Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea

Sea level; Air pressure; Temperature of the water column

The MedGLOSS regionally densified sea level network to the Global Sea Level Observing System (GLOSS) has been established jointly by CIESM and IOC/UNESCO. Following a unanimous decision by the organizations which committed themselves to this network, IOLR has been selected as the focal point for MedGLOSS. Following decisions by CIESM and IOC, it was decided to cooperate with the European Sea Level Service (ESEAS) in the monitoring of sea level in the seas surrounding Europe. IOLR installed modern sea level stations transmitting near real time data, which are available on the joint MedGLOSS/ESEAS-RI web site hosted by IOLR. The primary technological objective of the ESEAS-RI project is to support the ESEAS research infrastructure and to facilitate the transnational coordination, the upgrading of the network of observing sites and the standardisation of the network, the operational routines, the databases and the quality-control as a prerequisite for a full scientific exploitation of the present and future sea level observations. The primary scientific objective of the project is to study sea level variations at inter-annual to century time scales and to quantify potential future changes in mean sea level. In order to reach the objective, the following main steps are necessary: Quality control of the hourly tide gauge data accessible through the ESEAS. Determination of vertical land movements at tide gauges in order to decontaminate the relative sea level records for this bias. Determination of sea level variations on inter-decadal time scales in the North Atlantic and the semi-enclosed European seas as well as assessment of secular relative sea level trends for the European coasts. Improvement of the network of ESEAS Observing Sites through upgrading of selected tide gauges and co-location of gauges with continuous GPS.

Israel Marine Data Center
Tel-Shikmona P.O.B. 8030
Haifa

31080
Israel