What does sea level consist of? What does a sea level center do?
Sea level is the level of the surface of the sea especially at its mean position midway between mean high and low water. A sea level center measures these highs and lows and then analyzes the collected data.(MORE)
The UHSLC originated as the TOGA Sea Level Center. What is TOGA?
In order to understand better the tropical ocean/atmosphere system and its effect on the climate at higher latitudes, the Tropical Ocean Global Atmospheres Program (TOGA) was initiated in 1985 by the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP). TOGA has four major objectives: to collect and catalog observations of the tropical atmosphere and ocean; to assess the evolution of the tropical atmosphere/ocean system in real-time; to promote the development of short-term climate-prediction computer models for the tropics; and to study the influence of the tropical atmosphere/ocean system on the climate at higher latitudes.
If I want to contact a specific person at UHSLC, how do I do so?
The email addresses and phone numbers are listed in the PEOPLE section of this website.
Are the data free?
Yes! You may use the data on the UHSLC website as you choose to. We only ask that you acknowledge the source of the data in any publications. This may mean acknowledging the principle investigator of a particular project.
How do I acknowledge the UHSLC as a data source?
We encourage all users to acknowledge the many individuals and organizations that contributed to UHSLC and the data resource that you are using. You can do this either by acknowledging the originators of the data (given in the documentation where possible), or by citing this webpage as a reference.
What is a brief definition of "research quality data" (as mentioned on the UHSLC DATA page)?
The Joint Archive for Sea Level (JASL) receives hourly data from regional and national sea level networks. The data are inspected and obvious errors such as data spikes and time shifts are corrected. Gaps less than 25 hours are interpolated.
What is a brief definition of "fast delivery data" (as mentioned on the
UHSLC DATA page)?
The GLOSS/CLIVAR "fast delivery" database currently includes 94 stations and focuses on processing sea level data from a globally distributed set of stations and making it available to users within three months of data collection.
What is a brief definition of "GLOSS Network" (as mentioned on the
UHSLC DATA page)?
The Global Sea Level Observing System (GLOSS) is an international programme that aims at the establishment of high quality global and regional sea level networks for application to climate, oceanographic and coastal sea level research. The main component of GLOSS is the 'Global Core Network' (GCN) of 290 sea level stations around the world for long term climate change and oceanographic sea level monitoring.
What is a brief definition of the "SLP-Pac" (as mentioned on the
UHSLC DATA page)?
The JCOMM Sea Level Project in the Pacific (SLP-Pac) produces and distributes within five weeks of the end of each month maps of Pacific Ocean sea surface topography variations. The SLP-Pac also produce quarterly updates of an index of the tropical Pacific upper layer volume and annual updates of indices of the ridge-trough system and equatorial currents for the Pacific Ocean.
What are "deviations" (as mentioned on the UHSLC PRODUCTS page)?
Deviations are defined here as the difference between the mean sea level for the given month and the 1993 to 2001 mean sea level at that station. This averaging period is chosen to correspond with various TOPEX/Poseidon products. GLOBAL and
PACIFIC OCEAN sea level deviations can be found on the UHSLC PRODUCTS page.
What are "anomalies" (as mentioned on the UHSLC PRODUCTS page)?
Anomalies are defined here as the difference between the mean sea level for the given month and the mean annual cycle, specified as the long-term average sea level for that month at that station. The typical averaging period for the annual cycle is 1993 to 2001. Sea level anomalies for the PACIFIC OCEAN can be found on the UHSLC PRODUCTS page.
Where does the "Tropical Pacific" (as mentioned on the UHSLC PRODUCTS page) range from?
Sea level observations considered to be in the "Tropical Pacific" were between 15S and 15N of the Pacific Ocean.
If I want to find real-time data for a specific UHSLC station, how can I do so?
The REAL-TIME DATA section of the UHSLC webpage contains plots of real-time sea level data from selected stations.
What is DODS?
DODS, which stands for Distributed Oceanographic Data System, is "a software framework that simplifies all aspects of scientific data networking, allowing simple access to remote data."
How can I contact the University of Hawaii Sea Level Center?
The UHSLC is located at:
1000 Pope Road, MSB 317
Honolulu, Hawaii 96822-2336 USA
You may call (808) 956-8083 or fax (808) 956-2352. UHSLC
may also be contacted through the email addresses supplied on the PEOPLE page of this website.
What can I do if I find a problem with the UHSLC website? Who can I contact so that people (including myself) are not restricted from enjoying the full potential of the UHSLC website in the future?
This site is maintained by Bernie Kilonsky (kilonsky@soest.hawaii.edu) and he would be glad to recieve feedback about the UHSLC website.
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