pingtan and Fujian as the demarcation areas. This difference was especially obvious during 1980–1983, 1995–1997 and 2011–2013. The coastal sea level was the highest in 2016, and this extreme sea level event was analyzed to be related mainly to the anomalous wind field and ENSO.
- sea level,
- long-term change,
- tide gauge records,
- spatial and temporal variability

FullText(HTML)

References(53)

References

Ablain M, Legeais J F, Prandi P, et al. 2017. Satellite altimetry-based sea level at global and regional scales. Surveys in Geophysics, 38(1): 7–31. doi: 10.1007/s10712-016-9389-8

Addo K A. 2013. Assessing coastal vulnerability index to climate change: the case of Accra–Ghana. Journal of Coastal Research, 165(sp2): 1892–1897

Arnell N W, Lloyd-Hughes B. 2014. The global-scale impacts of climate change on water resources and flooding under new climate and socio-economic scenarios. Climatic Change, 122(1–2): 127–140

Barbier E B. 2015. Climate change impacts on rural poverty in low-elevation coastal zones. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 165: A1–A13

Blumber A F, Mellor G L. 2013. A description of a three-dimensional coastal ocean circulation model. In: Heaps N S, ed. Three-Dimensional Coastal Ocean Models, Volume 4. Washington: American Geophysical Union, 1–16

Cai Rongshuo. 2010. Climate Change Influence on the Ecosystem in the China Offshore (in Chinese). Beijing: China Ocean Press

Cai Feng, Su Tonghua. 2018. Intraseasonal Variation of the East Asian Summer Monsoon Regulated by the ENSO Cycle. Beijing: China Meteorological Press

Cai Feng, Su Xianze, Liu Jianhui, et al. 2009. Coastal erosion in China under the condition of global climate change and measures for its prevention. Progress in Natural Science, 19(4): 415–426. doi: 10.1016/j.pnsc.2008.05.034

Chen Nan, Han Guoqi, Yang Jingsong. 2018. Mean relative sea level rise along the coasts of the China Seas from mid-20th to 21st centuries. Continental Shelf Research, 152: 27–34. doi: 10.1016/j.csr.2017.12.002

Cheng Yongcun, Ezer T, Hamlington B D. 2016. Sea level acceleration in the China Seas. Water, 8(7): 293. doi: 10.3390/w8070293

Cook J, Oreskes N, Doran P T, et al. 2016. Consensus on consensus: a synthesis of consensus estimates on human-caused global warming. Environmental Research Letters, 11(4): 048002. doi: 10.1088/1748-9326/11/4/048002

Cui Lifang, Ge Zhenming, Yuan Lin, et al. 2015. Vulnerability assessment of the coastal wetlands in the Yangtze Estuary, China to sea-level rise. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 156: 42–51

Dee D P, Uppala S M, Simmons A J, et al. 2011. The ERA-Interim reanalysis: configuration and performance of the data assimilation system. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 137(656): 553–597. doi: 10.1002/qj.828

Fan Daidu, Li Congxian. 2006. Complexities of China’s coast in response to climate change. Advances in Climate Change Research, 2(S1): 54–58

Fang Guohong, Chen Haiying, Wei Zexun, et al. 2006. Trends and interannual variability of the South China Sea surface winds, surface height, and surface temperature in the recent decade. Journal of Geophysical Research, 111(C11): C11S16. doi: 10.1029/2005JC003276

Fang Jiayi, Liu Wei, Yang Saini, et al. 2017. Spatial-temporal changes of coastal and marine disasters risks and impacts in Mainland China. Ocean & Coastal Management, 139: 125–140

Farge M. 1992. Wavelet transforms and their applications to turbulence. Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics, 24: 395–457. doi: 10.1146/annurev.fl.24.010192.002143

Feng Jianlong, Li Delei, Wang Tao, et al. 2019. Acceleration of the extreme sea level rise along the Chinese coast. Earth and Space Science, 6(10): 1942–1956. doi: 10.1029/2019EA000653

Gao Yi, Wang Hui, Liu Guimei, et al. 2014. Risk assessment of tropical storm surges for coastal regions of China. Journal of Geophysical Research, 119(9): 5364–5374. doi: 10.1002/2013JD021268

Gao Zhigang, Zhang Qinghe, Wang Hui, et al. 2016. The impacts of wind and air pressure on fluctuations of the mean Bohai Sea Level. Journal of Coastal Research, 74(sp1): 13–21

Gregory J M, Church J A, Boer G J, et al. 2001. Comparison of results from several AOGCMs for global and regional sea-level change 1900–2100. Climate Dynamics, 18(3–4): 225–240

Gutiérrez O, Panario D, Nagy G J, et al. 2016. Climate teleconnections and indicators of coastal systems response. Ocean & Coastal Management, 122: 64–76

Hamilton J M, Maddison D J, Tol R S J. 2005. Climate change and international tourism: a simulation study. Global Environmental Change, 15(3): 253–266. doi: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2004.12.009

Han Guoqi, Huang Weigen. 2009. Low-frequency sea-level variability in the South China Sea and its relationship to ENSO. Theoretical and Applied Climatology, 97(1): 41–52

Hannachi A, Jolliffe I T, Stephenson D B. 2007. Empirical orthogonal functions and related techniques in atmospheric science: a review. International Journal of Climatology, 27(9): 1119–1152. doi: 10.1002/joc.1499

Hereher M E. 2015. Assessment of South Sinai coastal vulnerability to climate change. Journal of Coastal Research, 31(6): 1469–1477

