The non-linear, naturally oscillating pattern of sea-levels in the Chesapeake Bay, East Coast, USA

The sea level rise of the Chesapeake Bay region of the East Coast of the United States is claimed to be greater than the worldwide rate, where this latter is assumed to be given by the short term satellite global mean sea level computation. These Chesapeake Bay values are obtained by linear fitting of the last few years of local tide gauge measurements. It is shown that this short term evaluation of the local sea level rises does not permit to compute the long term trend cleared of the Atlantic multi decadal oscillations. This paper clarifies the relevance of 60 years multi decadal oscillation for the tide gauges of the area and shows that the present short term sea level rises are not larger than those previously measured with the same technique. These short term sea level rises do not represent the longer term trend but also include the multi decadal oscillation of period quasi-60 years. The present sea level velocity in the area of Chesapeake Bay is assessed at about 3.5 mm/y with no positive component of acceleration.