The sea level integrates a large number of physical processes in the environment and therefore can be a representative parameter for monitoring climatic changes.

There are more than 30 tide-gauge stations in the Barents, Norwegian and Greenland seas. Most of these stations show significant changes of the sea level in the last two decades. These changes could be a manifestation of global warming in the Arctic together with the increase of the NAO index, a decrease of sea ice extent, air temperature rise, warming of Atlantic waters, reorganisation of the thermohaline circulation, glaciers retreat and increase of coastal erosion. LEVANS project, with a well-defined international collaborational component (Norway and Russia), aims to further our understanding of the Arctic climate system by (1) identifying links among atmospheric, cryospheric, and oceanic processes, (2) quantifying the regional and temporal variability of relevant processes in terms of sea level response, (3) determining the relative importance of each factor which influences sea level change under global warming conditions.