Sea-level trends and interannual variability in the Caribbean Sea
Sea-level trends and interannual variability in the Caribbean Sea
Sea-level trends and their forcing have been investigated in the Caribbean Sea using altimetry and tide gauge time series from 19 stations. The basin average sea level rise is 1.7±1.3 mm y-1 for the period 1993-2010. Significant spatial variability of the trends is found. The steric variability above 800 m combined with the Global Isostatic Adjustment explains the observed trends for the altimetry period in most of the basin. Wind forcing changes causes the trends in the southern part of the basin, modulating the sea level through changes in the ocean circulation. The longest time series (102 y) of Cristobal shows a trend of 1.9±0.1 mm y-1 insignificantly different from the global mean sea level rise for the 20th century. By contrast Cartagena, a world heritage site, has a large trend (5.3±0.3 mm y-1) significantly affected by local vertical land movements. Stations dominated by the steric contribution have smaller trends (~ 1.3±0.2 mm y-1). Sea-level trends at tide gauges are not affected by atmospheric pressure changes or by the open ocean steric contribution at most stations. Decadal variability in the sea-level trends can partly be explained by steric and wind variability. The decadal variability in the trends is not spatially coherent. Interannual sea level variability accounts for 1/3 of the total sea level variability and can be partly explained by the influence of El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) at different time and spatial scales. No correlation with the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) is found.
Sea level, Trends, Caribbean, Interannual variability
2934-2947
Torres, R. Ricardo
d37085fe-b6e3-4d6f-a1a2-6daeb88c2fb4
Tsimplis, Michael N.
df6dd749-cda4-46ec-983c-bf022d737031
June 2013
Torres, R. Ricardo
d37085fe-b6e3-4d6f-a1a2-6daeb88c2fb4
Tsimplis, Michael N.
df6dd749-cda4-46ec-983c-bf022d737031
Torres, R. Ricardo and Tsimplis, Michael N.
(2013)
Sea-level trends and interannual variability in the Caribbean Sea.
Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 118 (6), .
(doi:10.1002/jgrc.20229).
Abstract
Sea-level trends and their forcing have been investigated in the Caribbean Sea using altimetry and tide gauge time series from 19 stations. The basin average sea level rise is 1.7±1.3 mm y-1 for the period 1993-2010. Significant spatial variability of the trends is found. The steric variability above 800 m combined with the Global Isostatic Adjustment explains the observed trends for the altimetry period in most of the basin. Wind forcing changes causes the trends in the southern part of the basin, modulating the sea level through changes in the ocean circulation. The longest time series (102 y) of Cristobal shows a trend of 1.9±0.1 mm y-1 insignificantly different from the global mean sea level rise for the 20th century. By contrast Cartagena, a world heritage site, has a large trend (5.3±0.3 mm y-1) significantly affected by local vertical land movements. Stations dominated by the steric contribution have smaller trends (~ 1.3±0.2 mm y-1). Sea-level trends at tide gauges are not affected by atmospheric pressure changes or by the open ocean steric contribution at most stations. Decadal variability in the sea-level trends can partly be explained by steric and wind variability. The decadal variability in the trends is not spatially coherent. Interannual sea level variability accounts for 1/3 of the total sea level variability and can be partly explained by the influence of El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) at different time and spatial scales. No correlation with the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) is found.
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Accepted/In Press date: May 2013
Published date: June 2013
Keywords:
Sea level, Trends, Caribbean, Interannual variability
Organisations:
Marine Physics and Ocean Climate
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 352451
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/352451
ISSN: 2169-9275
PURE UUID: 2b35d99a-0aa1-403b-b8c3-59c898e059a6
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Date deposited: 14 May 2013 09:49
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 13:52
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Contributors
Author:
R. Ricardo Torres
Author:
Michael N. Tsimplis
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