Persistent acceleration in global sea-level rise since the 1960s
Dangendorf, S.; Hay, C.C.; Calafat, F.M.; Marcos, M.; Piecuch, C.G.; Berk; Jensen (2019). Persistent acceleration in global sea-level rise since the 1960s. Nat. Clim. Chang. 9(9): 705-710. https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41558-019-0531-8
In: Nature Climate Change. Nature Publishing Group: London. ISSN 1758-678X; e-ISSN 1758-6798, more
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| Authors | | Top |
- Dangendorf, S.
- Hay, C.C.
- Calafat, F.M.
- Marcos, M.
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- Piecuch, C.G.
- Berk
- Jensen
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| Abstract |
Previous studies reconstructed twentieth-century global mean sea level (GMSL) from sparse tide-gauge records to understand whether the recent high rates obtained from satellite altimetry are part of a longer-term acceleration. However, these analyses used techniques that can only accurately capture either the trend or the variability in GMSL, but not both. Here we present an improved hybrid sea-level reconstruction during 1900–2015 that combines previous techniques at time scales where they perform best. We find a persistent acceleration in GMSL since the 1960s and demonstrate that this is largely (~76%) associated with sea-level changes in the Indo-Pacific and South Atlantic. We show that the initiation of the acceleration in the 1960s is tightly linked to an intensification and a basin-scale equatorward shift of Southern Hemispheric westerlies, leading to increased ocean heat uptake, and hence greater rates of GMSL rise, through changes in the circulation of the Southern Ocean. |
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