An analysis on the mean sea level change of the seas adjacent to Korea

Monthly changes of sea level recorded on the seas adjacent to Korea (the Huanghai Sea,the East China Sea and the East Sea) are investigated.The major in(fuences on the spatial and temporal variation of mean sea level are quantitatively identified.A set of modes of monthly air pressure variation over the Huanghai Sea,East China Sea and East Sea for the period of 1978-1992 is obtained.Each monthly air pressure distribution can be precisely defined by linear c+nbination of these modes.Hence,the set of air pressure series can be replaced by a set of time varying coefficiertts,where each coefficient describes the contribution of a particular mode to a given air pressure distribution.A selected set of the modal coefficients is then added to a multiple regression model,consisting of a trend,monthly wind stress and tidal termt,in an attempt to represent the effect of meteorological variations on monthly mean sea level on the seas adjacent to Korea.It is found that although the model may account for over 90% of the observed mean sea level variance,there still remains a high correlation between the residuals,hence identifying a regional variation for further study.