• Proceedings of KOSOMES biannual meeting
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.219-225
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• 2003

The present study intends to assess the long-term steric sea-level change and its prediction, and potential impacts to the sea-level rise due to the 21st global warming in the coastal zone of the Korea in which much socioeconomic activities have been occurred. The analysis of the 23 tide-gauge data near Korea reveals the overall mean sea-level trend of 2.31 mm/yr.In the satellite altimeter data (Topex/Poseidon and ERS), the sea-level trend in the East Sea is 4.6mm/yr. Both are larger than those of the global average value. However, it is quite questionable that the sea-level trends with the tide-gauge data on the neighboring seas of Korea relate to global warming because of the relatively short observation period and large spatial variability. It is also not clear whether the high trend of altimeter data in the East Sea is related to the acceleration of sea level rise in the Sea, short response time of the Sea, natural variability such as decadal variability, short duration of the altimeter. The coastal zone of Korea appears to be quite vulnerable to the 21st sea level rise such that for the I-m sea level rise with high tide and storm surge, the inundation area is 2,643 km2, which is about $1.2\%$ of total area and the population in the risk areas of inundation is 1.255 million, about $2.6\%$ of total population. The coastal zone west of Korea is appeared to be the most vulnerable area compared to the east and south. In the west of the Korea, the North Korea appears to be more vulnerable than South Korea. In order to cope with the future possible impact of sea-level rise to the coastal zone of Korea effectively, it is essential to improve scientific information in the sea-level rise trend, regional prediction, and vulnerability assessment near Korean coast.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.11 no.11
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• pp.1141-1147
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• 2002

Based on the tide gauge data from the Permanent Service for Meau Sea Level (PSMSL) collected at 23 locations in the Korean coast, the long-term sea-level trend was computed using a simple linear regression fit over the recorded length of the monthly mean sea-level data. The computed sea-level trend was also corrected for the vertical land movement due to post glacial rebound(PGR) using the ICE-4G(VM2) model output. It was found that the PGR-corrected sea-level trend near Korea was 2.310 $\pm$ 2.220 mm/yr, which is higher than the global average at 1.0∼2.0mm/yr, as assessed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC). The regional distribution of the long-term sea-level trend near Korea revealed that the South Sea had the largest sea-level rise followed by the West Sea and East Sea, respectively, supporting the results of the previous study by Seo et al. However, due to the relatively short record period and large spatial variability, the sea-level trend from the tide gauge data for the Korean coast could be biased with a steric sea-level rise by the global warming during the 20th century.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.327-333
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• 2005

Sea level (MSL, MHWL, or MLWL) change has been main concern to scientists and engineers and it can be primarily due to both change of climate and vertical movement of land. This paper reports the intensive analysis of the sea level changes and broad discussion of the future at the southwestern coast of Korean peninsula. Regression analysis was conducted to investigate general tendency and periodicity of the sea levels at the six different study sites such as Gunsan-I(inner port), Gunsan-O(outer port), Mokpo, Yeosu, Heuksan and Jeju and the results were compared with global values. Besides the changes of sea levels due to global warming, the influence of the man-made structure such as seadike and seawall was attempted to quantify using the minimization of the Root Mean Square(RMS) error. The results show that it is a general tendency that the values of mean sea level rise at the southwestern coast of Korean Peninsula, especially at Gunsan-I and Jeju, are somewhat larger compared to global average values. There is also some evidence that tidal amplifications are found just after construction of man-made structure at Gunsan-I and Mokpo. However, both sites show different mechanism in relation to tidal choking, tidal flat and river discharge. The impact due to construction of man-made structure is considerably larger at Mokpo site, while the impacts due to man-made structure and the effect of sea level rise are relatively identical at Gunsan-I site. This study is expected to provide some intuition to future design.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.520-532
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• 2015

In order to understand the Holocene sea level changes in the eastern Yellow Sea, the west coast of Korea, and to compare the rates of sea level rise in each period of time, the geological proxy records for pre-instrumental era and measurement data for the present day were combined and analysed. The sea level in the Yellow Sea rose fast with a rate of about 10 mm/yr during the early Holocene, and decelerated down to 1 mm/yr since the mid to late Holocene. The rising rates of sea level in the 20th century were slightly higher than those in the late Holocene. The present-day rates of sea level rise, known as the 'rapid' rise, are in fact much lower or similar, compared to the early to mid Holocene sea levels in the study area. Recent tide-gauge data show that sea level rise in the eastern Yellow Sea has been accelerating toward the 21st century. These rising trends coincide well with global rising patterns in sea level. Additionally, the present-day rising trends of sea level in this study are correlated with increased rates of carbon dioxide concentrations and sea surface temperatures, further indicating a signal to global warming associated with the human effect. Thus, the sea level changes induced by current global warming observed in the eastern Yellow Sea and world's oceans can be considered as 'Anthropocene' sea level changes. The changes in sea level are based on instrumental measurements such as tide-gauges and satellite altimetry, meaning the instrumental era. The Holocene changes in sea level can thus be reconstructed from geological proxy records, whereas the Anthropocene sea-level changes can be solely based on instrumental measurements.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.409-418
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• 2013

