TITLE:
The Fiji Tide-Gauge Stations
AUTHORS:
Nils-Axel Mörner, Pamela Matlack Klein
KEYWORDS:
Fiji Islands, Relative and Absolute Sea Level Changes, Tide-Gauges, Sediment Compaction, Coastal Stability, GPS-Stations, COP23
JOURNAL NAME:
International Journal of Geosciences,
Vol.8 No.4,
April
21,
2017
ABSTRACT: We analyse the location, stability and continuity of the two tide-gauge stations in Fiji. Both stations are awkwardly placed on heavy harbour constructions resting on soft sediments susceptible to serious compaction problems. The nearby GPS stations resting on a bedrock hill offer no solution to the stability problems. The Suva tide-gauge has been moved three times, and must accordingly be analysed in segments. Even the last location covering years 1989 to 2917 provides a mixed picture of 16 years of stability, 10 years of rapid rise, and 4 years of rapid fall in relative sea level. This suggests the interaction of subsidence and cyclic changes in sea level. Any application of mean trends would produce meaningless values rather misguiding than assisting in the handling of estimation of on-going absolute sea level changes. We find this vital for the discussions of local sea level changes to be held at the UN conference on “Our Oceans, Our Future” in June in New York and at the main COP23 conference in November in Bonn.