Daily Mean Sea Level and Atmospheric Pressure Along the Coasts of the Northwestern Pacific Ocean

Daily mean sea level variability and its response to atmospheric pressure along the coasts of the northwestern Pacific Ocean are investigated. Daily values of sea level and atmospheric pressure covering the period 1976-1986 from 72 stations are analyzed. The sea level and the air pressure in all the data set have a definite seasonal signal, and higher frequency oscillations at time scales of several days to several weeks are also observed. Among the short-period oscillations of sea level with periods shorter than six months, the period of around 3 or 4 months is dominant in most study stations. According to the statistical analysis of sea level and air pressure, the length scale of sea level variability is smaller than that of air pressure for the present study area. The overall variability of sea level is found to be the smallest around Hokkaido, Japan and the largest in the China coasts. Large short-period (< 6 months) sea level variability is found in the southern coasts of China and Hokkaido, and large long-period (> 6 months) variability in the southern coasts of Japan and Korea along Tsushima Current and Kuroshio. The patterns of air pressure are very similar to those of sea level. The air pressure field is found to account for 31% of the overall sea level variability in the study area. Conside.ins the fact that the results (40%) of Pang and Oh (1995) were obtained through monthly sea level, the present result implies that the short-period sea level variability is less affected by air pressure. Generally the sea level response to air pressure are found to be isostatic, but significantly nonisostatic for the periods around 4 months and for those of 2 to 4 days. In particular, nonisostatic response for higher frequencies seem to be due to the restrictions to water transport necessary for barometric responsein the Korea Strait.