1Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research

• Main Authors: M. N. Tsimplis, M. Rixen
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: North Atlantic; North Atlantic oscillation
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.537.3226; http://modb.oce.ulg.ac.be/backup/mare/grlrixen2.pdf

The sea level variability produced by temperature and salinity changes in the Mediterranean is estimated from the Medar climatology. The steric heights calculated indicate that sea level in the upper 400 m is driven by temperature changes while in the deeper layers salinity also becomes important. The upper 400 m of the Eastern Mediterranean has been cooling between 1960 and the 1990s and as a result steric sea level has been reducing there. Nevertheless after 1993 upper water temperature has been increasing and consequently steric sea level has also been increasing. The Eastern Mediterranean Transient is clearly detectable in the calculated steric heights. The study of sub-regions in the Eastern Mediterranean reveals diverse behaviour at sub-basin scales and raises questions about the suitability of basin averages for the estimation either of sea level or temporal changes in temperature and salinity from climatic data. The steric sea level changes in the upper waters of the Adriatic and the Aegean Sea are correlated with the North Atlantic Oscillation index at the 99 % level of significance. The comparison of the steric sea level changes to the coastal tide-gauges is not satisfactory within the Mediterranean and questions the suitability of estimating sea level changes on point measurements.