Difference between revisions of "Sea level rise"

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{{Definition|title=Sea Level Rise
 
{{Definition|title=Sea Level Rise
|definition= The so-called greenhouse effect or global warming may cause a Sea Level Rise, which will have a great impact on the long-term coastal morphology. The possible and gradual Sea Level Rise will cause a general shoreline retreat and an increased flooding risk and has to be handled according to the local conditions<ref name="Karsten">Mangor, Karsten. 2004. “Shoreline Management Guidelines”. DHI Water and Environment, 294pp.</ref>.
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|definition= The term sea-level rise generally designates the average long-term global rise of the ocean surface measured from the centre of the earth (or more precisely, from the earth reference ellipsoid), as derived from satellite observations. Relative sea-level rise refers to long-term average sea-level rise relative to the local land level, as derived from coastal tide gauges.  }}  
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==Contributions to sea-level rise==
  
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Sea levels are highly variable over periods ranging from seconds to decades. Sea-level rise is the rising trend averaged over longer periods, which is observed at many coastal stations since a few centuries. Global warming due to human emissions of greenhouse gases is thought to be responsible for strengthening this trend over the last several decades at least <ref name=C> Church, J.A., P.U. Clark, A. Cazenave, J.M. Gregory, S. Jevrejeva, A. Levermann, M.A. Merrifield, G.A. Milne, R.S. Nerem, P.D. Nunn, A.J. Payne, W.T. Pfeffer, D. Stammer and A.S. Unnikrishnan, 2013. Sea Level Change. In: Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Stocker, T.F., D. Qin, G.-K. Plattner, M. Tignor, S.K. Allen, J. Boschung, A. Nauels, Y. Xia, V. Bex and P.M. Midgley (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA.</ref>. Several phenomena contribute to sea-level rise. At global scale, sea-level rise is mainly due to increase of the water mass and water volume of the oceans. This global rise of sea level (often termed Eustatic sea-level rise) has two components:
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(1) water volume increase related to decrease of the density (also referred to as steric component), which is mainly due to increasing temperature, and
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(2) water mass increase, which is mainly due to glacier melting (and to a lesser degree due to decreasing storage of surface water and groundwater on land).
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Other phenomena can substantially influence sea levels at regional scale, inducing either sea-level rise or sea-level fall <ref name=C></ref>. Most important are:
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(3) vertical earth crust motions - in particular earth crust adjustment to melting of polar ice caps, the so-called isostatic rebound,
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(4) land surface subsidence, related in particular to extraction of groundwater and oil/gas mining and compaction of drained soils,
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(5) changes in the earth gravitational field, related in particular to melting of polar ice caps,
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(6) regional atmospheric pressure anomalies and changes in the strength and distribution of ocean currents, related in particular to ocean-atmosphere interaction, and
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(7) changes in seawater salinity.
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Due to these phenomena, sea-level rise is not uniform around the globe, but differs from place to place. [[Relative sea level|Relative sea-level]] rise is the locally observed rise of the average sea level with respect to the land level. It is the sum of the components (1-7).
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==Observed sea-level rise==
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Trends in sea-level from world-wide available tide gauge records and from satellite measurements have been analysed by Church and White <ref> Church J.A. and White N.J. 2011. Sea-Level Rise from the Late 19th to the Early 21st Century. Surv.Geophys 32: 585–602, DOI 10.1007/s10712-011-9119-1</ref>. The tide gauge data were corrected for  vertical land surface motion, by using estimates for glacial isostatic adjustment (assuming that this is the major cause of vertical land surface motion). From these corrected tide gauge data, a linear trend of 1.7 ± 0.2 mm/year sea-level rise was found for the period 1900 to 1990 and a linear trend of 2.8 ± 0.8 mm/year for the period 1990 to 2009. From the satellite data a linear trend of 3.2 ± 0.4 mm/year was derived for the the same perod 1990 to 2009. From this analysis the authors conclude that there is a significant strengthening of sea-level rise during the last decades.
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Trend analyses of regularly updated satellite data can be viewed at the NOAA site <ref> https://www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/sod/lsa/SeaLevelRise/LSA_SLR_timeseries.php </ref> for global and regional sea level changes around the world.
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Even after correcting for the effect of glacial isostatic adjustment substantial regional differences in sea-level rise occur <ref> Slangen A.B.A., Katsman C.A., van der Wal R.S.W., Vermeersen L.L.A. and Riva R.E.M. 2012. Towards regional projections of twenty-first century sea-level change using IPCC SRES scenarios. Clim. Dyn. 38 (5): 1191-1209, doi:10.1007/s00382-011-1057-6.</ref>.  Major causes are:
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* elastic solid Earth deformation and self-gravitation related to changes in land ice;
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* changes in seawater density related to the influence of fresh water input, ocean currents and atmospheric temperature.     
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==Projections of future sea-level rise==
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[[Image: SeaLevelRise_IPCC_AR5.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Figure 1. Compilation of sea level data derived from observations up till 2010 and model projections up till 2100, relative to pre-industrial values. From IPCC 5th Assessment report <ref name=C></ref>.]]
  
