WALIS dashboard: An online tool to explore a global paleo sea-level database

Area of Science:

• Paleoclimatology
• Quaternary Geology
• Oceanography

Background:

• The Last Interglacial (~80 to 130 ka) provides crucial insights into Earth's response to warmer climates.
• Reconstructing past sea levels is vital for understanding ice sheet dynamics and predicting future changes.
• Existing sea-level data are often fragmented, hindering comprehensive analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present the WALIS Dashboard, an open-access interface for the World Atlas of Last Interglacial Shorelines (WALIS).
• To provide a user-friendly tool for querying, downloading, and analyzing Last Interglacial sea-level data.
• To facilitate reproducible data analysis for researchers studying past sea-level changes.

Main Methods:

• Development of a web-based interface using R (Shiny app).
• Implementation of querying capabilities based on geographic extent and data attributes.
• Integration of a simplified version of the WALIS database.

Main Results:

• The WALIS Dashboard provides access to thousands of dated sea-level indicators from the Last Interglacial.
• Users can efficiently query and download specific subsets of the WALIS data.
• The tool supports simple and reproducible data analysis, usable both online and offline.

Conclusions:

• The WALIS Dashboard enhances accessibility to valuable Last Interglacial sea-level data.
• This open-access interface promotes collaborative research and advances understanding of past climate and sea-level dynamics.
• The tool empowers researchers to conduct more robust analyses of paleoceanographic and paleoclimatic conditions.