A poster at
Geodaetische Woche, Frankfurt, 15.10.-17.10.2002
Session:
Geodätische Aspekte neuer Satellitenmissionen
Long-term sea level change in the Mediterranean Sea from multi-satellite altimetry and tide gauges
1Institute of Physical Geodesy;
Darmstadt University of Technology
The long-term sea level change during 1985-2001 is investigated in the Mediterranean Sea from satellite altimetry data of the Geosat, Topex-Poseidon (T/P), ERS-1 and ERS-2 missions and from tide gauge data. Discrepancies in the linear change observed between T/P and ERS-1/2 and between T/P and Geosat are reduced by fitting the ERS and Geosat data to T/P, as the linear sea level change from tide gauge and from T/P show the highest agreement. A model of sea level variability constructed using sea surface temperature data is used in case of the non-contemporaneous Geosat and T/P missions. The regional mean sea level (RMSL) linear change is spatially not uniform. During the first eight years of the T/P mission the average linear sea level change over the entire Mediterranean Sea is 2.2 mm/yr, in agreement with the global mean sea level (GMSL) change, in the western Mediterranean Sea the change is small (0.4 mm/yr), while it is higher in the eastern Mediterranean and in the Ionian Sea, 9.3 mm/yr and -11.9 mm/yr respectively. Tide gauge and altimetry data agree during 1985-2001. During 1990-2000 an increase in sea level rise with respect to the previous decade occurs. Sea level rise of almost similar strength was observed in the past from the longer tide gauge records indicating that the rise observed today by altimetry may have interannual or decadal frequencies.
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