Relationship and its instability of ENSO — Chinese variations in droughts and wet spells

Monthly data of Self-Calibrated Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) from 1951 to 2000 are calculated using historical precipitation and temperature data for Chinese 160 stations. Temporal and spatial patterns of the first empirical orthogonal function (EOF) of the PDSI reveals a fairly linear trend resulting from trends in precipitation and surface temperature, which is similar to the linear PDSI trend during 1951–2000 calculated using all monthly data. The EOF analysis also reveals that the leading mode correlates significantly with ENSO events in time and space. The ENSO EOF shows that during the typical warm phase of ENSO, surface conditions are drier in most regions of China, especially North China, but wetter than normal in the southern regions of Changjiang River, and Northwest China. During the typical cold phase of ENSO, these anomalies reverse sign. From 1951 to 2000, there are large multi-year to decadal variations in droughts and wet spells over China, which are all closely related to strong El Niño events. In other words, when one strong El Niño event happens, there is a possible big variability in droughts and wet spells over China on the multi-year or decadal scale. Studies also suggest that during the last 2–3 decades climate changes over China, especially North China’s drying and northwest China’s wetting, are closely related to the shift in ENSO towards warmer events and global warming since the late 1970s. The instability of the relationship is also studied. It is revealed that there is a good correlation between ENSO and Chinese variations in droughts and wet spells in the 3–8-year band, but the correlation between ENSO and Chinese variations in droughts and wet spells is instable. Studies suggest that there are decadal changes in the correlation: the wavelet coherency between ENSO and Chinese variations in droughts and wet spells is high during 1951–1962 and 1976–1991, but low during 1963–1975 and 1992–2000.     

Spatiotemporal variations of vegetation cover on the Chinese Loess Plateau (1981–2006): Impacts of climate changes and human activities

Spatiotemporal variations of Chinese Loess Plateau vegetation cover during 1981–2006 have been investigated using GIMMS and SPOT VGT NDVI data and the cause of vegetation cover changes has been analyzed, considering the climate changes and human activities. Vegetation cover changes on the Loess Plateau have experienced four stages as follows: (1) vegetation cover showed a continued increasing phase during 1981–1989; (2) vegetation cover changes came into a relative steady phase with small fluctuations during 1990–1998; (3) vegetation cover declined rapidly during 1999–2001; and (4) vegetation cover increased rapidly during 2002–2006. The vegetation cover changes of the Loess Plateau show a notable spatial difference. The vegetation cover has obviously increased in the Inner Mongolia and Ningxia plain along the Yellow River and the ecological rehabilitated region of Ordos Plateau, however the vegetation cover evidently decreased in the hilly and gully areas of Loess Plateau, Liupan Mountains region and the northern hillside of Qinling Mountains. The response of NDVI to climate changes varied with different vegetation types. NDVI of sandy land vegetation, grassland and cultivated land show a significant increasing trend, but forest shows a decreasing trend. The results obtained in this study show that the spatiotemporal variations of vegetation cover are the outcome of climate changes and human activities. Temperature is a control factor of the seasonal change of vegetation growth. The increased temperature makes soil drier and unfavors vegetation growth in summer, but it favors vegetation growth in spring and autumn because of a longer growing period. There is a significant correlation between vegetation cover and precipitation and thus, the change in precipitation is an important factor for vegetation variation. The improved agricultural production has resulted in an increase of NDVI in the farmland, and the implementation of large-scale vegetation construction has led to some beneficial effect in ecology. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 40671019) and the Knowledge Innovation Project of the Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research of Chinese Academy of Sciences     

Spatiotemporal variations of vegetation cover on the Chinese Loess Plateau(1981―2006):Impacts of climate changes and human activities

