Contribution of atmospheric circulation to recent off-shore sea-level variations in the Baltic Sea  and the North Sea

Karabil, Sitar; Zorita, Eduardo; Hünicke, Birgit

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-9-69-2018

Articles | Volume 9, issue 1

https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-9-69-2018

© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Special issue:

Multiple drivers for Earth system changes in the Baltic Sea...

https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-9-69-2018

© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 9, issue 1

Research article

|

18 Jan 2018

Research article |

| 18 Jan 2018

Contribution of atmospheric circulation to recent off-shore sea-level variations in the Baltic Sea and the North Sea

Sitar Karabil, Eduardo Zorita, and Birgit Hünicke

Data sets

Tide gauge data PSMSL (Permanent Service for Mean Sea Level) http://www.psmsl.org

Satellite altimetry data (DT2014 SLA) AVISO (Archiving, Validation and Interpretation of Satellite Oceanographic data) https://www.aviso.altimetry.fr/en/data/products/sea-surface-height-products/global.html

NAO index NCAR (National Center for Atmospheric Research) https://climatedataguide.ucar.edu/climate-data/hurrell-north-atlantic-oscillation-nao-index-station-based

SLP data NCAR (National Center for Atmospheric Research) https://climatedataguide.ucar.edu/climate-data/ncar-sea-level-pressure

Meteorological reanalysis data set NCEP/NCAR (National Centers for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research) https://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/data/gridded/data.ncep.reanalysis.html

Northern hemisphere teleconnection patterns CPC (Climate Prediction Center) http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/data/teledoc/telecontents.shtml

Short summary

We analysed the contribution of atmospheric factors to interannual off-shore sea-level variability in the Baltic Sea region. We identified a different atmospheric circulation pattern that is more closely linked to sea-level variability than the NAO. The inverse barometer effect contributes to that link in the winter and summer seasons. Freshwater flux is connected to the link in summer and net heat flux in winter.The new atmospheric-pattern-related wind forcing plays an important role in summer.