Recent multiyear trends in the Baltic Sea level

Abstract

Sea level rise is one of the most direct consequences of climate change. It has been documented that sea level rise is globally subject to considerable spatial heterogeneity. There is an increased awareness of the need to create regional data records and projections of sea level trends, because specific regional processes can cause regional trends to diverge significantly from global averages. In this paper available multimission satellite altimetry data were used to estimate the multiyear trend in the Baltic Sea level. The estimated trend is about 0.33cmyr−1, similar to the globally averaged sea level trend, but significantly larger than the regional trends estimated in the North Sea and North Atlantic. The decadal scale variability in the sea level trend in the Baltic Sea does not indicate a significant acceleration of the trend in recent years. Our analysis confirms that the interannual variability of sea level in the Baltic in winter is significantly correlated with the North Atlantic Oscillation index.