The long-term sea level change during 1985 ± 2001 is investigated in the Mediterranean Sea from satellite altimetry data of the Geosat, Topex-Poseidon (T/P), ERS-1 and ERS-2 missions and from tide gauge data. Discrepancies in the linear change observed between T/P and ERS-1/2 and between T/P and Geosat are reduced by fitting theERSand Geosat data to T/P, as T/P time-series show the higher agreement with tide gauge data. A model of sea level variability constructed using sea surface temperature data is used in case of the non-contemporaneous Geosat and T-P missions. The regional mean sea level (RMSL) linear change is spatially not uniform.