Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Sea Level Rise

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Remote Sensing

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series ((EESS))

  • 498 Accesses

Definition

Sea level rise . A general term referring to an increase in the height of the ocean over time.

Mean sea level. The sea level at a single location averaged over short-term variations such as tides and storms.

Relative sea level rise. Change in mean sea level at a location along a coast, as would be measured by a tide gauge. Relative sea level change could be caused by changes in the ocean or by a local uplift or subsidence of the land.

Steric sea level. A change in sea level caused by a change in the density of the seawater.

Thermosteric sea level. The component of steric sea level caused by changes in ocean temperature.

Halosteric sea level. The component of steric sea level caused by changes in the salinity of seawater, almost always due to the addition or removal of freshwater.

Eustatic sea level. Although the term “eustatic” is antiquated, it is still occasionally used in the literature. Originally, the term was applied by geologists to distinguish globally averaged sea...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 329.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 329.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Bibliography

  • Bindoff, N. L., Willebrand, J., Artale, V., Cazenave, A., Gregory, J., Gulev, S., Hanawa, K., Le Quéré, C., Levitus, S., Nojiri, Y., Shum, C. K., Talley, L. D., and Unnikrishnan, A., 2007. Observations: oceanic climate change and sea level. In Solomon, S., Qin, D., Manning, M., Chen, Z., Marquis, M., Averyt, K. B., Tignor, M., and Miller, H. L. (eds.), Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge, UK/New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cazenave, A., and Nerem, R. S., 2004. Present-day sea level change: observations and causes. Reviews of Geophysics, 42, RG3001, doi:10.1029/2003RG000139.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Church, J. A., and White, N. J., 2006. A 20th century acceleration in global sea-level rise. Geophysical Research Letters, 33, L01602, doi:10.1029/2005GL024826.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Church, J. A., White, N. J., Aarup, T., Wilson, W. S., Woodworth, P. L., Domingues, C. M., Hunter, J. R., and Lambeck, K., 2008. Understanding global sea levels: past, present and future. Sustainability Science, 3(1), 9–22, doi:10.1007/s11625-008-0042-4. Special Feature: Original Article.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Domingues, C. M., Church, J. A., White, N. J., Gleckler, P. J., Wijffels, S. E., Barker, P. M., and Dunn, J. R., 2008. Improved estimates of upper-ocean warming and multi-decadal sea-level rise. Nature, 453, 1090–1093, doi:10.1038/nature07080.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • IPCC, 2007a. Summary for policymakers. In Parry, M. L., Canziani, O. F., Palutikof, J. P., van der Linden, P. J., and Hanson, C. E. (eds.), Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 7–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • IPCC, 2007b. Global climate projections. In Solomon, S., Qin, D., Manning, M., Chen, Z., Marquis, M., Averyt, K. B., Tignor, M., and Miller, H. L. (eds.), Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge, UK/New York: Cambridge University Press, 996 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jansen, E., Overpeck, J., Briffa, K. R., Duplessy, J.-C., Joos, F., Masson-Delmotte, V., Olago, D., Otto-Bliesner, B., Peltier, W. R., Rahmstorf, S., Ramesh, R., Raynaud, D., Rind, D., Solomina, O., Villalba, R., and Zhangn, D., 2007. Palaeoclimate. In Solomon, S., Qin, D., Manning, M., Chen, Z., Marquis, M., Averyt, K. B., Tignor, M., and Miller, H. L. (eds.), Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge, UK/New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mitrovica, J. X., Tamisea, M. E., Davis, J. L., and Milne, G. A., 2001. Recent mass balance of polar ice sheets inferred from pattern of global sea level change. Nature, 409, 1026–1029.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pfeffer, W. T., Harper, J. T., and O’Neel, S., 2008. Kinematic constraints on glacier contributions to 21st-century sea-level rise. Science, 321, 1340–1343, doi:/10.1126/science.1159099.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rohling, E. J., Grant, K., Hemleben, C., Siddall, M., Hoogakker, B. A. A., Bolshaw, M., and Kucera, M., 2008. High rates of sea-level rise during the last interglacial period. Nature Geoscience, 1, 38–42, doi:10.1038/ngeo.2007.28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shepherd, A., and Wingham, D., 2007. Recent sea-level contributions of the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets. Science, 16, 1529–1532, doi:10.1126/science.1136776.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Siddall, M., and Kaplan, M. R., 2008. Climate science: a tale of two ice sheets. Nature Geoscience, 1, 570–572, doi:10.1038/ngeo286.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Willis, J. K., Roemmich, D., and Cornuelle, B., 2004. Interannual variability in upper ocean heat content, temperature, and thermosteric expansion on global scales. Journal of Geophysical Research, 109, C12036, doi:10.1029/2003JC002260.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Willis, J. K., Chambers, D. P., and Nerem, R. S., 2008. Assessing the globally averaged sea level budget on seasonal to interannual timescales. Journal of Geophysical Research, 113, C06015, doi:10.1029/2007JC004517.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Witze, A., 2008. Climate change: losing Greenland. Nature, 452, 798–802.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgment

This research was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the NASA.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA

    Josh Willis

Authors
  1. Josh Willis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA

    Eni G. Njoku

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York

About this entry

Cite this entry

Willis, J. (2014). Sea Level Rise. In: Njoku, E.G. (eds) Encyclopedia of Remote Sensing. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-36699-9_163

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation