Spatial Variability in the 20th Century Record of Sea Level Rise along the US Atlantic Coast
Abstract
Analysis of the largest late Holocene database of geological observations of sea level for the US Atlantic Coast provides estimates of current land-level changes. Maximum land subsidence occurs along the mid Atlantic Coast between Massachusetts and Maryland (1.02 to 1.53 mm yr-1), with lower rates north to Maine (0.48 to 0.57 mm yr-1), and south to South Carolina (0.55 to 0.99 mm yr-1). Vertically correcting tide gauge records along the US Atlantic Coast with observations of subsidence, documents a 20th century rate of sea level rise of 1.84 ± 0.15 mm yr-1. There is a strong north to south increasing tendency of sea level rise, independent of glacial isostatic adjustment, suggesting a significant contribution from ocean steric effects and/or Greenland mass balance.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2008
- Bibcode:
- 2008AGUFMGC33A0756E
- Keywords:
-
- 1641 Sea level change (1222;
- 1225;
- 4556);
- 4217 Coastal processes;
- 4556 Sea level: variations and mean (1222;
- 1225;
- 1641);
- 4902 Anthropogenic effects (1803;
- 4802);
- 4954 Sea surface temperature