Spatiotemporal variations of Chinese Loess Plateau vegetation cover during 1981-2006 have been investigated using GIMMS and SPOT VGT NDVI data and the cause of vegetation cover changes has been analyzed, considering the climate changes and human activities. Vegetation cover changes on the Loess Plateau have experienced four stages as follows: (1) vegetation cover showed a continued increasing phase during 1981―1989; (2) vegetation cover changes came into a relative steady phase with small fluctuations during 1990―1998; (3) vegetation cover declined rapidly during 1999―2001; and (4) vegetation cover increased rapidly during 2002―2006. The vegetation cover changes of the Loess Plateau show a notable spatial difference. The vegetation cover has obviously increased in the Inner Mongolia and Ningxia plain along the Yellow River and the ecological rehabilitated region of Ordos Plateau, however the vegetation cover evidently decreased in the hilly and gully areas of Loess Plateau, Liupan Mountains region and the northern hillside of Qinling Mountains. The response of NDVI to climate changes varied with different vegetation types. NDVI of sandy land vegetation, grassland and cultivated land show a significant increasing trend, but forest shows a decreasing trend. The results obtained in this study show that the spatiotemporal variations of vegetation cover are the outcome of climate changes and human activities. Temperature is a control factor of the seasonal change of vegetation growth. The increased temperature makes soil drier and unfavors vegetation growth in summer, but it favors vegetation growth in spring and autumn because of a longer growing period. There is a significant correlation between vegetation cover and precipitation and thus, the change in precipitation is an important factor for vegetation variation. The improved agricultural production has resulted in an increase of NDVI in the farmland, and the implementation of large-scale vegetation construction has led to some beneficial effect in ecology.     

Cropland cover change in Northeast China during the past 300 years

Land use/cover change induced by human activities has emerged as a “global” phenomenon with Earth system consequences. Northeast China is an area where the largest land cultivation activities by migrants have happened in China during the past 300 years. In this paper, methods including documentary data calibration and multi-sourced data conversion model are used to reconstruct historical cropland cover change in Northeast China during the past 300 years. It is concluded that human beings have remarkably changed the natural landscape of the region by land cultivation in the past 300 years. Cropland area has increased almost exponentially during the past 300 years, especially during the past 100 years when the ratio of cropland cover changed from 10% to 20%. Until the middle of the 19th century, the agricultural area was still mainly restricted in Liaoning Province. From the late 19th century to the early 20th century, dramatic changes took place when the northern boundary of cultivation had extended to the middle of Heilongjiang Province. During the 20th century, three agricultural regions with high ratio of cropland cover were formed after the two phases of spatial expansion of cropland area in 1900s–1930s and 1950s–1980s. Since 1930s–1940s, the expansion of new cultivated area have invaded the forest lands especially in Jilin and Heilongjiang Provinces. Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 40571165) and Innovation Foundation of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. KZCX2-YW-315)     

Farming and forestry land use changes in China and their driving forces from 1900 to 1980

As the joint project of IGBP (International Geo-sphere-Biosphere Programme) and IHDP (Interna-tional Human Dimensions Programme on Global En-vironmental Change), LUCC (Land Use/Land Cover Change) has been the focus of geographic studies, not only because it is one of the main contents of global environmental change studies, the linkage between physical and human sciences[1], but also because it has a close relationship with some elements’ cycles inside terrestrial ecosystem, such as…     

Spatiotemporal evolution and driving factors of China’s flash flood disasters since 1949

This study examines the spatiotemporal evolution of China’s flash flood disasters (FFDs) since 1949 and explores driving factors affecting the spatial distribution of historical FFDs. Records of more than 60000 FFDs are examined, and the centroid comparison method is used to reveal the spatiotemporal evolution of FFDs from 1951 to 2015. In particular, the geographical locations of the centroids, degrees of aggregation, and associated movement tendencies are examined to conduct a preliminary analysis of correlations between rainfall, population, and the spatiotemporal evolution of FFDs. Subsequently, using relevant data from 2000 to 2015, three factors relating to FFDs in natural watershed units include namely rainfall, human activity, and the environment of the Earth’s surface. The geographical detector method is then employed to explore the effect of these driving factors on the spatial distribution of FFDs. Analysis results show that displacement of the spatial distribution of FFDs since 1949 is correlated with variations in rainfall and population distribution. In addition, it is determined that the distribution of FFDs occurring between 2000 and 2015 have regional differentiation characteristics. However, the effect of rainfall on the distribution of FFDs is more significant than that of human activity or the environment of the Earth’s surface, but interactions occur between these latter two factors in disaster-formative environments. Furthermore, results also show that the driving factors of FFDs have significant spatiotemporal heterogeneity. In China, regions at high risk of FFDs include the Sichuan-Chongqing ecological zone, the South China ecological zone, the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, while regions with a low risk of FFDs include the Northwest China arid zone, Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, Inner Mongolian Plateau, and the Northeast China ecological zone. These findings support further studies investigating disaster-formative environments, facilitate FFD risk zoning, and provide a scientific basis for plans to effectively prevent and control FFDs.     

