ANALYSIS OF SUBTIDAL COASTAL SEA-LEVEL FLUCTUATIONS USING WAVELETS

Subtidal coastal sea level fluctuations affect coastal ecosystems and the consequences of destructive events such as tsunamis. We analyze a time series of subtidal fluctuations at Crescent City, California, dur ing 1980-1991 using the maximal overlap discrete wavelet transform (MO DWT). Our analysis shows that the variability in these fluctuations de pends on the season for scales of 32 days and less. We show how the MO DWT characterizes nonstationary behavior succinctly and how this chara cterization can be used to improve forecasts of inundation during tsun amis and storm surges. Pie provide pseudocode and enough details so th at data analysts in other disciplines can readily apply MODWT analysis to other nonstationary time series.