Open AccessTwo millennia of sea level data: The key to predicting change
Author(s) -
Gehrels W. Roland,
Horton Benjamin P.,
Kemp Andrew C.,
Sivan Dorit
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
eos, transactions american geophysical union
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.316
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 2324-9250
pISSN - 0096-3941
DOI - 10.1029/2011eo350001
Subject(s) - holocene , climate change , glacier , sea level , sea level change , climatology , context (archaeology) , physical geography , global change , twenty first century , ice sheet , geology , sea level rise , period (music) , oceanography , geography , paleontology , physics , sociology , acoustics , media studies
Sea level reconstructions spanning the late Holocene (the past 2000 years) provide a preindustrial context for understanding the patterns and causes of contemporary and future change. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assumed that global sea level change during the past two millennia (prior to the middle of the nineteenth century) was close to zero [ Bindoff et al. , 2007], but understanding of late Holocene sea level variability is limited. Glaciers and ice sheets changed significantly in size during this period, and therefore sea level likely oscillated on the order of several decimeters. In addition, ocean dynamics, solid Earth movements, steric (density) changes, and gravitational effects contributed to complex regional patterns of sea level change.