Spatiotemporal variations of carbon flux and nitrogen deposition flux linked with climate change at the centennial scale in China

Science China Earth Sciences - The spatial and temporal variations of the vegetation carbon flux in China from 1901 to 2005 were studied using the vegetation net primary production (NPP) values...     

Land use changes and their relations with carbon cycles over the past 300 a in China

Land use and land cover in China have changed greatly during the past 300 a, indicated by the rapid abrupt decrease of forest land area and the rapid increase of cropland area, which can affect terrestrial carbon cycle greatly. The first-hand materials are used to analyze main characteristics for land use and land cover changes in China during the study period. The following conclusions can be drawn from this study. The cropland area in China kept increasing from 60.78×106 hm2 in 1661 to 96.09×106 hm2 in 1998. Correspondingly, the forest land area decreased from 248.13×106 hm2 in 1700 to 109.01×106 hm2 in 1949. Affected by such changes, the terrestrial ecosystem carbon storage decreased in the mean time. Car-bon lost from land use and land cover changes mainly consist of the loss from vegetation biomass and soil. In the past 300 a, about 3.70 PgC was lost from vegetation biomass, and emissions from soil ranged from 0.80 to 5.84 PgC. The moderate evaluation of soil losses was 2.48 PgC. The total loss from vegetation and soil was between 4.50 and 9.54 PgC. The moderate and optimum evaluation was 6.18 PgC. Such carbon losses distribution varied spatially from region to region. Carbon lost more significantly in Northeast China and Southwest China than in other regions, because losses of forest land in these two regions were far greater than in the other regions during the past 300 a. And losses of carbon in the other regions were also definite, such as Inner Mongolia, the western part of South China, the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. But the carbon lost very little from the traditional agricultural regions in China, such as North China and East China. Studies on the relationship between land use and land cover change and carbon cycle in China show that the land use activities, especially those related to agriculture and forest management, began to affect terrestrial carbon storage positively in recent years.     

Spatiotemporal dynamic simulation of grassland carbon storage in China

Based on the Terrestrial Ecosystem Model(TEM 5.0), together with the data of climate(temperature, precipitation and solar radiation) and environment(grassland vegetation types, soil texture, altitude, longitude and latitude, and atmospheric CO2 concentration data), the spatiotemporal variations of carbon storage and density, and their controlling factors were discussed in this paper. The results indicated that:(1) the total carbon storage of China's grasslands with a total area of 394.93×104 km2 was 59.47 Pg C. Among them, there were 3.15 Pg C in vegetation and 56.32 Pg C in soil carbon. China's grasslands covering 7.0–11.3% of the total world's grassland area had 1.3–11.3% of the vegetation carbon and 9.7–22.5% of the soil carbon in the world grasslands. The total carbon storage increased from 59.13 to 60.16 Pg C during 1961–2013 with an increasing rate of 19.4 Tg C yr~(-1).(2) The grasslands in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau contributed most to the total carbon storage during 1961–2013, accounting for 63.2% of the total grassland carbon storage, followed by Xinjiang grasslands(15.8%) and Inner Mongolia grasslands(11.1%).(3) The vegetation carbon storage showed an increasing trend, with the average annual growth rate of 9.62 Tg C yr~(-1) during 1961–2013, and temperature was the main determinant factor, explaining approximately 85% of its variation. The vegetation carbon storage showed an increasing trend in most grassland regions, however, a decreasing trend in the central grassland in the southern China, the western and central parts of the Inner Mongolian grasslands as well as some parts on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. The soil carbon storage showed a significantly increasing trend with a rate of 7.96 Tg C yr~(-1), which resulted from the interaction of more precipitation and low temperature in the 1980 s and 1990 s. Among them, precipitation was the main determinant factor of increasing soil carbon increases of China's grasslands.     

Research on the relationship between Earth’s variable rotation and global seismic activity

Based on the time series of observational variations of the length of day (LOD) and seismic data in the world, the relations of the decadal fluctuation and seasonal variation in the Earth’s rotation with global seismic activity are studied in this paper. The results suggest that there are overall correlations on temporal scale and regional discrepancy on spatial scale between global seismic activity and the Earth’s variable rotation, especially the seismic activity in the Eurasian seismic zone (not including southeast Asia) and the Lower California-Eastern Alaska seismic zone correlating well with the Earth’s variable rotation. According to the relations mentioned above, the observational data of the Earth’s rotation might provide a referential basis for monitoring global seismic activity.     

