The Baltic SEAL project has engaged with the community and produced data products which provide a consistent description of the sea level variability, in the Baltic Sea, in terms of seasonal and inter-annual variation. Documentation has also been made available relating the results to the forcing associated with this variability, using the developed dedicated coastal altimetry product. From this site, you will be able to provide your expert recommendations, request access the product data produced, access the handbook to help you fully understand and use the data, and link to the experts who are developing these advanced datasets.
We will also be making a selection of our presented materials available here, to enable stakeholders to explore the science behind the Baltic SEAL project, and the challenges we have overcome to build these products.
Please go to the dedicated Data Access page to gain access to the suite of Baltic SEAL products.
Project Outputs
Peer Review Publications
- Passaro M, Müller FL, Oelsmann J, Rautiainen L, Dettmering D, Hart-Davis MG, Abulaitijiang A, Andersen OB, Høyer JL, Madsen KS, Ringgaard IM, Särkkä J, Scarrott R, Schwatke C, Seitz F, Tuomi L, Restano M and Benveniste J (2021) Absolute Baltic Sea Level Trends in the Satellite Altimetry Era: A Revisit. Front. Mar. Sci. 8:647607. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2021.647607
This paper in Frontiers in Marine Science details the sea level trend analysis of the Baltic Sea, using 24 years of the advanced monthly Baltic SEAL gridded sea level product. It shows how the advanced processing has led to improved sea level estimation using altimetry sensors. The paper describes the spatial and temporal differences in sea level across the Baltic Sea, and the trends over the 24 year period examined. It also examines the driving factors behind these trends, and seasonal variations. The paper is a wonderful example, demonstrating the maturity of enhanced satellite altimetry products, and their capability to support local sea level studies in areas characterized by complex coastlines or sea-ice coverage. It can be freely downloaded here from the Frontiers In Marine Science website.
Baltic SEAL Product Handbook (User Manual)
A detailed overview of the Baltic SEAL suite of products, tailored for both novice and expert data users. The manual contains overviews of the background science, links to literature and more detailed reports on the scientific aspects of coastal altimetry, and detailed data specifications on each of the datasets provided.
Click here to view the Baltic SEAL Product Handbook.
Code to support novices and educators
As part of the teams efforts to facilitate accessibility to the information stored in the suite of Baltic SEAL products, a set of Python codes for novice coders has been developed. Suitable for use with Python 3, these can be used to visualise both along-track and gridded datasets, and also convert the data from netCDF format to more GIS-compatable formats (.shp and .tif). This is downloadable here, as a zipped file. To use, simply unzip the file, and follow the instructions in the code use guide. Sample alongtrack and gridded data are also provided with the codes, alongside a list of instructions of what extra Python 3 modules are needed, and links to more information on installing them.
Publicly available reports
Passaro et al. (2021) Baltic+ SEAL: Product Handbook, Version 1.1. User manual delivered under the Baltic+ SEAL project. DOI: 10.5270/esa.BalticSEAL.PH1.1 Available here.
Scarrott et al. (2021) Baltic+ SEAL: Scientific Roadmap, Version 1.1. Technical report delivered under the Baltic+ SEAL project. DOI: 10.5270/esa.BalticSEAL.SRV1.1 Available here.
Adulaitijiang et al. (2021) Baltic+ SEAL: Impact Assessment Report, Version 1.1. Technical report delivered under the Baltic+ SEAL project. DOI: 10.5270/esa.BalticSEAL.IARV1.1 Available here.
Rautiainen et al. (2020) Baltic+ SEAL: Validation Report, Version 2.2. Technical report delivered under the Baltic+ SEAL project. DOI: 10.5270/esa.BalticSEAL.VRV2.2. Available here.
Rautiainen et al. (2020) Baltic+ SEAL: Validation Report, Version 1.1. Technical report delivered under the Baltic+ SEAL project. DOI: 10.5270/esa.BalticSEAL.VRV1.1. Available here.
Passaro et al. (2020) Baltic+ SEAL: Algorithm Theoretical Baseline Document (ATBD), Version 2.1. Technical report delivered under the Baltic+ SEAL project. DOI: 10.5270/esa.BalticSEAL.ATBDV2.1. Available here.
Passaro et al (2020) Baltic+ SEAL: Algorithm Theoretical Baseline Document (ATBD), Version 1.1. Technical report delivered under the Baltic+ SEAL project. DOI: 10.5270/esa.BalticSEAL.ATBDV1.1. Available here.
Ringgaard et al. (2020) Baltic+ SEAL: Dataset Description, Version 1.1.Technical report delivered under the Baltic+ SEAL project. DOI: 10.5270/esa.BalticSEAL.DDV1.1. Available here.
Tuomi, et al. (2019) Baltic+ SEAL: Requirements Baseline Document, Version 3.1. Technical report delivered under the Baltic+ SEAL project. DOI: 10.5270/esa.BalticSEAL.RBDV3.1. Available here.
Presentations at Conferences, Symposia & Workshops
Event |
Title |
Available for Download |
| 2020 ESA DUAL Cryo WorkshopOnline, 13-14 January, 2021 | “Baltic SEAL: assessment and perspectives of Ku and Ka band sea level retrieval with and without sea ice coverage” | |
| 2020 MaREI SymposiumOnline, 23-27 November, 2020 | “ESA Baltic SEAL project: setting course to advance satellite-derived sea-level products for jagged coastlines.” | |
| 2020 Ocean Surface Topography Science Team Meeting (OSTST 2020) Online, 19-23 October, 2020. |
Contributions to: “Investigating SAR Altimetry over the Great Salt Lake – Comparing SAMOSA+/++ and ALES+ SAR” |
Presentation (brings you to the OSTST 2020 website) |
| 2020 ESA- Baltic Earth Workshop on “Earth Observation in the Baltic Sea region” (ESA BalticEarth 2020)Online, 21 September, 2020. | “Baltic SEAL: Exploiting regional opportunities and a natural laboratory to advance processing algorithms for altimetry-derived Sea Surface Height estimation“ | |
| 3rd Baltic Earth Conference: Earth System Changes and Baltic Sea CoastsOnline, 1-5 June, 2020. | “ESA Baltic+ SEAL: Using the Baltic Sea as a test-bed for developing advanced, regionalised sea-level products.“ | Presentation |
| 2020 EGU General AssemblyOnline, 4-8 May, 2020. | “Using the Baltic Sea to advance algorithms to extract altimetry-derived sea-level data from complex coastal areas, featuring seasonal sea-ice.“ | Abstract |
| 12th Coastal Altimetry Workshop4-7 February 2020, ESA-ESRIN, Frascati, Rome, Italy. | “Coastal altimetry at high-latitudes: the Baltic SEAL project observing sea level among jagged coastline and sea ice“ | |
| 13th Irish Earth Observation Symposium5-6 December, 2019, NUI Galway, Galway, Ireland. | “ESA Baltic SEAL project: Setting course to advance satellite-derived sea-level products for jagged coastlines” | |
| 2019 Ocean Surface Topography Science Team Meeting (OSTST 2019)Chicago, 21-25 October, 2019. | “Baltic SEAL: Building a sea level product for climate research in a region featuring jagged coastline and sea-ice coverage“ |