Characteristics of Sea Level Records .pptVIP

Characteristics of Sea Level Records Philip L. Woodworth Permanent Service for Mean Sea Level With thanks to Simon Williams Sea Level Measurements Sea level is measured by a tide gauge Values of sea level or sea surface height are either spot-measurements at regular time intervals, or averages called integrations over the time intervals. For most tidal, storm surge or Mean Sea Level work, time intervals of 5, 6, or 15 minutes are adequate. For tsunami work, time intervals of a minute or less are usually needed. A Sea Level Record will show: The ocean tide On timescales of minutes to hours, there could be signals due to seiches or tsunamis On timescales of hours to days, there could be signals due to storm surges On longer timescales, there could be seasonal and longer changes and even, at the longest timescales, signals due to climate change Tides Periodic movements which are directly related in amplitude and phase to some periodic geophysical force The dominant geophysical forcing function is the variation of the gravitational field on the surface of the earth, caused by regular movements of the moon-earth and earth-sun systems. Frequency distribution of hourly tidal levels The Tide Main Points about the Tide to make here: Tidal characteristics at any location can be determined well from a year of good tide gauge data The knowledge obtained can be used to produce Tables of Predicted Tide Levels ‘Tide Tables’ for local use Tidal and Non-tidal components of the sea level record can be separated easily using Harmonic Tidal Analysis of a tide gauge data set. Non-Tidal Changes Storm surges caused by changes in air pressure and winds Seiches due to resonant behavior of harbours and bays caused by many things, often wind Seasonal, interannual changes due to changes in water density Tsunami caused by earthquakes And many more non-tidal sources. Mean Sea Level Daily MSL is calculated by applying a suitable filter see IOC Manual III for details to the measured t