Period components in the monthly mean sea level variations in the Pacific Ocean

To study the period components in the monthly mean sea level variations in the Pacific Ocean, this paper analyses the monthly mean series of 236 tide gauge stations in the Pacific on the basis of the improved analytical method of the monthly mean sea level period signals. The results show that the oscillation periods of the sea level series are not fixed, but vary with stations. This paper also discusses the existences of the quasi-2 years atmospheric oscillation period, the 3～7 a period related to the El Nino events, sunspots, double sunspots and the 25～30 a overlength oscillation periods. The corresponding amplitudes and initial phase angles as well as the linear trend coefficient are obtained by using significant period components plus the linear trend to fit the monthly mean sea level series. A conspicuous features of the results are found,i. e.,taking 25°～30°S as the axial line in the Pacific, the annual lags gradually increase to the north and the south respectively, depicting a variation trend of partial symmetry. But in China seas, the north and south distributional trend of the annual period lags is almost opposite to those in most parts of the Pacific Ocean. In the low-latitude zone where El Nino events occur or impose more significant effects, the ratio of the sum of amplitudes of various periods within 2～7 a to the annual amplitude is equal to or more than 1. 0, while that of the sum of amplitudes of periods larger than 8 a to the annual amplitude is equal to or more than 0. 5. This suggests that the dominant role of annual amplitude in the monthly mean sea level series of this region has declined and that, correspondingly, there exist significant period components of El Nino events as well as the long-period oscillations of quasi-10 a and over 10 a. In the high-latitude zone, off China, in North America north of 40°N and the coast of Japan, the annual period oscillation occupies a dominant position in the various period components.

Trend analysis of relative sea level rise or fall of the tide gauge stations in the Pacific

On the basis of the analytical results of the period components of monthly mean sea level of 236 stationsin the Pacific, the period components plus linear trend are ed to fit the monthly mean sea level series. The statisticalresults of linear trend Coefficients of these stations indicate that, if the abnormal values of sea-level rise and fall are neglected, the average rise rate of relative sea level in the Pacific is 1. 16 mm/a. Affected by nonuniformity Of land subsidence and other factors, the regional change of relative sea level rise or fall in the Pacific is greater. In the light of thepositive or negative values of linear trend coefficients as well as the geographical position of the sea area, zoning is madeof the sea level rise or fall in the Pacific including the coastal areas of China and Southeast Asia to obtain the averagerate of rise or fall in each sea area. The rise or fall trends of relative sea level obtained for the entire Pacific Ocean,west coast of North America, the northern and central South America, the greater part of the tropical Pacific and thecoastal Islands of Japan are basically in keeping with the other relevant results. The regional average estimated result ofthe relative sea level in the coast of East Asia is on the rise while the estimated results provided by Barnett tend todrop; the main cause of this nonuniformity is the number of stations selected and the distributional density.