Use of tide gauge data in operational oceanography and sea level hazard warning systems

International recommendations to upgrade sea level networks all around the globe have led to sea level data now being available at different international and national data centres and portals, with a variety of latencies and data sampling, and not always adequately quality controlled. This paper describes several automatic algorithms that allow the quality control, processing and more reliable use and interpretation of these tide gauge data. These algorithms, originally implemented at Puertos del Estado for the REDMAR Spanish network, include near-real time processing for operational model validation and tsunami detection algorithms. Some elements of this software were implemented or extended to other tide gauges in Europe within the framework of different European projects.