Geocentric Baltic Sea level changes along the southern coastline

Abstract

Sea level is a unique indicator in climate impact studies on any changes on the surface of the Earth. Traditionally, tide gauges allow observation of relative (relative to land) sea level changes at specific locations with a high resolution in time. Common method of sea level determination in XXI century is the combination of tide gauge observations with satellite observation data. So determined sea level changes are absolute changes and they are referred to the beginning of the ITRF system.Geocentric changes in the Baltic Sea level are monitored, inter alia, by the SONEL network. This network system does not include the southern coast of the Baltic Sea. The aim of this work is to fill this gap and to compute geocentric changes in the Baltic Sea at the stations: Hel, Władysławowo, Łeba, Ustka, Kołobrzeg, Świnoujście.The tide gauge data needed for the analysis were made available by the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management and the GNSS data was taken from web page Nevada Geodetic Laboratory. The analysis of the time series of tide gauge and GNSS observations was carried out using the TSAnalyzer software. We assumed that GNSS and tide gauge series have a seasonal signal (annual plus semi-annual) and a trend. First the outliers were removed from observation, then the jumps were viewing. The trend, annual and semi-annual terms were calculated for GNSS and tide gauge series.The results of the work are calculated geocentric changes in the Baltic Sea level along southern coast and they are at a level of 0.3 mm/year except Ustka where it reach value 4.68 mm/year.