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Two sea-level records, spanning eight months of simultaneous data in 2002, have been derived from pressure tide gauge measurements at Sant Antoni harbor (Eivissa Island, Western Mediterranean) and off Es Vedrà island, 15 km SW from Sant Antoni. The two time series are compared and used to characterize the sea-level variability in the Balearic Sea. The main forcings for the observed variations, astronomic tides, and meteorologic forcing by the inverse barometer effect are quantified. In a further step, an amplitude transfer function is determined, reflecting the frequency dependent amplification or damping of the nontidal sea-level residuals between both locations due to their local topography. The interpretation of the obtained transfer function indicates sea-level modulating topographic specifics not only for the coastal record at Sant Antoni, but also at the Es Vedrà site. In general, the application of such a transfer function allows the prediction of off-shore sea-level variations from coastal tide gauge measurements. In the present study, ellipsoidal sea-surface heights for Es Vedrà are inferred from Sant Antoni tide gauge data with an accuracy of about 1.5 cm by applying the determined transfer function and a geoid model.
The presented field works have been funded in part by the European Space Agency (ESA) under ESTEC contracts no. 14908/01/NL/SF and 15507/01/NL/SF. This research has been partially sponsored by the Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología of Spain under the contract REN2002-11169-E. M. Marcos acknowledges a fellowship funded by the EU ESEAS-RI project (Contract EVR1-CT-2002-40025).