Trend of Sea Level Change Along the Coast of Korean Peninsula

Trend of sea level change has been analysed by using the tidal data gathered at the 12 tide stations along the coast of Korean peninsula. Analysis and prediction of the sea level change were performed by Principal Component Analysis (PCA). For the period of 20 years from 1976 to 1995, the trend generally shows a rising pattern such as 0.22 cm/yr, 0.29 cm/yr, and 0.59 cm/yr along the eastern, southern, and western coast of Korea, respectively. On the average the sea level around the Korean peninsula seems to be rising at a rate of 0.37 cm/yr. Adopting the average rate to the sea level prediction model proposed by EPA (Titus and Narrayanan, 1995), the sea level may be approximately 50$\~$60 cm higher than the present sea level by the end of the next century.