Determination and Characterization of 20th Century Global Sea Level Rise

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2006-04

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Ohio State University. Division of Geodetic Science

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Abstract

Sea level rise has been widely recognized as a measurable signal and as one of the consequences of a possible anthropogenic (human-induced) effect on global climate change. The small rate of sea level rise, 1–2 mm/yr during the last century, could only be partially explained by a number of competing geophysical processes, each of which is a complex process within the Earth-atmosphere-ocean-cryosphere-hydrosphere system. In particular, the observed 20th Century sea level rise rate of 1.84±0.35 mm/yr could not explain up to one half of the predicted 20th Century global sea level rise based on the IPCC TAR estimate of 1.1 mm/yr (0.6 mm/yr of melted water from ice sheets and glaciers, and 0.5 mm/yr from the steric effect in the ocean) and remains an enigma. The quest to resolve the controversy and to further understand sea level change is well underway including efforts being conducted during the current IPCC Fourth Assessment Report (FAR), 2003–2007. In this study, we provide a determination of the 20th Century (1900–2002) global sea level rise, the associated error budgets, and the quantifications or characterization of various geophysical sources of the observed sea level rise, using data and geophysical models. [Full text of abstract available in document.]

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The Report describes the PhD dissertation research completed by Chung-Yen Kuo on November, 2005, supervised by C.K. Shum and other PhD Committee Members including Douglas Alsdorf, Michael Bevis, Laury Miller, and Yuchan Yi.
This research is supported by grants from NOAA under NA16RG2252, NA86RG0053 (R/CE-5) and NA030AR4170060 (R/CE-8), and NASA's Ocean and Ice, Cryosphere, Physical Oceanography and Interdisciplinary Science Programs (NNG04GA53G, NAG5-9335, NAG5-12585, JPL- 1265252).

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