CONTENTS 



Introduction 1 



Earlier studies on sea level variations 1 



Ocean and atmospheric processes near Monterey 1 



Description of data 2 



Monterey sea level data 2 



Tide gages 2 



Data processing and reduction 3 



Merging of analog and digital tide data 3 



Long period sea level changes 3 



Ocean and atmospheric data 3 



Sea level at Monterey 4 



Means and variations 4 



Hourly sea level 4 



Monthly mean sea level 5 



Relation to other Pacific coast tide stations 6 



Causes of sea level variations at Monterey 7 



Correlation analysis 8 



Regression analysis 15 



Spectral analysis 16 



Summary 18 



Literature cited 20 



Appendix A.— Missing hourly sea level data 21 



Appendix B.— Monthly mean oceanic and atmospheric observations 21 



Figures 



1. Map of Monterey Bay. Calif, region showing location of data sources 2 



2. Comparison of hourly tide measurements in Monterey Bay, Calif., from digital and analog gages for calendar year 1974 3 



3. Frequency of occurrence of differences between observed and predicted hourly tide heights at Monterey. Calif. 1963-76 4 



4. Frequency of occurrence by month of differences between observed and predicted hourly tide heights at Monterey, Calif, 

 1963-76 5 



5. Autocorrelation function for anomaly of monthly mean sea level at Monterey. Calif. 6 



6. Location of 15 tide stations along the west coast of North and South America whose data were used in this study 6 



7. Time series of monthly sea level anomalies for selected west coast tide stations 7 



8. Correlation of monthly sea level anomalies at selected west coasftide stations relative to Monterey, Calif. 10 



9. Time-distance contour plot of monthly mean anomalies of sea level in centimeters from 1962-74 mean at selected west 

 coast tide stations 11 



10. Seasonal cycle of sea level and dynamic height near Monterey. Calif. 16 



11. Times series of weekly mean sea level at Monterey, Calif., and dynamic height computed from frequent hydrographic 

 stations in mid-Monterey Bay 17 



12. Amplitude response function for the 30-d running mean filter used to low pass filter hourly sea level data from 

 Monterey, Calif. 18 



13. Spectral plots of 6-h atmospheric pressure and unadjusted sea level for the winter period at Monterey, Calif. 18 



14. Spectral plots of 6-h atmospheric pressure and unadjusted sea level for the upwelling period at Monterey, Calif. 19 



15. Spectral plots of 6-h meridional wind stress and adjusted sea level for the winter period at Monterey, Calif. 19 



16. Spectral plots of 6-h meridional wind stress and adjusted sea level for the upwelling period at Monterey, Calif. 20 



Tables 



1 . Intercorrelation of monthly mean sea level anomalies for selected west coast tide stations 10 



2. Intercorrelation of monthly mean anomalies of sea level with various oceanic and atmospheric variables at Monterey. 

 Calif 15 



3. Results of multiple regression analysis of sea level at Monterey, Calif., with various oceanic and atmospheric variables 



for entire year, Davidson Current, and upwelling periods 15 



