Sea Level Link

WHOI research specialist Frank Bahr (left) and physical oceanographer Glen Gawarkiewicz analyze data on currents collected off Cape Hatteras. Gawarkiewicz studies the currents along and across the continental shelf. Gawarkiewicz, Magdalena Andres, and 2014 Summer Research Fellow Jacob Forsyth recently published a paper that analyzed a long-term set of temperature data to investigate the relationship between sea level and warming deep waters across the continental shelf-break. They found that sea level anomalies are a strong predictor of shelf water temperatures. Forsyth and Gawarkiewicz’s analysis suggests that there is a two-year lag between the two indicators, giving environmental monitors time to respond.(Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)