Rates of sea-level change over the past century in a geocentric reference frame

Author
Keywords
Abstract
The results from a carefully implemented GPS analysis, using a strategy adapted to determine accurate vertical station velocities, are presented. The stochastic properties of our globally distributed GPS position time series were inferred, allowing the computation of reliable velocity uncertainties. Most uncertainties were several times smaller than the 1-3 mm/yr global sea level change, and hence the vertical velocities could be applied to correct the long tide gauge records for land motion. The sea level trends obtained in the ITRF2005 reference frame are more consistent than in the ITRF2000 or corrected for Glacial-Isostatic Adjustment (GIA) model predictions, both on the global and the regional scale, leading to a reconciled global rate of geocentric sea level rise of 1.61 \textpm 0.19mm/yr over the past century in good agreement with the most recent estimates.
Year of Publication
2009
Journal
Geophysical Research Letters
Volume
36
Number of Pages
12607
Date Published
06/2009
URL
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2009GeoRL..3612607W
DOI
10.1029/2009GL038720
Download citation