Daily extreme precipitation and trends over China

Based on daily precipitation data of more than 2000 Chinese stations and more than 50 yr, we constructed time series of extreme precipitation based on six different indices for each station: annual and summer maximum(top-1) precipitation,accumulated amount of 10 precipitation maxima(annual, summer; top-10), and total annual and summer precipitation.Furthermore, we constructed the time series of the total number of stations based on the total number of stations with top-1 and top-10 annual extreme precipitation for the whole data period, the whole country, and six subregions, respectively. Analysis of these time series indicate three regions with distinct trends of extreme precipitation:(1) a positive trend region in Southeast China,(2) a positive trend region in Northwest China, and(3) a negative trend region in North China. Increasing(decreasing)ratios of 10–30% or even 30% were observed in these three regions. The national total number of stations with top-1 and top-10 precipitation extremes increased respectively by 2.4 and 15 stations per decade on average but with great inter-annual variations.There have been three periods with highly frequent precipitation extremes since 1960:(1) early 1960 s,(2) middle and late 1990 s,and(3) early 21 st century. There are significant regional differences in trends of regional total number of stations with top-1 and top-10 precipitation. The most significant increase was observed over Northwest China. During the same period, there are significant changes in the atmospheric variables that favor the decrease of extreme precipitation over North China: an increase in the geopotential height over North China and its upstream regions, a decrease in the low-level meridional wind from South China coast to North China, and the corresponding low moisture content in North China. The extreme precipitation values with a50-year empirical return period are 400–600 mm at the South China coastal regions and gradually decrease to less than 50 mm in Northwest China. The mean increase rate in comparison with 20-year empirical return levels is 6.8%. The historical maximum precipitation is more than twice the 50-year return levels.     

Vegetation and soil carbon storage in China

This study estimated the current vegetation and soil carbon storage in China using a biogeochemical model driven with climate, soil and vegetation data at 0.5° latitude-longitude grid spatial resolution. The results indicate that the total carbon storage in China's vegetation and soils was 13.33 Gt C and 82.65 Gt C respectively, about 3% and 4% of the global total. The nationally mean vegetation and soil carbon densities were 1.47 kg C/m2 and 9.17 kg C/m2, respectively, differing greatly in various regions affected by climate, vegetation, and soil types. They were generally higher in the warm and wet Southeast China and Southwest China than in the arid Northwest China; whereas vegetation carbon density was the highest in the warm Southeast China and Southwest China, soil carbon density was the highest in the cold Northeast China and southeastern fringe of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. These spatial patterns are clearly correlated with variations in the climate that regulates plant growth and soil organi     

Quantitative analysis of agricultural land use change in China

This article reviews the potential impacts of climate change on land use change in China. Crop sown area is used as index to quantitatively analyze the temporal–spatial changes and the utilization of the agricultural land. A new concept is defined as potential multiple cropping index to reflect the potential sowing ability. The impacting mechanism, land use status and its surplus capacity are investigated as well. The main conclusions are as following;

• 1.During 1949–2010, the agricultural land was the greatest in amount in the middle of China, followed by that in the country’s eastern and western regions. The most rapid increase and decrease of agricultural land were observed in Xinjiang and North China respectively, Northwest China and South China is also changed rapid. The variation trend before 1980 differed significantly from that after 1980.
• 2.Agricultural land was affected by both natural and social factors, such as regional climate and environmental changes, population growth, economic development, and implementation of policies. In this paper, the effects of temperature and urbanization on the coverage of agriculture land are evaluated, and the results show that the urbanization can greatly affects the amount of agriculture land in South China, Northeast China, Xinjiang and Southwest China.
• 3.From 1980 to 2009, the extent of agricultural land use had increased as the surplus capacity had decreased. Still, large remaining potential space is available, but the future utilization of agricultural land should be carried out with scientific planning and management for the sustainable development.

