The Decadal and Inter-Decadal Sea Level Variations in the North Atlantic Recorded by Tide Gauges from the West European Shelf

Tide gauges from the European Atlantic shelf provide a set of the world longest sea level records essential for global sea level rise estimation. In this study, we apply the methods of cross-covariance analysis (EOFs, MSSA) and adaptive filtering to obtain the dominant modes of decadal variability in tide gauges located along the West European coasts from the Gulf of Biscay up to the Norwegian Sea. A cross-correlation of these coastal low-frequency modes is then performed with (1) altimetry-derived sea level heights and (2) steric sea level changes in the North Atlantic. The resulting spatial patterns correspond to coherent sea level fluctuations between the European Shelf tide gauges and the deep North Atlantic. A dominant pattern seems to be linked to changes in the subpolar gyre circulation and we attempt to trace its temporal evolution back to 1940 by combining the longest tide gauge records with steric sea level heights evaluated from historical temperature and salinity observations.