==References==
 
<references/>
 
  
==Effect of climate change on coastline evolution==
 
Global warming causes sea-level rise as oceans expand, and makes storm patterns more energetic. Consequently it will affect most of the world’s coastlines through inundation and increased erosion. Sound predictions of the development of these hazards over the next century are needed in order to manage the resulting risks. Coastal flooding is somewhat easier to predict than erosion since inundation can be estimated using coastal contours. However its prediction is not trivial since inundation may be followed by rapid reshaping of the shoreline by, amongst other things, waves, tidal currents and human interventions.
 
  
Understanding of coastal morphological response to climate change and sea-level rise is quite underdeveloped. This is partly because the timescales over which concern of its effects are greatest (annual to centennial) falls between the small scales addressed by most numerical models and the large sales described in the conceptual models of geomorphologists. An additional problem is that the type of model often used to bridge this gap, which is based on extrapolation of historic behaviour, is inappropriate if the climate changes.  
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Many model studies have been carried out for predicting future sea-level rise <ref name=W> Wong , P.P., I.J. Losada, J.-P. Gattuso, J. Hinkel, A. Khattabi, K.L. McInnes, Y. Saito, and A. Sallenger, 2014. Coastal systems and low-lying areas. In:  Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Part A: Global and Sectoral Aspects. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Field, C.B., V.R. Barros, D.J. Dokken, K.J. Mach, M.D. Mastrandrea, T.E. Bilir, M. Chatterjee, K.L. Ebi, Y.O. Estrada, R.C. Genova, B. Girma, E.S. Kissel, A.N. Levy, S. MacCracken, P.R. Mastrandrea, and L.L. White (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA, pp. 361-409.</ref>. A large spread of future forecasted levels results from uncertainties in future emissions of greenhouse gases, from shortcomings in the present understanding of climate dynamics (including ocean-atmosphere interaction) and from restrictions imposed on model grid scales. Figure 1 shows a compilation of model forecasts up till 2100 presented in the 5th IPCC Assessment Report<ref name=C></ref>. The models predict an increase of the rate of sea-level rise. Recent insight in the response of ice cap melting to global warming, which is not yet included in these projections, points to an even stronger increase <ref> Hansen, J., Sato, M., Hearty, P., Ruedy, R., Kelley, M., Masson-Delmotte, V., Russell, G., Tselioudis, G., Cao, J., Rignot, E., Velicogna, I., Kandiano, E., von Schuckmann, K., Kharecha, P., Legrande, A.N., Bauer, M. and Lo, K.-W. 2015.  Ice melt, sea level rise and  superstorms:  evidence  from  paleoclimate  data,  climate  modeling, and  modern observations that 2◦ C global warming is highly dangerous.  Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions 15: 20059–20179.</ref>.  
  
