Relationship between Sea Level Change and Volume Transport in the East China Sea, Yellow Sea, and East Sea

Abstract

There are three straits, Korea/Tsushima (KS), Tsugaru (TS), and Soya (SS) Straits, except the narrow and shallow Tatarsky Strait at the northern tip of the East Sea (ES), and there is no strait in the East China Sea (ECS) and Yellow Sea (YS). The change in sea level can be divided into the fluctuation of atmospheric pressure and steric and mass components. The ESC, YS, and ES widths are more than 100 km, except the Tsugaru (~20 km) and Soya (~50 km) Straits in the ES. We calculated monthly mean volume transports in the KS, TS, SS, and the southern boundary of the YS in September and December. The mean volume transport was ~0 Sv in the YS, and the volume transport divergence among KS, TS, and SS was -0.13 ~ -0.15 SV, which can lower the sea level in the ES by 34 ~ 40 cm. We calculated the volume transport divergence with several reanalysis data and discussed the correctness and importance of volume transport in the semi-enclosed sea. The results suggest the sea level change calculation obstacles related to data assimilation, grid resolution, and regrinding in data analysis.