Journal article
Global sea-level budget 1993 - present
Laboratoire d’Études en Géophysique et Océanographie Spatiales1
Goethe University Frankfurt2
University of South Florida3
University of Bremen4
Academia Sinica - Institute of Earth Sciences5
University of Texas at Dallas6
Chinese Academy of Sciences7
University of New South Wales8
Trent University9
University of Siegen10
Institut français de recherche pour l'exploitation de la mer11
CLS12
CSIRO13
California Institute of Technology14
University of Bonn15
University of Urbino16
Technische Universität Dresden17
Old Dominion University18
University of Leeds19
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich20
University of Grenoble21
Meteorological Research Institute22
European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts23
University of Bern24
National Oceanography Centre25
Laboratory for Ocean Physics and Satellite Remote Sensing26
Australian National University27
University of Oslo28
Université de Rennes29
Universitat de les Illes Balears30
University of Reading31
University of California at San Diego32
University of Ottawa33
University of Bristol34
University of California at Irvine35
Mercator Océan36
University of Colorado37
University of Zurich38
Puertos del Estados39
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution40
Aerodyne Research, Inc.41
Delft University of Technology42
Alfred Wegener Institute - Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research43
Ohio State University44
National Space Institute, Technical University of Denmark45
Università degli Studi di Urbino Carlo Bo46
University of Hamburg47
Utrecht University48
Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research49
University of Tasmania50
Université de La Rochelle51
Geodynamics, National Space Institute, Technical University of Denmark52
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center53
European Space Agency - ESA54
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration55
...and 45 moreGlobal mean sea level is an integral of changes occurring in the climate system in response to unforced climate variability as well as natural and anthropogenic forcing factors. Its temporal evolution allows changes (e.g., acceleration) to be detected in one or more components. Study of the sea-level budget provides constraints on missing or poorly known contributions, such as the unsurveyed deep ocean or the still uncertain land water component.
In the context of the World Climate Research Programme Grand Challenge entitled "Regional Sea Level and Coastal Impacts", an international effort involving the sea-level community worldwide has been recently initiated with the objective of assessing the various datasets used to estimate components of the sea-level budget during the altimetry era (1993 to present).
These datasets are based on the combination of a broad range of space-based and in situ observations, model estimates, and algorithms. Evaluating their quality, quantifying uncertainties and identifying sources of discrepancies between component estimates is extremely useful for various applications in climate research.
This effort involves several tens of scientists from about 50 research teams/institutions worldwide (www.wcrp-climate.org/grand-challenges/gc-sea-level, last access: 22 August 2018). The results presented in this paper are a synthesis of the first assessment performed during 2017–2018. We present estimates of the altimetry-based global mean sea level (average rate of 3.1±0.3mmyr−1 and acceleration of 0.1mmyr−2 over 1993–present), as well as of the different components of the sea-level budget (http://doi.org/10.17882/54854, last access: 22 August 2018).
We further examine closure of the sea-level budget, comparing the observed global mean sea level with the sum of components. Ocean thermal expansion, glaciers, Greenland and Antarctica contribute 42%, 21%, 15% and 8% to the global mean sea level over the 1993–present period. We also study the sea-level budget over 2005–present, using GRACE-based ocean mass estimates instead of the sum of individual mass components.
Our results demonstrate that the global mean sea level can be closed to within 0.3mmyr−1 (1σ). Substantial uncertainty remains for the land water storage component, as shown when examining individual mass contributions to sea level.
| Language: | English |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Copernicus Publications |
| Year: | 2018 |
| Pages: | 1551-1590 |
| ISSN: | 18663516 and 18663508 |
| Types: | Journal article |
| DOI: | 10.5194/essd-10-1551-2018 |
| ORCIDs: | Barletta, Valentina Roberta , Forsberg, René and Sørensen, Louise Sandberg |
