Consistency of long sea‐level time series in the northern coast of Spain

Abstract

[1] Sea-level time series recorded at three stations of the northern Spanish coast (Santander, Coruña, and Vigo) are examined with the aim of obtaining reliable interdecadal trends. The records are about 6 decades long, and their consistency is checked by means of an Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) analysis. Major benefits of the analysis are the detection of undocumented changes of sea-level reference and the filling of data gaps. For the last decade, the consistency of the trends is also checked against shorter, collocated and nearby records. Results indicate that during the second half of the twentieth century, sea level has been rising at a rate of 2.12, 2.51, and 2.91 mm/yr in Santander, Coruña, and Vigo, respectively. Meteorologically induced trends are evaluated from the output of a sea-level numerical model forced by a re-analysis of 44 years of atmospheric data. Results are À0.44, À0.27, and À0.21 mm/yr, respectively, indicating that in the study region the meteorological forcing acts in the sense of slightly slowing the sea-level rise. On the other hand, sea-level records and the North Atlantic mean temperature exhibit a similar interannual evolution, which points to the thermosteric effect as responsible for the positive trends. Regarding the difference between stations, about a third of it can be attributed to spatial differences in the meteorological forcing. The remaining contribution is attributed to spatial differences in the increase of the ocean heat contents, as suggested by the analysis of SST series during the last decade.

The state of climate in NW Iberia

“…The results were independent of the fitting method used by the different authors. The values observed for Vigo were larger than those reported in previous studies (Douglas 2001, Peltier 2001 ) by Marcos et al (2005). The reason for the observed discrepancies should be analyzed in detail.…”

“…It is commonly accepted that the global sea level has been rising at a rate of 1.5 to 2.0 cm decade -1 during the last century (e.g. ously used by different authors to identify sea level patterns around the IP (Cabanas et al 2003, Marcos et al 2005, Rosón et al 2009). In the present study we used the gauges located at Coruña and Vigo harbors.…”

“…In Europe, SLR ranged from -0.3 to 2.8 cm decade -1 (Haigh et al 2009). Along the northern coast of Spain, this rate has been calculated for 3 different tide gauges, all recording similar values (Marcos et al 2005). Trends in SLR and regional scenarios of SLR and their impacts on coastal habitats have been analyzed throughout the 21st century (Araújo & Pugh 2008, Chust et al 2010.…”

Flood-risk mapping for sea-level rise and extreme wave events using bathymetric and topographic lidar within the basque coast

“…An analysis of sea level records from the tide gauge of Santander, located in the SE Bay of Biscay, has revealed that relative mean sea-level has been rising at a rate of 2.08 ± 0.33 m m yr-1, from 1943 to 2004 (Chust et al, 2009); this is consistent with sea-level trends from other tide-gauge measurements within the area and with previous results obtained in the Bay of Biscay (Marcos et al, 2005). The mean sea level in the bay is expected to rise between 29 and 49 cm from 2001 to 2099, as estimated from Atmosphere-Ocean Coupled General Climate Models (AOGCMs) outputs as a result of regional thermal expansion and global ice-melting (Chust et al, 2010).…”

“…Several studies, within the southern Bay of Biscay, have identified a sea level rise (SLR) during the second half of the 20th century (Marcos et al, 2005). An analysis of sea level records from the tide gauge of Santander, located in the SE Bay of Biscay, has revealed that relative mean sea-level has been rising at a rate of 2.08 ± 0.33 m m yr-1, from 1943 to 2004 (Chust et al, 2009); this is consistent with sea-level trends from other tide-gauge measurements within the area and with previous results obtained in the Bay of Biscay (Marcos et al, 2005).…”