Understanding Space–Time Patterns of Long-Term Tidal Fluctuation over the Pearl River Delta, South China

Abstract

ABSTRACT Zheng, J; Zhang, W; Zhang, P, and Zhu, Y., 2014. Understanding space–time patterns of long-term tidal fluctuation over the Pearl River delta, South China. Principal component analyses (PCA) were used to identify the space–time patterns of long-term tidal fluctuation in the Pearl River delta (PRD) region. The tidal levels of the 35 stations over the entire PRD were divided into four regions by the PCA. The results show that different regions display different trends, indicating spatial variability of long-term tidal fluctuations in PRD region. The regional pattern of the first component loadings is mainly located near the outlets. Time series of the factor scores of the the first principal component (PC) shows a significant increasing trend. The regional pattern of the second component loadings is concentrated in the upper part of the PRD region. The factor scores of the the second PC, however, display a significant deceasing trend. The trend in the factor scores of the the third PC of the middle ...