Global sea-level budget 1993-present

Type Article
Date 2018-08
Language English
Author(s) Cazenave Anny1, 2, Meyssignac Benoit1, Ablain Michael3, Balmaseda Magdalena4, Bamber Jonathan5, Barletta Valentina6, Beckley Brian7, 8, Benveniste Jerome9, Berthier Etienne1, Blazquez Alejandro1, Boyer Tim10, Caceres Denise11, Chambers Don12, Champollion Nicolas13, Chao Ben14, Chen Jianli15, Cheng Lijing16, Church John A.17, Chuter Stephen5, Cogley J. Graham18, Dangendorf Soenke19, Desbruyeres DamienORCID20, Doell Petra11, Domingues Catia21, Falk Ulrike13, Famiglietti James22, Fenoglio-Marc Luciana23, Forsberg Rene6, Galassi Gaia24, Gardner Alex22, Groh Andreas25, Hamlington Benjamin26, Hogg Anna27, Horwath Martin25, Humphrey Vincent28, Husson Laurent29, Ishii Masayoshi30, Jaeggi Adrian31, Jevrejeva Svetlana32, Johnson Gregory33, Kolodziejczyk NicolasORCID34, Kusche Juergen31, Lambeck Kurt2, 35, Landerer Felix22, Leclercq Paul36, Legresy Benoit21, Leuliette Eric10, Llovel William1, Longuevergne Laurent37, Loomis Bryant D.8, Luthcke Scott B.8, Marcos Marta38, Marzeion Ben13, Merchant Chris39, Merrifield Mark40, Milne Glenn41, Mitchum Gary12, Mohajerani Yara42, Monier Maeva43, Monselesan Didier21, Nerem Steve44, Palanisamy Hindumathi1, Paul Frank45, Perez Begona46, Piecuch Christopher G.47, Ponte Rui M.48, Purkey Sarah G.49, Reager John T.22, Rietbroek Roelof23, Rignot Eric42, 50, Riva Riccardo51, Roemmich Dean H.49, Sorensen Louise Sandberg6, Sasgen Ingo52, Schrama E. J. O.51, Seneviratne Sonia I.28, Shum C. K.53, Spada Giorgio24, Stammer Detlef54, Van De Wal Roderic55, Velicogna Isabella42, 50, von Schuckmann Karina43, Wada Yoshihide55, Wang Yiguo56, Watson Christopher57, Wiese David22, Wijffels Susan21, Westaway Richard5, Woppelmann Guy58, Wouters Bert55
Affiliation(s) 1 : LEGOS, Toulouse, France.
2 : ISSI, Bern, Switzerland.
3 : CLS, Ramonville St Agne, France.
4 : ECMWF, Reading, Berks, England.
5 : Univ Bristol, Bristol, Avon, England.
6 : DTU SPACE, Lyngby, Denmark.
7 : SGT Inc, Greenbelt, MD USA.
8 : NASA, GSFC, Greenbelt, MD USA.
9 : ESA ESRIN, Frascati, Italy.
10 : NOAA, Silver Spring, MD USA.
11 : Goethe Univ, Frankfurt, Germany.
12 : Univ S Florida, Tampa, FL USA.
13 : Univ Bremen, Bremen, Germany.
14 : IES AS, Taipei, Taiwan.
15 : Univ Texas Dallas, Richardson, TX 75083 USA.
16 : IAP CAS, Beijing, Peoples R China.
17 : Univ New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
18 : Trent Univ, Trento, Italy.
19 : Univ Siegen, Siegen, Germany.
20 : IFREMER, Issy Les Moulineaux, France.
21 : CSIRO, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
22 : CALTECH, JPL, Pasadena, CA 91125 USA.
23 : Univ Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
24 : Univ Urbino, Urbino, Italy.
25 : Tech Univ Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
26 : Old Dominion Univ, Norfolk, VA 23529 USA.
27 : Univ Leeds, Leeds, W Yorkshire, England.
28 : ETHZ, Zurich, Switzerland.
29 : Univ Grenoble, Grenoble, France.
30 : MRI JMA, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.
31 : Univ Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
32 : NOC, Southampton, Hants, England.
33 : NOAA, PMEL, Bethesda, MD USA.
34 : LOPS, Toulouse, France.
35 : Australian Natl Univ, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
36 : UIO, Oslo, Norway.
37 : Univ Rennes, Rennes, France.
38 : UIB, Palma De Mallorca, Spain.
39 : Univ Reading, Reading, Berks, England.
40 : UCSD, La Jolla, CA USA.
41 : Univ Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
42 : UCI, Irvine, CA USA.
43 : Mercator Ocean, Romonville St Agne, France.
44 : Univ Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309 USA.
45 : UZH, Zurich, Switzerland.
46 : Puerto Del Estados, Madrid, Spain.
47 : WHOI, Falmouth, MA USA.
48 : AER Inc, Lexington, MA USA.
49 : SIO UCSD, La Jolla, CA USA.
50 : JPL, Pasadena, CA USA.
51 : Delft Univ Technol, Delft, Netherlands.
52 : AWI, Bremerhaven, Germany.
53 : Ohio State Univ, Columbus, OH 43210 USA.
54 : Univ Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.
55 : Univ Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands.
56 : NERSC BCCR, Bergen, Norway.
57 : Univ Tasmania, Hobart, Tas, Australia.
58 : Univ La Rochelle, La Rochelle, France.
Source Earth System Science Data (1866-3508) (Copernicus Gesellschaft Mbh), 2018-08 , Vol. 10 , N. 3 , P. 1551-1590
DOI 10.5194/essd-10-1551-2018
WOS© Times Cited 305
Abstract

