Open AccessTrends in UK extreme sea‐levels: a spatial approach
Author(s) -
Dixon Mark J.,
Tawn Jonathan A.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
geophysical journal international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.302
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1365-246X
pISSN - 0956-540X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-246x.1992.tb02115.x
Subject(s) - sea level , extreme value theory , geology , climatology , spatial variability , maxima , variation (astronomy) , oceanography , physical geography , geography , statistics , mathematics , art , physics , performance art , astrophysics , art history
SUMMARY The majority of studies of long‐term sea‐level change have concentrated on the trend in mean sea‐level which is just one constituent of the trend in extreme sea‐level. By fitting a spatial model to sea‐level annual maxima from 62 UK sites, extreme sea‐level trend estimates are obtained for the entire British coastline. These estimates exhibit smooth, but significant, spatial variation which arises from a combination of eustatic extreme sea‐level change and local vertical land movements. Once the latter effect is removed, eustatic extreme sea‐level trends are found to have no significant spatial variation and to be similar in value to trends in UK eustatic mean sea‐level.