The phenomenon, never before recorded, mainly affected the provinces of Hebei and Liaoning, in the north, causing flooding and forcing an emergency response to be mobilized.
Chinese experts are investigating an unusual rise in sea level in several coastal areas of northeastern and southeastern China, it was reported this Thursday.
The phenomenon, which mainly affected the provinces of Hebei and Liaoning, in the north, caused flooding and forced an emergency response to be mobilized, surprising both the authorities and the local population, according to the Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post.
The director of the Tsunami Prediction Office of the National Center for Marine Environmental Prediction, Fu Cifu, stated, quoted by the newspaper, that such a sudden rise in water level, in the absence of wind and obvious waves, “had never been recorded”neither at the national nor international level.
Sea level in several areas of the region remained about one meter above normal for more than 20 hours, breaking historical records at several tide measuring stations in Liaoning province.
Authorities said that although the waters began to recede after several hours, the effects of the wave were felt in the southernmost provinces, such as Jiangsu (east) and Fujian (southeast).
Even in the South China Sea, in regions such as Hong Kong and Macau, tides were 30 centimeters higher than normal.added the newspaper.
Videos posted on social media show submerged roads in cities in the northeast of the country, such as Dalian and Jinzhou.
Rising sea levels prompted emergency response from China’s Ministry of Natural Resourceswhich mobilized five teams of experts to inspect the affected areas.
An unnamed expert from the Ministry of Natural Resources, quoted by the South China Morning Post, indicated that Tidal fluctuations caused by a storm, along with tides, began to have an impact several days before the event.
A flow of warm, moist air moving north along the Yellow River encountered a cold front advancing from the south, causing a typhoon-type cyclone to form, generating a storm in the region, said the expert, warning that “in the context of global climate anomalies, extreme weather events can arrive silently and without warning.”
The oscillation would have started on October 19 in Bohai Bay, would have spread southward and then would have risen again to Liaoning, where it coincided with high tide, causing the phenomenon.
On local social networks, Amateur meteorologists explained that sea level rise was due to a combination of astronomical, meteorological, oceanographic and topographic factors..
Among these factors, they pointed out that October 20 coincided with the strongest astronomical tide of the year, in addition to a recently recorded supermoon, which increased the tides by up to 20 centimeters. Authorities have not reported any victims so far.
Source: Observadora
