Abstract
This work presents an 18-year-long (2002–2019) tide-gauge dataset collected on the Island of Ischia (Gulf of Naples, Southern Tyrrhenian Sea) that can contribute to the analysis of the basic features of sea-level variability in this region. Analysis of tidal constituents shows that the Gulf of Naples is characterized by the absence of any amphidromic system. In this area, sea-level changes due to the astronomical component of the tide are generally limited to ±20 cm with respect to the mean sea level, but the impact of this variability is enhanced by global sea-level increase and the effect of regional atmospheric perturbations that might also triple sea-level variations. The effects of these events, whose frequency has increased in recent decades, has been dramatic in coastal areas where intense social and economic activity occurs, e.g., in Ischia. On interannual time scales, the results indicate that the relative sea-level rise in Ischia has a magnitude of 3.9 mm/year. Special attention is dedicated to the “acqua alta” episodes and to their linkage with long-term sea-level trends and atmospheric forcing.
Highlights
Sea level (SL) can change over a wide range of temporal and spatial scales
IS tide-gauge records were characterized by values its observations were analyzed in order to compute the “length”, “completeness”, and “continuity” of the of L = 18; Cy = 0.967, and Co = 0.983
The IS tidal constituents, corroborated by the analysis of the shorter Castellammare di Stabia (CS) time series, confirmed that the Gulf of Naples (GON) is characterized by non-amphidromic properties
Summary
Sea level (SL) can change over a wide range of temporal and spatial scales. Even though available in situ observations are characterized by a sparse and uneven spatial distribution [1] that largely limits their use [2], tide-gauge records represent the main source of information about local SL variations from the last two centuries [3,4,5,6,7]. Tide-gauges were mainly used for navigation issues, e.g., to observe and forecast SL variations associated with the tide, but nowadays they are essential for evaluating oceanographic models, e.g., [8], validating satellite data [9,10], and performing instrumental calibration of satellite missions [11,12], as well as being used in the framework of long-term climatic studies. In its fifth assessment report (AR5), the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimated SL increases of 1.7, 2.0, and 3.2 mm/year in the periods 1901–2010, 1971–2010, and 1993–2010, respectively [18,19,20], with potential dramatic societal impacts on coastal regions [21]. AR5 indicates that the Mediterranean Sea is one of the most vulnerable regions in the world in terms of the impacts of climate change and SL rise
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