Global mean sea level is an integral of changes occurring in the climate system in response to unforced climate variability as well as natural and anthropogenic forcing factors. Its temporal evolution allows changes (e.g.,acceleration) to be detected in one or more components. Study of the sea-level budget provides constraints on missing or poorly known contributions, such as the unsurveyed deep ocean or the still uncertain land water component. In the context of the World Climate Research Programme Grand Challenge entitled "Regional Sea Level and Coastal Impacts", an international effort involving the sea-level community worldwide has been recently initiated with the objective of assessing the various datasets used to estimate components of the sea-level budget during the altimetry era (1993 to present). These datasets are based on the combination of a broad range of space-based and in situ observations, model estimates, and algorithms. Evaluating their quality, quantifying uncertainties and identifying sources of discrepancies between component estimates is extremely useful for various applications in climate research. This effort involves several tens of scientists from about 50 research teams/institutions worldwide (www.wcrp-climate.org/grand-challenges/gc-sea-level, last access: 22 August 2018). The results presented in this paper are a synthesis of the first assessment performed during 2017-2018. We present estimates of the altimetry-based global mean sea level (average rate of 3.1 +/- 0.3mm yr(-1) and acceleration of 0.1 mm yr(-2) over 1993-present), as well as of the different components of the sea-level budget (http://doi.org/10.17882/54854, last access: 22 August 2018). We further examine closure of the sea-level budget, comparing the observed global mean sea level with the sum of components. Ocean thermal expansion, glaciers, Greenland and Antarctica contribute 42%, 21%, 15% and 8% to the global mean sea level over the 1993-present period. We also study the sea-level budget over 2005-present, using GRACE-based ocean mass estimates instead of the sum of individual mass components. Our results demonstrate that the global mean sea level can be closed to within 0.3 mm yr(-1) (1 sigma). Substantial uncertainty remains for the land water storage component, as shown when examining individual mass contributions to sea level.

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Cazenave Anny, Meyssignac Benoit, Ablain Michael, Balmaseda Magdalena, Bamber Jonathan, Barletta Valentina, Beckley Brian, Benveniste Jerome, Berthier Etienne, Blazquez Alejandro, Boyer Tim, Caceres Denise, Chambers Don, Champollion Nicolas, Chao Ben, Chen Jianli, Cheng Lijing, Church John A., Chuter Stephen, Cogley J. Graham, Dangendorf Soenke, Desbruyeres Damien, Doell Petra, Domingues Catia, Falk Ulrike, Famiglietti James, Fenoglio-Marc Luciana, Forsberg Rene, Galassi Gaia, Gardner Alex, Groh Andreas, Hamlington Benjamin, Hogg Anna, Horwath Martin, Humphrey Vincent, Husson Laurent, Ishii Masayoshi, Jaeggi Adrian, Jevrejeva Svetlana, Johnson Gregory, Kolodziejczyk Nicolas, Kusche Juergen, Lambeck Kurt, Landerer Felix, Leclercq Paul, Legresy Benoit, Leuliette Eric, Llovel William, Longuevergne Laurent, Loomis Bryant D., Luthcke Scott B., Marcos Marta, Marzeion Ben, Merchant Chris, Merrifield Mark, Milne Glenn, Mitchum Gary, Mohajerani Yara, Monier Maeva, Monselesan Didier, Nerem Steve, Palanisamy Hindumathi, Paul Frank, Perez Begona, Piecuch Christopher G., Ponte Rui M., Purkey Sarah G., Reager John T., Rietbroek Roelof, Rignot Eric, Riva Riccardo, Roemmich Dean H., Sorensen Louise Sandberg, Sasgen Ingo, Schrama E. J. O., Seneviratne Sonia I., Shum C. K., Spada Giorgio, Stammer Detlef, Van De Wal Roderic, Velicogna Isabella, von Schuckmann Karina, Wada Yoshihide, Wang Yiguo, Watson Christopher, Wiese David, Wijffels Susan, Westaway Richard, Woppelmann Guy, Wouters Bert (2018). Global sea-level budget 1993-present. Earth System Science Data, 10(3), 1551-1590. Publisher's official version : https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-10-1551-2018 , Open Access version : https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00454/56564/