Journal of Tropical Oceanography ›› 2015, Vol. 34 ›› Issue (5): 11-18.doi: 10.11978/2014123CSTR: 32234.14.2014123

• Marine Hydrography • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Characteristics and mechanism of the sea level rise in the South China Sea during 2005~2010

QIU Fu-wen1, 2, FANG Wen-dong2, ZHU Da-yong1, CHA Jing1   

  1. 1. The Third Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, Xiamen 361005, China;
    2.State Key Laboratory of Tropical Oceanography (South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences),;Guangzhou 510301, China
  • Received:2014-10-20 Revised:2015-03-23 Online:2015-09-11 Published:2015-09-11

Abstract: Based on the high spatial resolution satellite observation data of sea level anomalies (SLA) and tide gauge station observations, we studied spatial pattern and mechanism of the anomaly high sea level in the South China Sea (SCS) during 2005~2010. The results showed that the basin mean sea level in the SCS had an increasing rate of about 17 mm·a-1 during 2005~2010 and that the spatial distribution of the increasing rate had significant differences in the SCS. The largest rate appeared in the central-west SCS, with an increasing rate of more than 30 mm·a-1; on the other hand, the increasing rate was relatively small in the southern SCS, at about 12 mm·a-1, consistent with the results using tide gauge station data. During 1993~2004, the sea level trend in the SCS was closely associated with the sea surface temperature anomalies caused by the variability of meridional wind. During 2005~2010, three strong La Niña events led to abnormally high sea level in the SCS. In addition, affected by the low-frequency variation of the Southern Oscillation and the North Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO), the wind stress displayed strong easterly wind anomaly in the central-west basin of the SCS, resulting in anomaly negative wind stress curl, which also led to abnormally high sea level in the SCS.

Key words: sea level anomaly, trend, low-frequency oscillation, South China Sea