===Coastline response to accelerated sea-level rise===
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Sea-level rise lags behind global warming. Even if greenhouse gas emissions would stop today, sea levels will continue rising for at least a century <ref> Mengel, M., Nauels, A., Rogelj, J. and Schleussner, C.-F. 2018. Committed sea-level rise under the Paris Agreement and the legacy of delayed mitigation action. Nature Communications 9, Article number 601.</ref>.    
The most widely cited method of quantifying the response of a shore to rising sea-levels is known as Bruun’s rule. (Link to Bruun page). This was developed to describe the behaviour of sandy coasts with no cliff or shore platform. It assumes that the wave climate is steady and consequently the (average equilibrium) beach profile does not change, but does translate up with the sea-level. This rise in beach surface requires sand, which is assumed to be eroded from the upper beach and deposited on the lower beach. Thus as the profile rises with sea level it also translates landward, causing shoreline retreat. Note that despite the erosion of the upper beach no sand is actually lost; it simply translates a small distance down the profile. The Bruun rule has been subject to some debate and criticism, but is still generally supported (e.g. Stive, 2004<ref>Stive, M. 2004 How important is global warming for coastal erosion? Climatic change 64, 27-39</ref>) and a recent observational study by Zhang et al. (2004)<ref>
 
Zhang, K., Douglas, B., and Leatherman, S. (2004). Global Warming and Coastal Erosion. Climatic Change 64, 41-58</ref> lends weight to it. They found that the Bruun rule modelled retreat of eastern USA shorelines well, although they recognised that it does not represent long-shore transport, and restricted their study to sites where this could be neglected.  
 
  
Another constraint on the range of applicability of the Bruun rule results from its assumptions that the shore profile is entirely beach and loses no sediment. Along most coastlines the beach is a surface deposit that can only be eroded by a limited amount before the land underlying it is exposed and attacked. Here the shore profile is composed of both beach and rock. The rock element of such composite shores complicates its behaviour because it can only erode (not accrete) and it is likely to contain material that is lost as fine sediment. In addition, being purely erosive and relatively hard, it will have a different equilibrium profile to that of the beach and will take longer to achieve it.
 
  
Modifications to the Bruun rule can be used to account for the loss of fine sediment (cfi Bray & Hooke 1997<ref>Bray MJ, Hooke JM (1997) Prediction of coastal cliff erosion with accelerating sea-level rise. J Coast Res 13, 453–467</ref>) but not changes in profile form. Relatively little work has been done on the relationship between sea-level rise and the profiles of composite beach/rock shores. Recent results indicate that such profiles do change, becoming steeper as the rate of sea-level rise increases (Walkden & Hall, 2005<ref>Walkden M.J. and Hall J.W. (2005) A predictive mesoscale model of the erosion and profile development of soft rock shores. Coast Engineering 52, 535–563</ref>).
 
  
The Bruun rule predicts that rates of increase of sea-level rise and shoreline recession will be the same, i.e. R2/R1 = S2/S1 where R and S are the rates of equilibrium recession and sea-level respectively and 1 and 2 indicate historic and future conditions. Walkden & Dickson (2006)<ref>Walkden M and Dickson M, (2006) The response of soft rock shore profiles to increased sea-level rise:  Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research Working Paper 105</ref> predicted that low beach volume composite shores are rather less sensitive and that, for them, 2/1 = sqrt(S2/S1), although, like the Bruun rule, this equation does not account for longshore interactions.
 
  
Dickson at al (in press) modelled alongshore interactions along a 50 km stretch of composite beach/ rock coast under a range of sea-level rise scenarios. They demonstrated a marked increase in complexity of shore response to sea-level rise in areas where alongshore sediment transport was important, even observing some shoreline advance.
 
  
Shore wave heights are normally limited by water depth, so an increase in sea-level might be expected to increase waves at the shore. This appears to be true at composite beach/ rock shores, however it does not necessarily occur at beach shores. Bruun’s model describes beach profiles remaining constant as they translate up and landward. This means that although the sea-level rises the water depth across the surf zone does not increase, and so larger waves can not be accommodated.
 
