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Sea level rise at Honolulu and Hilo, Hawaii: GPS estimates of differential land motion
Author(s) -
Caccamise Dana J.,
Merrifield Mark A.,
Bevis Michael,
Foster James,
Firing Yvonne L.,
Schenewerk Mark S.,
Taylor Frederick W.,
Thomas Donald A.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2004gl021380
Subject(s) - hydrography , sea level , differential gps , environmental science , secular variation , physical geography , climatology , oceanography , global positioning system , geography , geology , telecommunications , computer science , geophysics
Since 1946, sea level at Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaii has risen an average of 1.8 ± 0.4 mm/yr faster than at Honolulu on the island of Oahu. This difference has been attributed to subsidence of the Big Island. However, GPS measurements indicate that Hilo is sinking relative to Honolulu at a rate of −0.4 ± 0.5 mm/yr, which is too small to account for the difference in sea level trends. In the past 30 years, there has been a statistically significant reduction in the relative sea level trend. While it is possible that the rates of land motion have changed over this time period, the available hydrographic data suggest that interdecadal variations in upper ocean temperature account for much of the differential sea level signal between the two stations, including the recent trend change. These results highlight the challenges involved in estimating secular sea level trends in the presence of significant low frequency variability.