The effect of nontidal ocean loading (NTOL) is
observed in the height series of four permanent GPS
stations in the northern Adriatic. A validation of the
ECCO model is performed by comparing model estimates
of sea-level anomalies from tide-gauges with TOPEX/
POSEIDON data, and ECCO model estimates of bottom
pressure with those derived from temperature and salinity
observations. The amplitudes of theECCO sea-level anomaly
are found to be 1.4 times smaller than observations; bottom
pressure is 2 times smaller. Using a Green’s functions
approach to determine elastic deformations, the ECCO ocean
bottom pressure is used to estimate surface displacements at
the GPS sites. Model results were compared with the height
series and with the observed NTOL effect. The height series
and the predicted NTOL are highly correlated at all four
stations. The analysis performed on superconducting
gravimeter data at the Medicina station also shows high
correlation