On the assumption of the rise of sea level, the inundation vulnerabilities on coastal areas of Korea are evaluated in different ways. The propose of this study is to find out the influences of sea level rise caused by global warming at Young-do coastal area, and to suggest the prevention schemes against the flooding damage caused by the sea level rise. The potential rates of sea level rise are assumed and with these rates the inundation vulnerabilities are simulated using CAD program. With the virtual maps, as the results of the previous CAD simulation, this study attempts to suggest the flood prevention schemes for each sector of damage-expected coastal area.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.604-613
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• 2016

The sea level of the Earth is rising approximately 2.0mm per year (global average value) due to thermal expansion of sea water, melting of glaciers and other causes by global warming. However, when it comes to design a river, the standard of design water level is decided by analyzing four largeness tide value and harmonic constant with observed tidal water level. Therefore, it seems the external water level needs to consider an increasing speed of the seawater level which corresponds to a design frequency. In the present study, the hourly observed tidal water level targeting 47 tidal stations operated by Korea Hydrographic and Oceanographic Administration (KHOA) from beginning of observation to 2015 per hour has been collected. The variation of monthly and yearly and increasing ratio have been performed divided 4 seas such as the Southern, East, Western, and Jeju Sea. Also, the external water level existing design for rivers nearby a coast was been reviewed. The current study could be used to figure out the cause of local seawater rise and reflect the external water level as basic data.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.68-79
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• 2009

Groundwater is the main water resource in Jeju Island because storage of surface water in reservoir is difficult in the island due to the permeable volcanic rocks. Because of this reason, the groundwater is expected to be very vulnerable to seawater intrusion by global warming, which will cause sea level rise. The long term change of mean sea level around the Korean Peninsula including Jeju Island was analyzed for this study. The sea level rise over the past 40 years was estimated to be of $2.16\;{\pm}\;1.71\;mm/yr$ around the Korean Peninsula. However, the rising trend around the eastern part of Jeju Island was more remarkable. In addition, the groundwater/seawater intrusion monitoring network operated by the Jeju Special Self-Governing Province shows that seawater intrusion becomes more prominent during dry 4-5 months in a year when the sea level increases. This implies that the fresh groundwater lens in the eastern part of Jeju Island is influenced by the sea level rise due to global warming in the long term scale.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Navigation and Port Research Conference
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• v.2
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• pp.173-177
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• 2006

From the viewpoint of coastal hydrodynamics, one of the most important effects of global warming is a sea-level rise in coastal areas. In the present study, impacts on port facilities against sea-level rise were investigated. The sea-level rise causes the increase of the water depth, and it generates variations on the wave height, buoyancy, tidal system and nearshore current system and so on. The increase of water depth gives rise to the decrease of crown height of the structure and it causes increase of wave overtopping quantity. It may flood the port zone and its facilities, and may decrease harbor tranquility. It also leads to difficulties on navigation, mooring and loading/unloading at the port. Increase in water depth also causes increase of wave height in surf zone. This high wave makes structures unstable and may cause them to collapse during storm. In addition, increase in buoyant force due to sea-level rise also makes the gravity type structures unstable. Consequently, theses variations due to sea-level rise will cause functional deterioration of port facilities. In order to protect port facilities from the functional deterioration, reinforcement plan is required such as raising the crown height and increase in block weight and so on. Hence proper estimation method for the protection cost is necessary in order to protect port facilities efficiently. Moreover response strategies and integrated coastal zone management plan is required to maintain the function of port facilities. A simple estimation of cost for breakwaters in Korea was performed in the present study.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.227-234
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• 2007

The present study attempts to provide basic directions to respond to sea-level rise effectively based on the status of sea-level rise and its impact. The impact of the sea-level rise will be one of the most adverse component among climate change due to global warming. The basic approach to deal with sea level rise requires both mitigation and adaptation. Though the emission reduction can reduce a portion of sea level rise, the rising trend cannot be avoided due to the difficulty of the emission reduction and a strong inertia of the ocean. Therefore an effective corresponding direction has to focus on the development of appropriate adaptation strategies. Because sea level rise problem has scientific uncertainty, the corresponding system has to be designed to deal with the processes of information and awareness, planning and design, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation in continuous and long-term process. The future task to correspond effectively to the issue in Korea includes the improvement of scientific information, the development of adaptative measures, the enhancement of people awareness, the consensus of corresponding necessity, and formation of integrated corresponding system.

• Journal of Fisheries and Marine Sciences Education
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.627-635
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• 2017

Sea level rise caused by climate change has become a global issue. Sea level rise seems to be an important factor of the research for coastal areas as it affects topography and vegetation of coasts and especially for the plan of coastal wetlands restoration which needs to be carried out for a long term, it has to be considered sufficiently. The coastal wetlands in Korea was damaged by the land reclamation project but recent concerns on the restoration have increased as its value is evaluated highly. Suncheon Bay had also reclaimed from wetlands to rice field once however this site is very active for restoration nowadays. This study estimated an effect according to sea level rise by 2100, reappearing the none dike condition of Suncheon Bay so that it can be taken account of a future plan of wetland restoration. The Sea Level Affecting Marshes Model(SLAMM) was selected as predicting model. The input data such as DEM(Digital Elevation Model), slope, wetlands category, sea level rise senario, tidal range and accretion rate was applied for the simulation. The results showed a decrease in tidal flat, an increase in sea area and a change of the rice field to transitional salt marsh consistently by 2100. These results of this study could be used as baseline data in the future plan of ecological restoration in Suncheon Bay.