This figure shows the change in annually averaged sea level at 23 geologically stable tide gauge sites with long-term records as selected by Douglas (1997). The thick dark line is a three-year moving average of the instrumental records. These data indicate a sea level rise of ~27.5 cm from 1800-2000. Because of the limited geographic coverage of these records, it is not obvious whether the apparent decadal fluctuations represent true variations in global sea level or merely variations across regions that are not resolved.
For comparison, the recent annually averaged satellite altimetry data [1] from TOPEX/Poseidon are shown in red. These data indicate a somewhat higher rate of increase than tide gauge data, however the source of this discrepancy is not obvious. It may represent systematic error in the satellite record and/or incomplete geographic sampling in the tide gauge record. The month to month scatter on the satellite measurements is roughly the thickness of the plotted red curve.
Data
Original data for this figure are from the Permanent Service for Mean Sea Level[2]archive copy at the Wayback Machine (PSMSL). Douglas (1997), defined the following criteria for selecting records from the PSMSL which were long, reliable, and avoided large vertical geologic changes:
After slight corrections following Douglas (1997) for any remaining post-glacial rebound at these sites (typically ~3 cm/century), the tide gauge data from these sites were plotted in no particular order as the thin lines in the above figure. One site, Wellington, was omitted because the author of this figure was unable to locate the corresponding record from the PSMSL.
Copyright
This figure was prepared from publicly available data by Robert A. Rohde and is incorporated into the Global Warming Art project.
Idih kawènèhaké saprelu nyalin, ngedum, lan/utawa ngowah layang iki manut bebaku Palilah Pilayang Bébas GNU, Angka 1.2 utawa angka luwih anyar sing dibabar Yeyasan Piranti Alus Bébas; tanpa Pérangan Invarian, tanpa Tulisan Samak Arep, lan tanpa Tulisan Samak Buri. Salinan palilah dirembug ing pérangan asesirah Palilah Pilayang Bébas GNU.http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.htmlGFDLGNU Free Documentation Licensetruetrue
atribusi – Kowé kudu mènèhi krédhit kang patut, mènèhi pranala lisènsi, lan kandha yèn ana owah-owahan. Kowé bisa tumindak sasenengmu, nanging ora teges kang duwé lisènsi njurung lakumu.
andum mèmper – Manawa kowé nyalin rupa, ngowahi, utawa nggawé karya nganggo bahan karya iki, kowé kudu mbabar karyamu kang wis dadi nganggo lisènsi kang padha utawa kang cocog karo karya asliné..
Tag lisènsi iki ditambahaké nèng berkas iki minangka bagéyané panganyaran lisènsi GFDL.http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/CC BY-SA 3.0Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0truetrue
Reference
Bruce C. Douglas (1997). "Global Sea Rise: A Redetermination". Surveys in Geophysics18: 279–292. DOI:10.1023/A:1006544227856.
Captions
Add a one-line explanation of what this file represents