  
===Coastline response to changed storm patterns===
 
The form of a shoreline depends strongly on the climate of wave conditions it is exposed to. Larger waves are better able to erode both beach and land. The angle at which waves arrive has a strong effect on the rate at which beach material is redistributed along the shore. A shoreline may therefore represent a dynamic balance between the wave climate, land erosion and the distribution of beach sediment. Changes to the wave climate, such as a shift in average direction or a general increase in height will disturb this balance, and a period of shoreline adjustment would be expected.
 
  
Interaction of neighbouring coasts makes such shoreline adjustment complex and difficult to predict. Fortunately One Line morphological models (link to 1-line page) are able to represent alongshore beach movement at large spatial and temporal scales. Studies that have used this approach to predict shore response to wave climate change have found differing shoreline sensitivity. Slott et al. (2006)<ref>Slott J.M. Murray, A.B., Ashton, A.D. and Crowley, T.J. (1996) Coastline responses to changing storm patterns. Geophysical Research Letters 33 (18)</ref> found such shoreline change could be an order of magnitude greater than those caused by rising sea levels. Conversely Dickson et al. (in press)<ref>Dickson, M.E., Walkden, M.J. and Hall, J.W. (in press) Systemic impacts of climate change on an eroding coastal region over the twenty-first century</ref> found both smaller overall sensitivity and that sea-level rise had a stronger effect. This difference is unsurprising because the two studies examined coasts that are different in many ways; Slott et al. dealt with sandy cuspate shores exposed to high angle waves, whereas Dickson et al. modelled composite beach/ rock shores. It appears that the high dependency of cuspate shores on wave angle strongly increases their sensitivity to changes in wave climate, relative to composite beach/ rock shores.
 
  
  
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==Impact of sea-level rise==
  
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Sea-level rise will impact in particular on low-lying coastal regions, such as river deltas and coral islands<ref> Overeem, I. and Syvitski, J.P.M. 2009. Dynamics and Vulnerability of Delta Systems. LOICZ Reports & Studies No. 35. GKSS Research Center, Geesthacht, 54 pages.</ref>. These coastal zones are shaped under the influence of marine bio-geomorphological processes which limit their elevation to the level of high-water. Many of these regions are densely populated and host very large cities, especially in developing countries. In these regions, sea-level rise is generally exacerbated by soil compaction and land subsidence in connection with drainage works and the extraction of groundwater or oil / gas mining. The vulnerability of many of these deltas is further enhanced by coastal erosion, because of sediment retention behind upstream dams, hard coastal structures and/or conversion of mangrove forests to aquacultures <ref> Syvitski, J.P., Kettner, A.J., Overeem, L., Hutton, E.W., Hannon, M.T., Brakenridge, G.R., Day, J., Vörösmarty, C., Saito, Y. and Giosan, L. 2009. Sinking deltas due to human activities. Nature Geosci. 2: 681–686.</ref><ref> Hanson, S., Nicholls, R., Ranger, N., Hallegatte, S., Corfee-Morlot, J., Herweijer, C. and Chateau, J. 2011. A global ranking of port cities with high exposure to climate extremes. Climatic Change 104: 89–111. DOI 10.1007/s10584-010-9977-4</ref>, see [[Human causes of coastal erosion]]. Considerable investments are required for adaptation to sea-level rise in these vulnerable coastal regions, in particular to reduce flooding risks <ref> Hinkel, J., D.P. van Vuuren, R.J. Nicholls, and Klein, R.J.T. 2013. The effects of mitigation and adaptation on coastal impacts in the 21st century. An application of the DIVA and IMAGE models. Climatic Change 117(4): 783-794.</ref>.
  
