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Nonlinear trend and seasonal signals in Mediterranean Sea level derived by multiresolution wavelet analysis of altimetry data

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Abstract

Using multiresolution wavelet analysis, the spectral content of monthly maps of sea level anomaly time series on the Mediterranean Sea derived from satellite altimetry over the period 1993 to 2013 is investigated in order to assess its seasonal changes and its nonlinear trend. The multiresolution decomposition has extracted useful the seasonal signals (annual and semi-annual) and nonlinear trend of the analyzed time series by means of its signals of “details” and “approximations,” respectively. Details and approximations signals represent, respectively, the high-frequency and the low-frequency contained in the analyzed time series. The amplitude values for the annual signal are less than 10 cm with an average of 6.74 cm, while those for the semi-annual signal are mostly less than 4 cm with an average of 1.79 cm. However, the successive smoothing of the analyzed time series through the signals of approximations has allowed to better identify the rate and time spans of the increase and decrease of the Mediterranean Sea. The filtered trend has a slope about 2.30 mm/year compared to 2.46 mm/year of the original time series estimated by linear least squares regression.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre of Space Techniques, PO Box 13, 31200, Arzew, Algeria

    Sofiane Khelifa & Ali Rami

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  1. Sofiane Khelifa
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  2. Ali Rami
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Correspondence to Sofiane Khelifa.

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Khelifa, S., Rami, A. Nonlinear trend and seasonal signals in Mediterranean Sea level derived by multiresolution wavelet analysis of altimetry data. Arab J Geosci 8, 8969–8974 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-015-1896-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-015-1896-2

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