A review of sea level observations and low frequency sea-level variability in South Atlantic

Abstract

Sea-level data from South Atlantic stations were quality-controlled and analysed. Eleven time series, longer than 20 years, were selected to study long-term variability. The main features of South Atlantic sea level were described by computing linear trends, mean seasonal cycles and power spectra for the selected time series. The data sparseness made it difficult to achieve a comprehensive description of the basin. The connection between sea-level variability and ENSO was studied using the composite time series obtained by merging data for Buenos Aires and Palermo, on the Argentinian side of Rio de la Plata. It was possible to recognize that sea-level variability is strongly connected with that of river discharge into Rio de la Plata, which in turn exhibits a lagged teleconnection with ENSO. The time lag between ENSO and sea-level anomalies is about 5 months.