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Sea-level rise enhances shoreline retreat (for retreating coasts) or reduces shoreline progradation (for accreting coasts), see [[Natural causes of coastal erosion]]. The influence of sea-level rise on the shoreline position can be estimated by means of the [[Bruun rule]] <ref> Atkinson, A.L., Baldock, T.E., Birrien, F., Callaghan, D.P., Nielsen, P., Beuzen, T., Turner, I.I., Blenkinsopp, C.E. and Ranasinghe, R. 2018. Laboratory investigation of the Bruun Rule and beach response to sea level rise. Coastal Engineering 136: 183–202.</ref>. Sea-level rise further threatens coastal wetlands, which may not be capable to keep pace with sea level and be partly lost due to so-called [[coastal squeeze]]. This may be the case for mudflats and salt marshes in the Wadden Sea <ref>Dissanayake, D.M.P.K., Ranasinghe, R. and Roelvink, J.A. 2012. The morphological response of large tidal inlet/basin systems to relative sea level rise. Climatic Change 113: 253-276</ref> and for mangrove forests in the tropics and subtropics, see [[Potential Impacts of Sea Level Rise on Mangroves]].
  
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Salt intrusion is another major impact of sea-level rise in low-lying river deltas around the world. This impact is compounded by soil subsidence and by reduced fresh water supply to the coastal zone due to upstream diversion of river water for irrigation and other uses. Salt intrusion threatens crucially important fresh groundwater reservoirs in arid regions, for example in the Nile Delta <ref> Sefelnasr, A. and Sherif, M. 2014. Impacts of Seawater Rise on Seawater Intrusion in the Nile Delta, Egypt. Groundwater 52: 264–276</ref>. Relative sea-level rise also causes loss of fertile agricultural land in the coastal hinterland by increased salt seepage to surface waters <ref>Oude Essink, G. H. P., van Baaren, E. S. and de Louw, P. G. B. 2010. Effects of climate change on coastal groundwater systems: A modeling study in the Netherlands. Water Resources Res. 46, W00F04, doi:10.1029/2009WR008719</ref>, with great economic and social consequences. Salt intrusion may further affect drinking water availability in densely urbanized coastal regions.
  
  
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Strategies for dealing with the impacts of sea-level rise depend on local conditions. Different strategies are reviewed in the 5th IPCC Assessment report<ref name=W></ref> <ref> Noble, I.R., S. Huq, Y.A. Anokhin, J. Carmin, D. Goudou, F.P. Lansigan, B. Osman-Elasha, and A. Villamizar, 2014. Adaptation needs and options. In:  Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Part A: Global and Sectoral Aspects. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Field, C.B., V.R. Barros, D.J. Dokken, K.J. Mach, M.D. Mastrandrea, T.E. Bilir, M. Chatterjee, K.L. Ebi, Y.O. Estrada, R.C. Genova, B. Girma, E.S. Kissel, A.N. Levy, S. MacCracken, P.R. Mastrandrea, and L.L. White (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA, pp. 833-868.</ref>. See also the Coastal Wiki article [[Climate adaptation policies for the coastal zone]].
  
  
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==See also==
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:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_level_rise
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:Coastal Wiki articles in [[:Category:Climate change]]
  
  
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==References==
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<references/>
  
  
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{{author
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|AuthorFullName=Job Dronkers
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|AuthorName=Dronkers J}}
  
[[category:Theme 5]]
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[[Category:Climate Change in the ICZM Process]]
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‏‎[[Category:Climate change]]‏‎
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[[Category:Coastal flooding management]]
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[[Category:Coastal risk management]]
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[[Category:Protection of coastal and marine zones‏‎]]
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[[Category:Land and ocean interactions‏‎]]
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[[Category:Geomorphological processes and natural coastal features‏‎]]
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Revision as of 13:00, 17 February 2019

Definition of Sea Level Rise:
The term sea-level rise generally designates the average long-term global rise of the ocean surface measured from the centre of the earth (or more precisely, from the earth reference ellipsoid), as derived from satellite observations. Relative sea-level rise refers to long-term average sea-level rise relative to the local land level, as derived from coastal tide gauges.
This is the common definition for Sea Level Rise, other definitions can be discussed in the article


Contributions to sea-level rise

Sea levels are highly variable over periods ranging from seconds to decades. Sea-level rise is the rising trend averaged over longer periods, which is observed at many coastal stations since a few centuries. Global warming due to human emissions of greenhouse gases is thought to be responsible for strengthening this trend over the last several decades at least [1]. Several phenomena contribute to sea-level rise. At global scale, sea-level rise is mainly due to increase of the water mass and water volume of the oceans. This global rise of sea level (often termed Eustatic sea-level rise) has two components:

(1) water volume increase related to decrease of the density (also referred to as steric component), which is mainly due to increasing temperature, and

(2) water mass increase, which is mainly due to glacier melting (and to a lesser degree due to decreasing storage of surface water and groundwater on land).

