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GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 34, L23616, doi:10.1029/2007GL031814, 2007

Meteorologically driven trends in sea level rise

Alexander S. Kolker

Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA


Sultan Hameed

Marine Sciences Research Center, Institute for Terrestrial and Planetary Atmospheres, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, New York, USA


Abstract

Determining the rate of global sea level rise (GSLR) during the past century is critical to understanding recent changes to the global climate system. However, this is complicated by non-tidal, short-term, local sea-level variability that is orders of magnitude greater than the trend. While the non-dimensional North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index can explain some of this variability in the Atlantic, significant results have been largely restricted to Europe. We show that dimensional indices of the position and intensity of the atmospheric centers of action (COAs) comprising the NAO are correlated with a major fraction of the variability and trend at 5 Atlantic Ocean tide gauges since 1900. COA fluctuations are shown to influence winds, pressure and sea-surface temperatures, thereby influencing sea level via a suite of coastal oceanographic processes. These findings reduce variability in regional sea level rise estimates and indicate a meteorological driver of sea-level trends.

Received 24 August 2007; accepted 6 November 2007; published 15 December 2007.

Keywords: sea level; centers of action; climate variability.

Index Terms: 1616 Global Change: Climate variability (1635, 3305, 3309, 4215, 4513); 1641 Global Change: Sea level change (1222, 1225, 4556); 1637 Global Change: Regional climate change; 1610 Global Change: Atmosphere (0315, 0325); 3270 Mathematical Geophysics: Time series analysis (1872, 4277, 4475).

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Citation: Kolker, A. S., and S. Hameed (2007), Meteorologically driven trends in sea level rise, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L23616, doi:10.1029/2007GL031814.