sea level rise 1880--2014

    Caption: "Global sea level rise 1993--2014. Data from Neil White of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), originally obtained by satellites TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason-1, and Jason 2." (Somewhat edited.)

    Features:

    1. The 3-month running average (moving average) smooths over the monthly fluctuations which may be partially error and partially actual physical fluctuations.

    2. Determining an average sea level is tricky since there is no absolute standard. The solid Earth is always flexing in complex ways in every different area and the oceans/World Ocean likewise.

      There must be an elaborate procedure for arriving at an average sea level.

    3. Circa 2020, the sea level rise rate is ∼ 0.30(04) cm/yr (see Wikipedia: Sea level rise: Sea level measurement).

    4. By 2100, sea level rise is expected be somewhere between 0.3 m and 2.5 m over the present (see Wikipedia: Sea level rise). There are vast uncertainties in such predictions.

    5. Just extrapolating the current rise rate, we can expect a rise of ∼ 26 cm.

      But the rise rate is NOT expected to stay constant. So the 26 cm prediction is NOT robust.

    Credit/Permission: © User:Kopiersperre, 2014 / CC BY-SA 3.0.
    Image link: Wikimedia Commons.
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