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). 2014. Summary for policymakers. In: IPCC, ed. Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. Working Group I Contribution to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). 2019. Summary for policymakers. In: Pörtner H O, Roberts D C, Masson-Delmotte V, et al., eds. IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Lau K M, Weng Hengyi. 1995. Climate signal detection using wavelet transform: how to make a time series sing. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 76(12): 2391–2402. doi: 10.1175/1520-0477(1995)076<2391:CSDUWT>2.0.CO;2

Le Cozannet G, Garcin M, Yates M, et al. 2014. Approaches to evaluate the recent impacts of sea-level rise on shoreline changes. Earth-Science Reviews, 138: 47–60. doi: 10.1016/j.earscirev.2014.08.005

Li Wenshan, Wang Hui, Zhang Jianli, et al. 2019. Assessment on sandy coast erosion under sea level rise scenarios along Liaodong Bay. Marine Science Bulletin, 38(1): 31–37

Lin Wenqiang, Lin Hongyang, Hu Jianyu. 2021. The tilt of mean dynamic topography and its seasonality along the coast of the Chinese mainland. Journal of Geophysical Research, 126(2): e2020JC016778. doi: 10.1029/2020JC016778

Liu Shouhua, Chen Changlin, Liu Kexiu, et al. 2015. Vertical motions of tide gauge stations near the Bohai Sea and Yellow Sea. Science China Earth Sciences, 58(12): 2279–2288. doi: 10.1007/s11430-015-5167-6

Liu Bingjun, Peng Sihan, Liao Yeying, et al. 2019. The characteristics and causes of increasingly severe saltwater intrusion in Pearl River Estuary. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 220: 54–63,

McGranahan G, Balk D, Anderson B. 2007. The rising tide: assessing the risks of climate change and human settlements in low elevation coastal zones. Environment and Urbanization, 19(1): 17–37. doi: 10.1177/0956247807076960

Ministry of Natural Resources of the People’s Republic of China. 2019. China Sea Level Bulletin 2018 (in Chinese). Beijing: Ministry of Natural Resources of the People’s Republic of China

Muis S, Verlaan M, Winsemius H C, et al. 2016. A global reanalysis of storm surges and extreme sea levels. Nature Communications, 7: 11969. doi: 10.1038/ncomms11969

Nicholls R J, Cazenave A. 2010. Sea-level rise and its impact on coastal zones. Science, 328(5985): 1517–1520. doi: 10.1126/science.1185782

Nicholls R J, Hanson S E, Lowe J A, et al. 2011. Constructing Sea-Level Scenarios for Impact and Adaptation Assessment of Coastal Area: A Guidance Document. Geneva: Supporting Material, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Task Group on Data and Scenario Support for Impact and Climate Analysis (TGICA), 47

Qu Ying, Jevrejeva S, Jackson L P, et al. 2019. Coastal Sea level rise around the China Seas. Global and Planetary Change, 172: 454–463. doi: 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2018.11.005

Torrence C, Compo G P. 1998. A practical guide to wavelet analysis. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 79(1): 61–78. doi: 10.1175/1520-0477(1998)079<0061:APGTWA>2.0.CO;2

Wahl T, Haigh I D, Woodworth P L, et al. 2013. Observed mean sea level changes around the North Sea coastline from 1800 to present. Earth-Science Reviews, 124: 51–67. doi: 10.1016/j.earscirev.2013.05.003

Wang Hui, Liu Kexiu, Fan Wenjing, et al. 2013. Data uniformity revision and variations of the sea level of the western Bohai Sea. Marine Science Bulletin, 32(3): 256–264

Wang Hui, Liu Kexiu, Fan Wenjing, et al. 2014. Analysis on the sea level anomaly high of 2012 in China coastal area. Haiyang Xuebao (in Chinese), 36(5): 8–17. doi: 10.3969/j.issn.0253-4193.2014.05.002

Wang Hui, Liu Kexiu, Fan Wenjing, et al. 2018a. Analysis on the sea level anomaly high of 2016 in China coastal area. Haiyang Xuebao (in Chinese), 40(2): 43–52

Wang Hui, Liu Kexiu, Gao Zhigang, et al. 2017. Characteristics and possible causes of the seasonal sea level anomaly along the South China Sea coast. Acta Oceanologica Sinica, 36(1): 9–16. doi: 10.1007/s13131-017-0988-0

Wang Hui, Liu Kexiu, Wang Aimei, et al. 2018b. Regional characteristics of the effects of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation on the sea level in the China Sea. Ocean Dynamics, 68(4–5): 485–495

Wilks D S. 2011. Statistical Methods in the Atmospheric Sciences. 3rd ed. Amsterdam: Academic Press, 704

Willis J K, Chambers D P, Nerem R S. 2008. Assessing the globally averaged sea level budget on seasonal to interannual timescales. Journal of Geophysical Research, 113(C6): C06015

World Meteorological Organization (WMO). 2019. WMO Statement on the State of the Global Climate in 2018. Geneva: WMO

World Meteorological Organization (WMO). 2020. WMO Statement on the State of the Global Climate in 2019. Geneva: WMO

Zhang Lu, Ouyang Zhiyun. 2019. Focusing on rapid urbanization areas can control the rapid loss of migratory water bird habitats in China. Global Ecology and Conservation, 20: e00801. doi: 10.1016/j.gecco.2019.e00801

Zhao Changjin, Ge Jianzhong, Ding Pingxing. 2014. Impact of sea level rise on storm surges around the Changjiang Estuary. Journal of Coastal Research, 68(sp1): 27–34

Relative Articles

Supplements(0)

Cited By

Proportional views