Sea-level change in the Northern Mediterranean Sea from long-period tide gauge time series

Zerbini, Susanna; Raicich, Fabio; Prati, C.; Bruni, Sara; Conte, Sara Del; Errico, M.; Santi, Efisio

doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2017.02.009

Cited by 47 publications

(51 citation statements)

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“…Coseismic displacement apparently does not play an important role at Antalya (Figure ), although frequent seismicity is a major contributor to the estimated trends in the Aegean basin. Hence, this high GPS rate may largely (~2 mm/year) reflect recent anthropogenic drivers, such as land use change, urbanization, and groundwater extraction (e.g., in Italy; Zerbini et al, ). Population of the Antalya Province reached ~2 million in 2010 from one million in 1990 and 240 thousand in 1935 (TUIK, ), and the city developed an infrastructure to host more than one million tourists in 2000.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This global rate is subject to global water mass balance due to dams that store water (Fiedler & Conrad, ), extracted groundwater (Wada et al, ), and melting land ice (Antarctic Ice Sheet, Greenland Ice Sheet, and Glaciers; Jacob et al, ) besides the thermosteric expansion (Levitus et al, ). Local rates substantially deviate from this global trend (Sallenger et al, ) due to, for example, local tectonic effects or anthropogenic subsidence (Zerbini et al, ), so it is necessary to obtain robust and reliable data on variations in local and regional sea‐level rise (SLR). The Mediterranean Sea is a semiclosed basin, where sea level primarily responds to mass changes from inflowing freshwater (Mariotti et al, ; Struglia et al, ), evaporation (Bethoux & Gentili, ), and the exchange of seawater with the Atlantic Ocean through the Strait of Gibraltar (Calafat et al, , ; Fukumori et al, ; Pinardi et al, ).…”

Section: Motivationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…GIA has a minor effect on geocentric sea levels in the Mediterranean Basin (Peltier, ; Spada & Galassi, ); the effect diminishes toward the southern and eastern coasts (Stocchi & Spada, ; Tsimplis et al, ). Thus, GIA models do not fully capture local tectonic motion (Fenoglio‐Marc et al, ; Teferle et al, ), whereas the local vertical land motion (VLM) is driven by volcanic or tectonic activity, and natural or anthropogenic subsidence (Fenoglio‐Marc et al, ; Zerbini et al, ), which dominate relative SLR in the eastern Mediterranean Basin in particular (Garcia et al, ). Although data on all these drivers of Mediterranean sea‐level change are available, robust sea‐level curves spanning multiple decades are rare.…”

Section: Motivationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Tide gauges have been the main source of data on local sea levels since the 17th century (Woodworth et al, ). However, the scarcity of records covering more than 60 years limits our understanding of how sea level varies in the long‐term (Douglas, ; Zerbini et al, ). Long and reliable time series are available for the coasts of northern Europe (Holgate et al, ), and several studies rigorously evaluated historical time series worldwide (Araújo et al, ; Gouriou et al, ; Marcos et al, ; Raicich, ; Testut et al, ; Woodworth, ; Wöppelmann et al, ), partly including also coastal archeological data (Anzidei et al, ; Kayan, ; Lambeck et al, ; Toker et al, ).…”

Section: Motivationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A New Centennial Sea‐Level Record for Antalya, Eastern Mediterranean

et al. 2018

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Quantitative estimates of sea-level rise in the Mediterranean Basin become increasingly accurate thanks to detailed satellite monitoring. However, such measuring campaigns cover several years to decades, while longer-term sea-level records are rare for the Mediterranean. We used a data archeological approach to reanalyze monthly mean sea-level data of the Antalya-I (1935Antalya-I ( -1977 tide gauge to fill this gap. We checked the accuracy and reliability of these data before merging them with the more recent records of the Antalya-II (1985-2009) tide gauge, accounting for an eight-year hiatus. We obtain a composite time series of monthly and annual mean sea levels spanning some 75 years, providing the longest record for the eastern Mediterranean Basin, and thus an essential tool for studying the region's recent sea-level trends. We estimate a relative mean sea-level rise of 2.2 ± 0.5 mm/year between 1935 and 2008, with an annual variability (expressed here as the standard deviation of the residuals, σ residuals = 41.4 mm) above that at the closest tide gauges (e.g., Thessaloniki, Greece, σ residuals = 29.0 mm). Relative sea-level rise accelerated to 6.0 ± 1.5 mm/year at Antalya-II; we attribute roughly half of this rate (~3.6 mm/year) to tectonic crustal motion and anthropogenic land subsidence. Our study highlights the value of data archeology for recovering and integrating historic tide gauge data for long-term sea-level and climate studies.Plain Language Summary We demonstrate how data archeology of tide gauge data contributes to completing the contemporary century sea-level record in the eastern Mediterranean Basin. It is important to rescue such data and to make them available for future research on sea-level rise that goes beyond modern and highly accurate satellite-based monitoring. In our particular case, the monthly mean sea-level records of Antalya-I (1935Antalya-I ( -1977, we merged them with the modern records of Antalya-II (1985-2009) located only~5 km away. This merger offers a homogeneous composite time series of monthly and annual mean sea level of nearly 75 years, the longest record in the eastern Mediterranean Basin. We reviewed all previous work, metadata, and changes in the zero of tide gauges and datum. Major issues included obtaining the leveling information and to determine rates of tectonic vertical crustal movement. It is worth noting that nearly half of the observed sea-level rise in Antalya-II is driven by local vertical land motion, which might be influenced heavily by anthropogenic sources.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Motivationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Motivationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Motivationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A New Centennial Sea‐Level Record for Antalya, Eastern Mediterranean

et al. 2018

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“…In the last 50 years, tide gauges have also been used for the study of large-scale water dynamics, as well as of various coastal, tectonic, meteorological and climatic processes (e.g. Church and White (2006), Menéndez and Woodworth (2010), Zerbini et al (2017), Wöppelmann and Marcos, (2016); Becker et al (2016))). Recently, the new generation of electronic high-rate recording tide-gauges (with a sampling rate of a few minutes to a few seconds) have been used to monitor transient effects such as tsunami waves (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Uncertainty and bias in electronic tide-gauge records: Evidence from collocated sensors

2018

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Understanding noise and possible bias in tide-gauge sensors is important for determining the mean sea level, its fluctuations and their climatic, geophysical and engineering implications, but not an easy task. In the past, this problem has been examined through comparison of different sensors in the laboratory, or through correlations of neighbouring sensors. In this study we identified and studied 10 cases of harbours with fully collocated sensors. Transient differences were found between collocated records. Pressure gauges were found significantly more sensitive to noise than radar-type sensors, and with higher chances of long-term transient bias. The amplitude of the observed bias is important, of the same order of magnitude with tsunami waves in the open sea and with seismic ground displacements. Only 9% of the sensors analysed were found to satisfy the 1 cm accuracy criterion imposed by the Permanent Service for Mean Sea Level (PSMSL).

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