Concern over the impact of change in sea level is of topical interest internationally, but for the small island states of the Caribbean, a significant increase would prove to be catastrophic. The potential problem is being addressed as part of the much larger issue of climate change, and just this year a regional Climate Change Centre was established in Belize. Means of adapting to accommodate change will be considered under the Mainstream Adaptation to Climate Change (MACC) project, but initially the threat needs to be quantified. While meteorological offices have been accumulating weather data in some parts of the region for many years, sea level data is more scarce. This work puts least squares methods to test by applying them to spectral analysis of intermittent data sets acquired over periods of 6 and 9 years at two locations in Trinidad. The resulting sea level models that include 13 periodic components, datum bias, trend and atmospheric pressure are validated using fundamental historical information and observations that form the subject of discussion among local professional surveyors. Results show that while sea level at a location in North Trinidad is rising at the rate of about 1 mm a year, the change at a Southern site is about four times this amount. Horizontal movement has been measured across a tectonic fault that parts the island, and it is now apparent that there may be some vertical motion on this or some other fault lines in the region.
Miller, KM
Variations in Sea Level on the West Trinidad Coast
Marine Geodesy