Work

Underlying drivers of decade-long fluctuation in the global mean sea-level rise

Year: 2021

Type: article

Abstract: Natural climate variability can mask the background trend of global mean sea-level (GMSL) caused by global warming. Recent advances in satellite measurements and ocean heat-content estimates have enabled the monitoring of GMSL budget components and provide insights into ocean effects on the Earth’s energy imbalance and hydrology. We observed a decadal fluctuation in GMSL rise, which coincides with an increasing trend in the 2010s after the warming ‘hiatus’ during the 2000s, and demonstrated that the rate of sea-level rise can be attributed to climate-related decadal fluctuations in ocean heat storage and hydrology. Since ∼2011, the decadal climate variability has resulted in additional ocean mass gain (271 ± 89 Gt yr−1) from glacier-free land water storage and increased ocean heat uptake (0.28 ± 0.17 W m−2), increasing the GMSL rise rate by 1.4 ± 0.4 mm yr−1. The suggested estimates of sea-level and Earth’s energy budgets highlight the importance of natural variability in understanding the impacts of the ongoing sea-level rise.

Source: Environmental Research Letters

DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/ac3d58

Authors: Hyeonsoo Cha, Jae-Hong Moon, Taekyun Kim, Y Tony Song

Institutions: Jeju National University, California Institute of Technology, Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Language: English

Topic: Geophysics and Gravity Measurements

Subfield: Oceanography

Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Climate action

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,255