engleski

High-frequency sea level oscillations in the Mediterranean and their connection to synoptic patterns

This paper contains a basin-wide assessment of high-frequency sea level oscillations in the Mediterranean Sea for the period from 2010 to 2014. Sea level series with temporal resolutions of 1 min were taken from 29 tide gauges that had been operational for at least 4 years with high-quality time series. The contribution of high-frequency sea level variance (2 min–6 h) to the total and residual sea level variance was estimated to vary between 0.4% and 9.5% and between 0.6% and 12.1%, respectively, but to become dominant at some stations during extreme high-frequency events. A total of 36 high-frequency sea level events were extracted from the series, with some occurring locally in one of the four selected regions of Spain, Sardinia, Sicily and the Greece–Ionian Sea (6 events), some occurring over two or three regions (19 events), and some occurring in all of the selected regions within a period of 1–3 days (11 events). The basin-wide events normally propagate from the western to the eastern parts of the basin, with an average velocity of approximately 30 km/h. Synoptic patterns associated with high-frequency events were analysed, and a high resemblance to patterns associated with meteotsunamis was observed: (i) a cyclone with a centre W-NW from the affected area, (ii) a strong thermal front in the lower troposphere, and (iii) a forefront of an unstable strong mid-tropospheric jet placed over the affected area. The strong coherence between high-frequency sea level events and synoptic patterns introduces the possibility of a timely forecast of these events.

Mediterranean; sea level; high-frequency; intense oscillations; synoptic conditions

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