     

An integrated analysis of agricultural water-use efficiency: A case study in the Heihe River Basin in Northwest China

The water-use efficiency has direct impacts on the water consumption of agriculture production and is vital to water conservation at both local and regional extent. The agricultural water-use efficiency is a critical indicator that reflects the effective water allocation and water productivity improvement among different agricultural sectors. Taking the Heihe River Basin as the case study area, this study explores the changing trajectories of agricultural water use based on the input–output data of 2003–2012, and estimates the water-use efficiency with Data Envelopment Analysis, Malmquist Total Productivity Index and the decomposition of total factor productivity. Further, the influence of driving factors on the water-use efficiency is analyzed with the Tobit model. The research results indicate that the average agricultural water-use efficiency in different counties is all lower than 1 during 2003–2012, indicating that there is still improvement space in the agricultural water-use efficiency. In addition, there is obvious heterogeneity in the agricultural water-use efficiency among different counties, especially prior to 2009. The research results from the Tobit model indicate that agricultural investment and production, economic growth, industrial restructuring and agricultural plants structural adjustment have significant influence on the agricultural water-use efficiency. The research results can provide significant references for agricultural water-use management in the middle reaches of the Heihe River Basin and other similar regions in Northwest China.     

应用EOS/MODIS卫星资料反演与估算西北雨养农业区地表能量和蒸散量

应用定西地区的陆面过程野外观测资料和四次EOS_MODIS卫星资料,对典型的西北半干旱雨养农业区的基本地表特征参数进行反演,在此基础上对各能量通量和蒸散量进行估算,进而分别分析其季节和空间变化.结果表明：应用卫星数据估算的各参量的相对误差基本都在20%以内,其空间和时间变化基本反映了当地的实际情况;区域各通量和日蒸散量分布极不均匀,表现为四季相差比较大的单峰型变化特征,冬季最小、其次是秋季、夏春两季最大;与面积较大的中、低植被覆盖度区域相比,小范围的高植被覆盖度区域的地表净辐射、潜热和日蒸散量相对较高,土壤热通量和显热通量相对较低,并且都在春、夏季节表现得更加显著.低、中植被覆盖度区的各能量通量的季节变化不显著的特征反映了半干旱西北雨养农业区土壤的干土层相对比较厚的特征.     

Local geomagnetic field variations of external origin: A case study of Armenia

A method is proposed for studying variations in the local geomagnetic field of external origin that are associated with variations in the electrical conductivity at various depths of the Earth’s crust and upper mantle. The application of the method is illustrated with the example of study of time series of geomagnetic data obtained in Armenia during 1986–1992. The method is effective for identifying the geodynamically most active areas in regions studied.     

2001年4月2日太阳耀斑及其太阳质子事件的观测结果研究

2001年4月2日, 太阳爆发了一个近年来X射线通量最大的一次耀斑并伴有质子事件, 利用“资源一号”卫星星内粒子探测器和神舟二号飞船X射线探测器的观测资料, 对这一事件的高能粒子响应进行了特例研究. “资源一号”卫星运行于太阳同步轨道, 高度约800km, 和宁静时期的统计结果对比, 这次耀斑后, 星内粒子探测器在地球极盖区（地球开磁场区）观测到耀斑粒子的出现, 这是宁静时期没有的; 神舟二号飞船轨道高度400km, 倾角为42°, X射线探测器在42°中高纬地区也观测到高能电子通量比宁静时明显的增加, 这表明, 太阳耀斑引起的近地空间辐射环境的变化遍及纬度约40°以上的区域, 甚至在40°N附近400 km左右的高度上仍然有响应. 但是, 中高纬度、极光带和极盖区的粒子来源, 加速机制和响应方式却不一定相同, 需要分别讨论. 资料分析和对比还表明, 质子事件的强度并不一定和耀斑的X射线通量成正比, 因此, 近地空间高能粒子对耀斑的响应也不是完全决定于X射线强度.     

