Impacts of and adaptation to inter-decadal marine climate change in coastal China seas

Abstract

ABSTRACT:The coastal China areas stretching from tropical to temperate zone represent major environmental and economic assets. However, knowledge of climate change and its impact in coastal seas, which is very critical for marine resource and risk-management issues, is relatively poor compared with that on land. Here, we show that the coastal China seas experienced a long-term surface warming with a rate of 0.015 ∘ C year −1 and an obvious sea level rise along the coast, particularly along the East China Sea with a rate of more than 3.2 mm year −1 since the late 1950s. The Eurasian atmospheric circulation underwent clearly inter-decadal changes in the past decades due to the tropical ocean thermal changes including warming hiatus and conversely influenced the higher latitude coastal marine conditions through regional air-sea interaction. Marine climate variables including sea surface temperature, sea surface height, and atmospheric cyclonic circulation have formed a favourable condition for phytoplankton blooms such as harmful algae blooms (e.g. red tides) and Enteromorpha prolifera blooms (green tides). These algae blooms could strongly lower oxygen levels in the seawater and have been posing threats for the health of coastal and marine ecosystems since the late 1970s. The impacts and key risks of climate change risks in coastal China seas and the coastal zone are reviewed and analysed as follows: frequent occurrences of red tides and green tides, distribution shifts of marine species and changes in their seasonal behaviour, reduction of coastal habitat, decline of marine ecosystem services, flooding and coastal inundation, seawater intrusion, and threats to coastland community security and marine industries, etc. Furthermore, the accumulated effects of human activity, such as reclamation, sewage discharge, and overfishing, have led to an apparent increase in climate-related vulnerabilities. Adaptation issues and risk-management strategies in response to climate change are discussed and proposed as well.

Changes in Means and Extreme Events of Sea Surface Temperature in the East China Seas Based on Satellite Data from 1982 to 2017

“…At present, extreme water temperature events can cause shifts in species ranges, local extinctions, and economic loss on aquaculture and seafood industries [9][10][11]. For instance, the rapid warming of the ECSs has been linked to frequent occurrences of harmful algae blooms and northward shifts of marine fishes [12]. A Chinese Marine Disaster Bulletin from 2012 [13] indicated that severely harmful algae occurred at the coast of the southern ECS, causing a direct economic loss of two billion RMB.…”

Surface warming reacceleration in offshore China and its interdecadal effects on the East Asia–Pacific climate

“…There is a regionality to the ocean surface warming rate due to discrepancies in atmospheric circulation and ocean currents and the heterogeneous distribution of aerosols [22][23][24] . Previous studies have investigated the regional climate, marine environment and ecosystem in the offshore areas of China and adjacent seas (hereafter, offshore China) during the two periods of global warming [25][26][27][28][29][30] because this region is an important component of coastal boundary systems, which provide 10.6% of primary production and 28.0% of global fishery production 24 . Since the late 1970s, the SST in offshore China (including the East China Sea (ECS) and South China Sea (SCS)) has rapidly increased [25][26][27]29,30 , and the warming rate has been approximately five times as fast as the global mean SST warming rate during the warming acceleration period 28 .…”

Management strategies for coral reefs and people under global environmental change: 25 years of scientific research

“…First, soft options exist, such as local planning for storm preparedness and recovery (Anthony et al, 2015). Forecasting and response capabilities to coastal disasters can be improved with prevention and management systems (Cai et al, 2015). Hard solutions, like coastal infrastructure for flood protection, can compensate the loss of natural coastal protection (Cai et al, 2015).…”

“…Forecasting and response capabilities to coastal disasters can be improved with prevention and management systems (Cai et al, 2015). Hard solutions, like coastal infrastructure for flood protection, can compensate the loss of natural coastal protection (Cai et al, 2015). In case of situations where conditions do not allow for coastline protection, compensatory measures can be taken such as investments in social protection and alternative livelihoods (Anthony et al, 2015).…”