InordertostudytheclimatevariabilitiesofthesealevelaroundtheKoreanPeninsula,tidaldataobservedatlocalstationsinKoreawerecomparedagainstthoseobtainedusingTOPEX/POSEIDON(T/P)altimetricsealeveldata.Inthecourseofourstudy,theamountofsealevelrisewasestimatedusingthetidaldatafrom9stationsselectedbyananomalycoherencyanalysis.Theresultsindicatedthatthesealevelhasrisenby0.28cmyr-1aroundtheKoreanPeninsulaoverthepasttwodecades.Theextentofsuchariseisabouttwotimeshigherthanthatoftheglobalincrease(0.1-0.2cmyr-1).However,becausemostglobalwarmingeffectsoccurredmainlyovermid-andhigh-latitudes,thislevelofchangeappearstoberealistic.Accordingtothespectralanalysis(ataspectralwindowofk=2,kisthenumberofsubpisions),thedecadalbandofsealevelvariabilityiscomputedat30%oftheenergy.Itsspectralpeakisfoundat12.8years.Intheinterannualband,thepredominantsealevelvariabilityisinthe1.4-1.9-yearband,withasharppeakat1.6years.Asecondarypeak,althoughmarginal,hasaperiodof2.2years.BasedonourestimatesofsealevelheightfromTopex/Poseidon,thequasi-biennialperiodicityof1.6yearsistherepresentativeinterannualsealevelvariabilityintheseasadjacenttoKorea.Trendsvarygreatlyaccordingtothegeographicallocation,fromamaximumof1.0cmyr-1(thesouthernsectoroftheEastSea)toaminimumof0.17cmyr-1(thenorthernsectoroftheEastSea).Thisisfairlyconsistentwiththequalitativedescriptionalreadygivenwithreferencetotheglobalmap.AsananaloguetothepatternseeninKorea,thatoftheYellowSearevealspracticallythesametrendasthatoftheadjacentseas(0.56cmyr-1).However,inthecaseofTOPEX/POSEIDON(T/P)data,thereisnoclearevidenceofalinkagebetweentheinterannualsealevelvariabilityaroundtheKoreanPeninsulaandENSO.
