Das Projekt "SELF II: Meeresspiegelaenderungen im Mittelmeer: Wechselwirkungen mit Klimaprozessen und vertikale Krustenbewegungen" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (ETH), Institut für Geodäsie und Photogrammetrie durchgeführt. SELF II uses the determination of absolute sea level and of its variations to study the present interactions as well as of those of the recent past among the ocean, the atmosphere and the Earth's crust and to develop appropriate models to assess future aspects. The main topics are: - to improve the long-term monitoring of sea-level variability by applying the most advanced geodetic techniques, including satellite altimetry and airborne laser - to study past sea levels in the Mediterranean in order to better understand the current processes - to study the effects of the atmosphere/ocean interaction and crustal movements on coastal sea levels in order to provide a bases for hazard assessment. Particular objectives of the project are: - a first assessment of rates of vertical movements of the tide gauge benchmarks - optimize the GPS and gravity observation strategies for a cost-effective determination of height changes, in particular by deploying water vapor radiometers - a detailed assessment of the quality and usefulness of the available tide gauge and sea level data - compute the temporal (seasonal and interannual) and the spatial variations of the sea-surface topography of the Mediterranean and Black Sea from ERS-1, ERS-2, TOPEX satellite altimetry and airborne laser profiling.