Wind-Driven Coastal Sea Level Variability in the Northeast Pacific

Thompson, P. R.; Merrifield, M. A.; Wells, Judith R.; Chang, Chantel M.

doi:10.1175/jcli-d-13-00225.1

Cited by 43 publications

(54 citation statements)

References 79 publications

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“…Interdecadal fluctuations in the PDO and the IPO exhibit 50-to 70-year variations that have been noted in various studies (Minobe, 1997). Thompson et al (2014) noted the changing relationship between the SOI and PDO based on low-pass filtered time series with a higher-frequency cutoff than considered here. Thompson et al (2014) noted the changing relationship between the SOI and PDO based on low-pass filtered time series with a higher-frequency cutoff than considered here.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 60%

“…To the west of the trade wind forcing region, the longest tide gauge record is from Fremantle, Australia ( Figure 1a). Previous studies have documented the utility of the Fremantle record for diagnosing Pacific trade wind variability associated with ENSO and longer-time scale signals (Chen & Wallace, 2015;Feng et al, 2004Feng et al, , 2010Thompson et al, 2014). The Fremantle time series is constructed using monthly sea level time series from the Permanent Service for Mean Sea Level (PSMSL) from 1897 to 2016.…”

Section: Data Setsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous studies have documented the utility of the Fremantle record for diagnosing Pacific trade wind variability associated with ENSO and longer-time scale signals (Chen & Wallace, 2015;Feng et al, 2004Feng et al, , 2010Thompson et al, 2014). We use the San Diego tide gauge based on the results of Thompson et al (2014), who showed that San Diego exhibits weaker locally wind-forced sea level variability than stations to the north and hence is more representative of equatorial trade wind forcing. To the east, a number of tide gauges date back to the late 1800s (San Francisco) and early 1900s (Seattle and San Diego).…”

Section: Data Setsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Interdecadal Sea Level Variations in the Pacific: Distinctions Between the Tropics and Extratropics

Merrifield

Thompson

2018

Geophysical Research Letters

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Long tide gauge records from Fremantle and San Diego are used to examine interdecadal sea level fluctuations and their relationship to Pacific climate variability. The sea level difference between the tide gauges and the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) provide a consistent depiction of trade wind variations along the equator over the past century. The sea level difference and SOI exhibit weak interdecadal variability prior to the late 1970s, followed by an extended 40‐year period of high levels at San Diego and low at Fremantle, and low SOI levels signifying weakened equatorial trade winds. By referencing the tide gauge records to global mean sea level, we infer that Pacific trade winds exhibited weak departures from mean conditions on interdecadal time scales prior to the late 1970s and that a prolonged El Niño‐like lull dominated the tropics at the end of the century. A recent shift suggests that the trades are reverting back to the El Niño‐like state. These tropical interdecadal variations have counterparts in the extratropical North Pacific after the 1970s, as captured by the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, but the early twentieth century quiescent phase in the tropical Pacific is not reflected in the extratropics, which exhibits more energetic oscillatory behavior over the same time span.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 60%

Section: Data Setsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Data Setsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Interdecadal Sea Level Variations in the Pacific: Distinctions Between the Tropics and Extratropics

Merrifield

Thompson

2018

Geophysical Research Letters

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“…This confirms findings from independent analyses, for instance, from glaciers, as shown in the next section. However, while there is no doubt about the influence of steric and mass variations on global scales and at many open ocean sites, along the coasts, where tide gauges are situated, local wind and pressure-driven redistribution processes or ocean circulation changes are known to be the dominant contributor to the observed sea level variability (e.g., Wakelin et al 2003;Marcos and Tsimplis 2007;Calafat and Chambers 2013;Thompson et al 2014;Piecuch and Ponte 2015). This is, for example, the case in the North Sea, where local atmospheric forcing is a major driver of sea level variability (Dangendorf et al 2014a, b).…”

Section: Detection Of Anthropogenic Twentieth-century Sea Level Risementioning

confidence: 99%

Internal Variability Versus Anthropogenic Forcing on Sea Level and Its Components

et al. 2016

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In this paper we review and update detection and attribution studies in sea level and its major contributors during the past decades. Tide gauge records reveal that the observed twentieth-century global and regional sea level rise is out of the bounds of its natural variability, evidencing thus a human fingerprint in the reported trends. The signal varies regionally, and it partly depends on the magnitude of the background variability. The human fingerprint is also manifested in the contributors of sea level for which observations are available, namely ocean thermal expansion and glaciers' mass loss, which dominated the global sea level rise over the twentieth century. Attribution studies provide evidence that the trends in both components are clearly dominated by anthropogenic forcing over the second half of the twentieth century. In the earlier decades, there is a lack of observations hampering an improved attribution of causes to the observed sea level rise. At certain locations along the coast, the human influence is exacerbated by local coastal activities that induce land subsidence and increase the risk of sea level-related hazards.

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“…During the satellite altimetry era, for example, sea levels in the western tropical Pacific rose at rates up to 3–4 times the global mean, reaching trends of up to 10 mm/yr (Figure ) (Cazenave & Llovel, ; Merrifield & Maltrud, ; Nerem et al, ). In contrast, sea level rise rates in the eastern tropical Pacific were lower (Bromirski et al, ; Thompson et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reconstruction of Local Sea Levels at South West Pacific Islands—A Multiple Linear Regression Approach (1988–2014)

et al. 2018

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Rising sea levels are a critical concern in small island nations. The problem is especially serious in the western south Pacific, where the total sea level rise over the last 60 years has been up to 3 times the global average. In this study, we aim at reconstructing sea levels at selected sites in the region (Suva, Lautoka—Fiji, and Nouméa—New Caledonia) as a multilinear regression (MLR) of atmospheric and oceanic variables. We focus on sea level variability at interannual‐to‐interdecadal time scales, and trend over the 1988–2014 period. Local sea levels are first expressed as a sum of steric and mass changes. Then a dynamical approach is used based on wind stress curl as a proxy for the thermosteric component, as wind stress curl anomalies can modulate the thermocline depth and resultant sea levels via Rossby wave propagation. Statistically significant predictors among wind stress curl, halosteric sea level, zonal/meridional wind stress components, and sea surface temperature are used to construct a MLR model simulating local sea levels. Although we are focusing on the local scale, the global mean sea level needs to be adjusted for. Our reconstructions provide insights on key drivers of sea level variability at the selected sites, showing that while local dynamics and the global signal modulate sea level to a given extent, most of the variance is driven by regional factors. On average, the MLR model is able to reproduce 82% of the variance in island sea level, and could be used to derive local sea level projections via downscaling of climate models.

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Wind-Driven Coastal Sea Level Variability in the Northeast Pacific

Cited by 43 publications

References 79 publications

Interdecadal Sea Level Variations in the Pacific: Distinctions Between the Tropics and Extratropics

Interdecadal Sea Level Variations in the Pacific: Distinctions Between the Tropics and Extratropics

Internal Variability Versus Anthropogenic Forcing on Sea Level and Its Components

Reconstruction of Local Sea Levels at South West Pacific Islands—A Multiple Linear Regression Approach (1988–2014)

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