Other phenomena can substantially influence sea levels at regional scale, inducing either sea-level rise or sea-level fall [1]. Most important are:


(3) vertical earth crust motions - in particular earth crust adjustment to melting of polar ice caps, the so-called isostatic rebound,

(4) land surface subsidence, related in particular to extraction of groundwater and oil/gas mining and compaction of drained soils,

(5) changes in the earth gravitational field, related in particular to melting of polar ice caps,

(6) regional atmospheric pressure anomalies and changes in the strength and distribution of ocean currents, related in particular to ocean-atmosphere interaction, and

(7) changes in seawater salinity.

Due to these phenomena, sea-level rise is not uniform around the globe, but differs from place to place. Relative sea-level rise is the locally observed rise of the average sea level with respect to the land level. It is the sum of the components (1-7).


Observed sea-level rise

Trends in sea-level from world-wide available tide gauge records and from satellite measurements have been analysed by Church and White [2]. The tide gauge data were corrected for vertical land surface motion, by using estimates for glacial isostatic adjustment (assuming that this is the major cause of vertical land surface motion). From these corrected tide gauge data, a linear trend of 1.7 ± 0.2 mm/year sea-level rise was found for the period 1900 to 1990 and a linear trend of 2.8 ± 0.8 mm/year for the period 1990 to 2009. From the satellite data a linear trend of 3.2 ± 0.4 mm/year was derived for the the same perod 1990 to 2009. From this analysis the authors conclude that there is a significant strengthening of sea-level rise during the last decades.

Trend analyses of regularly updated satellite data can be viewed at the NOAA site [3] for global and regional sea level changes around the world.

Even after correcting for the effect of glacial isostatic adjustment substantial regional differences in sea-level rise occur [4]. Major causes are:

  • elastic solid Earth deformation and self-gravitation related to changes in land ice;
  • changes in seawater density related to the influence of fresh water input, ocean currents and atmospheric temperature.


Projections of future sea-level rise

Figure 1. Compilation of sea level data derived from observations up till 2010 and model projections up till 2100, relative to pre-industrial values. From IPCC 5th Assessment report [1].


Many model studies have been carried out for predicting future sea-level rise [5]. A large spread of future forecasted levels results from uncertainties in future emissions of greenhouse gases, from shortcomings in the present understanding of climate dynamics (including ocean-atmosphere interaction) and from restrictions imposed on model grid scales. Figure 1 shows a compilation of model forecasts up till 2100 presented in the 5th IPCC Assessment Report[1]. The models predict an increase of the rate of sea-level rise. Recent insight in the response of ice cap melting to global warming, which is not yet included in these projections, points to an even stronger increase [6].

Sea-level rise lags behind global warming. Even if greenhouse gas emissions would stop today, sea levels will continue rising for at least a century [7].





Impact of sea-level rise

Sea-level rise will impact in particular on low-lying coastal regions, such as river deltas and coral islands[8]. These coastal zones are shaped under the influence of marine bio-geomorphological processes which limit their elevation to the level of high-water. Many of these regions are densely populated and host very large cities, especially in developing countries. In these regions, sea-level rise is generally exacerbated by soil compaction and land subsidence in connection with drainage works and the extraction of groundwater or oil / gas mining. The vulnerability of many of these deltas is further enhanced by coastal erosion, because of sediment retention behind upstream dams, hard coastal structures and/or conversion of mangrove forests to aquacultures [9][10], see Human causes of coastal erosion. Considerable investments are required for adaptation to sea-level rise in these vulnerable coastal regions, in particular to reduce flooding risks [11].

