Sea Level Variability at Ieodo Ocean Research Station 2009-2019

Abstract

Observation data measured at Ieodo ocean research station (IORS) have been analyzed in oceanographic and atmospheric studies since 2003. Sea level data observed at the IORS have not been studied as much compared with many other variables such as turbulent flux, wind, wave, temperature, and salinity. Total sea level rise at the IORS (5.6 mm yr-1) from both satellite and tide-gauge observations were higher than those in the northeast Asian marginal seas (5.4 mm yr-1) and the world (4.6 mm yr-1) from satellite observation from 2009 to 2018. The thermosteric, halosteric, and steric sea level rise rates were 2.7∼4.8, -0.7∼2.6, 2.3∼7.4 mm yr-1. The rising rate of the steric sea level was higher than that of the total sea level with additional data quality control. Calculating the non-steric sea level was not found to yield meaningful results, despite the ability to calculate non-steric sea level by merely subtracting the steric sea level from the total sea level. This uncertainty was not likely to arise from the data analysis but from a lack of adequate data, even though the time series of tide, temperature, and salinity were strictly processed based on two levels of quality control procedure by Korea Hydrographic and Oceanography Agency. The sea level time series observed from the IORS suggest that the maintenance management of observation systems, equipment, and data quality control should be improved to facilitate data use from the IORS.