최근 동해 해수면 상승

Abstract

Patterns of recent sea level rise in the East/Japan Sea (EJS) are investigated through the analyses of TOPEX/ Poseidon (T/P) sea level anomalies, thermosteric sea level (TSL) and tide gauge data. The 9-year long T/P analyses reveal average trends of 5.4  0.3 mm yr–1 for all of EJS, which is much larger than the global rates of 3.1  0.4 mm yr–1 found by Cabanes et al. [2001]. This T/P rate compares relatively well with those from TSL data and tidal sea level gauges, indicating that sea level rise in the EJS is mainly due to thermal expansion [Kang et al., 2005]. The southern EJS shows a non-uniform sea level trend pattern, with larger rates in the Ulleung and Yamato basins. This non-uniform pattern is discussed in terms of variable thermal expansions arising from a recent decadal trend in the temperature anomaly in the upper layer of the two basins. The 40-year-long TSL time series also reveals a decadal oscillation in the Ulleung and Yamato basins. It is hypothesized that the long-term oscillation in the southern EJS may be related to decadal variability of the heat content anomaly in the upper 300 m of the Pacific Ocean, as reported by Levitus et al. [2000], and to eddy fluctuations in the southern EJS.