Impact of and adaptation strategies for sea-level rise on Yangtze River Delta

The Yangtze River Delta characterized by a dense population and a rapidly developing economy is highly vulnerable to sea-level rise. The data from the China Oceanic Information Network and the Zhejiang Provincial Hydrology Bureau are used to analyze sea-level rise. The rate of sea-level rise in the delta was 2.4 mm per year in 1981-2015. The annual sea-level at Daishan, Dinghai, and Dongtou stations in the south wing of the delta were 4.3, 3.1, and 5 mm per year respectively over the same period. The 10-year averaged results at each station also indicate a perceptible trend of sea-level rise. Sea-level rise is contributed to a larger proportion of intensified erosion, ranging from 3% to 14% in the delta. Meanwhile, the 100-year return period of tidal level has decreased to the 50-year rank at Dongtou and Dinghai stations. Moreover, the arrival time of tidal bores at Yanguan is 4 min earlier under sea-level rise of 0.145 m than that of 0 m. The height of tidal bores and the velocities at the surface and bottom layers have an increase under sea-level rise. The maximum increases of high and low tide levels are 0.122 m and 0.016 m while the maximum increases of the velocities at the surface and bottom layers are 0.07 m s−1 and 0.05 m s−1, respectively. Sea-level rise will bring about the damage of seawall, thus the design standard of constructing seawalls should adopt a higher level to minimize the associated risks in the Yangtze River Delta and its south wing.