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Contemporary sea level rise.
Anny Cazenave1, William Llovel
1Laboratoire d'etudes en géophysique et océanographie spatiales LEGOS-CNES, Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées. anny.cazenave@cnes.fr
Annual Review of Marine Science
|December 15, 2010
Summary
Global sea level rise is accelerating, driven by ocean thermal expansion and land ice melt. Recent data show these factors account for most of the observed sea level increase.
Area of Science:
- Earth Science
- Oceanography
- Glaciology
Background:
- Advances in in situ and remote sensing observations have improved understanding of sea level change.
- Contemporary sea level rise is a critical indicator of climate change.
Purpose of the Study:
- To report recent findings on contemporary sea level rise.
- To quantify the contributions of thermal expansion, land ice mass loss, and land water storage to sea level change.
- To review regional variability in sea level trends.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of tide gauge data from the twentieth century.
- Satellite altimetry data analysis since the early 1990s.
- Quantification of climate-related sea level change drivers.
Main Results:
- For 1993-2007, climate-related contributions (2.85 +/- 0.35 mm/year) closely matched altimetry-based sea level rise (3.3 +/- 0.4 mm/year).
- Ocean thermal expansion accounts for approximately 30% and land ice melt for approximately 55% of sea level rise (1993-2007).
- Land ice melt's contribution increased to 80% in the past five years due to accelerated melting.
Conclusions:
- Ocean thermal expansion is the dominant cause of regional sea level variability.
- Accelerated land ice melt is a significant and increasing contributor to global sea level rise.
- Improved observational data have enhanced the understanding of sea level change dynamics.
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