Sea-level rise enhances shoreline retreat (for retreating coasts) or reduces shoreline progradation (for accreting coasts), see Natural causes of coastal erosion. The influence of sea-level rise on the shoreline position can be estimated by means of the Bruun rule [12]. Sea-level rise further threatens coastal wetlands, which may not be capable to keep pace with sea level and be partly lost due to so-called coastal squeeze. This may be the case for mudflats and salt marshes in the Wadden Sea [13] and for mangrove forests in the tropics and subtropics, see Potential Impacts of Sea Level Rise on Mangroves.

Salt intrusion is another major impact of sea-level rise in low-lying river deltas around the world. This impact is compounded by soil subsidence and by reduced fresh water supply to the coastal zone due to upstream diversion of river water for irrigation and other uses. Salt intrusion threatens crucially important fresh groundwater reservoirs in arid regions, for example in the Nile Delta [14]. Relative sea-level rise also causes loss of fertile agricultural land in the coastal hinterland by increased salt seepage to surface waters [15], with great economic and social consequences. Salt intrusion may further affect drinking water availability in densely urbanized coastal regions.


Strategies for dealing with the impacts of sea-level rise depend on local conditions. Different strategies are reviewed in the 5th IPCC Assessment report[5] [16]. See also the Coastal Wiki article Climate adaptation policies for the coastal zone.


See also

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_level_rise
Coastal Wiki articles in Category:Climate change


References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Church, J.A., P.U. Clark, A. Cazenave, J.M. Gregory, S. Jevrejeva, A. Levermann, M.A. Merrifield, G.A. Milne, R.S. Nerem, P.D. Nunn, A.J. Payne, W.T. Pfeffer, D. Stammer and A.S. Unnikrishnan, 2013. Sea Level Change. In: Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Stocker, T.F., D. Qin, G.-K. Plattner, M. Tignor, S.K. Allen, J. Boschung, A. Nauels, Y. Xia, V. Bex and P.M. Midgley (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA.
  2. Church J.A. and White N.J. 2011. Sea-Level Rise from the Late 19th to the Early 21st Century. Surv.Geophys 32: 585–602, DOI 10.1007/s10712-011-9119-1
  3. https://www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/sod/lsa/SeaLevelRise/LSA_SLR_timeseries.php
  4. Slangen A.B.A., Katsman C.A., van der Wal R.S.W., Vermeersen L.L.A. and Riva R.E.M. 2012. Towards regional projections of twenty-first century sea-level change using IPCC SRES scenarios. Clim. Dyn. 38 (5): 1191-1209, doi:10.1007/s00382-011-1057-6.
  5. 5.0 5.1 Wong , P.P., I.J. Losada, J.-P. Gattuso, J. Hinkel, A. Khattabi, K.L. McInnes, Y. Saito, and A. Sallenger, 2014. Coastal systems and low-lying areas. In: Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Part A: Global and Sectoral Aspects. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Field, C.B., V.R. Barros, D.J. Dokken, K.J. Mach, M.D. Mastrandrea, T.E. Bilir, M. Chatterjee, K.L. Ebi, Y.O. Estrada, R.C. Genova, B. Girma, E.S. Kissel, A.N. Levy, S. MacCracken, P.R. Mastrandrea, and L.L. White (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA, pp. 361-409.
  6. Hansen, J., Sato, M., Hearty, P., Ruedy, R., Kelley, M., Masson-Delmotte, V., Russell, G., Tselioudis, G., Cao, J., Rignot, E., Velicogna, I., Kandiano, E., von Schuckmann, K., Kharecha, P., Legrande, A.N., Bauer, M. and Lo, K.-W. 2015. Ice melt, sea level rise and superstorms: evidence from paleoclimate data, climate modeling, and modern observations that 2◦ C global warming is highly dangerous. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions 15: 20059–20179.
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The main author of this article is Job Dronkers
Please note that others may also have edited the contents of this article.

Citation: Job Dronkers (2019): Sea level rise. Available from http://www.coastalwiki.org/wiki/Sea_level_rise [accessed on 20-04-2024]

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