Assessing vegetation dynamics and their relationships with climatic variability in northern China

In this study, the vegetation dynamics and their correlations with climate variability in northern China were evaluated based on the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and meteorological datasets from 1982 to 2006. The NDVI showed that vegetation cover had a tiny increasing trend for whole study area in the past 25 years. However, the interannual changes of NDVI were different in each season. The part of spring and autumn NDVI values increased significantly, while the summer NDVI increased no significantly. And the interannual variations of the NDVI showed obvious spatial differentiations. The annual max NDVI increased were mainly distributed in most areas of grassland and farmland, whereas the annual max NDVI decreased were mainly distributed in forest areas. The annual NDVI and temperature had more important relationships. Thus, as compared to precipitation, the correlation between NDVI with temperature was stronger than the precipitation in northern China. NDVI and climatic variables were different in each season. The NDVI trends exhibited a close correspondence to climatological variations in region and season. In Addition, human activities also had profound effect to the NDVI trends in some regions. All these findings will make humans know more about the knowledge of the natural forces that influence vegetation change and supply a scientific basic resource to for the environmental management in northern China.     

Quantitative relationship between pollen and vegetation in northern China

205 surface pollen samples from different communities in Northern China were analyzed to understand the quantitative relationship between pollen and its original vegetation. Pollen analysis and vegetation investigation show that the pollen assemblages differ a lot in different vegetation regions. Arboreal pollen account for more than 30% in temperate broad-deciduous forests region. In temperate steppe regions, herb pollen percentages are more than 90%, where Artemisia and Chenopodiaceae are domi- nant pollen types with Artemisia percentages more than 30%. In temperate desert, Chenopodiaceae pollen percentages are more than Artemisia, where ferns are rare. Cyperaceae pollen percentages are more than 20% in sub-alpine or cold meadows. The relations between pollen percentages and vegeta- tion cover indicate that most arboreal pollen shows a close relationship with parent plant covers, most shrubby pollen types have more or less correlations, but most herbs do not show clear correlations. For arboreal pollen types, Picea pollen shows the closest correlation with spruce trees coverage, then is Quercus and Carpinus. Betula, Larix and Juglans have also high correlation coefficients with their plants coverage, but Betula pollen is of overrepresented pollen type and more than 40% in birch forest, while Larix and Juglans pollen is underrepresented and pollen percentages are more than 10% in Larix or Juglans pure forests. Pinus is of overrepresented pollen type, and pollen percentages have some relations with plants cover. Pine forest might present when Pinus pollen percentages are more than 30%. The relations between Ulmus and Populus pollen percentages and vegetation cover are not close, where they are mixed with other arbors, they cannot be recorded easily, but if their pollen percentages are more than 1%, Ulmus or Populus trees should exist. For shrubby pollen types, the correlation be- tween Vitex pollen percentages and vegetation cover is the highest, then is Corylus, Tamariaceae and Nitraria, and their pollen percentages are less than 1% where original plant are absent. Caragana and Spiraea pollen percentages have some relations with vegetation cover. The relations between pollen percentages and vegetation cover are not clear for Rosaceae and Saxifragaceae. For herb pollen types, Cyperaceae pollen has the closest correlation with vegetation cover, where pollen percentages are more than 20% when Cyperaceae are constructive or dominant species in vegetation, and pollen per- centages are less than 5% where Cyperaceae are not constructive or dominant species (cover less than 30%). Artemisia and Chenopodiaceae pollen percentages mainly have close relations with ecological regions. The relations between pollen percentages and cover are not clear for Gramineae, Legumi- nosae and Compositae.     

Regional characteristics of the effects of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation on the sea level in the China Sea

Based on coastal tide level, satellite altimetry, and sea surface temperature (SST) data of offshore areas of China’s coast and the equatorial Pacific Ocean, the regional characteristics of the effects of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on the sea level in the China Sea were investigated. Singular value decomposition results show a significant teleconnection between the sea level in the China Sea and the SST of the tropical Pacific Ocean; the correlation coefficient decreases from south to north. Data from tide gauges along China’s coast show that the seasonal sea-level variations are significantly correlated with the ENSO. In addition, China’s coast was divided into three regions based on distinctive regional characteristics. Results obtained show that the annual amplitude of sea level was low during El Niño developing years, and especially so during the El Niño year. The ENSO intensity determined the response intensity of the annual amplitude of the sea level. The response region (amplitude) was relatively large for strong ENSO intensities. Significant oscillation periods at a timescale of 4–7 years existed in the sea level of the three regions. The largest amplitude of oscillation was 1.5 cm, which was the fluctuation with the 7-year period in the South China Sea. The largest amplitude of oscillation in the East China Sea was about 1.3 cm. The amplitude of oscillation with the 6-year period in the Bohai Sea and Yellow Sea was the smallest (less than 1 cm).