Sea level drop in the Mediterranean Sea: An indicator of deep water salinity and temperature changes?

Coastal sea level data from seven tide gauges in the Western Mediterranean and the Adriatic show decreasing sea levels after 1960. Control stations in the Black Sea and in the northeastern Atlantic indicate sea levels still r ising after 1960. The sea level trend in the Mediterranean before 1960 was between 1.2 and 1.5 mm yr(-1), while in the Atlantic and the Black Sea stat ions it was between 1.8 and 2.2 mm yr(-1). After 1960 the sea level in the Mediterranean is decreasing with rates up to -1.3 mm yr(-1), while in the B lack Sea the sea level trend remains unaltered and at the Atlantic stations sea level keeps rising with reduced rates of 1.0-1.2 mm yr(-1). The change of the Mediterranean sea level trends, which is in excess of the sea level trend reduction at the Atlantic sites, is consistent with increases in tem perature and salinity of the Mediterranean Deep Water. The reduction of sea level trends at the Atlantic sites is probably related to the North Atlant ic Oscillation.