The Sea Level Conundrum: Insights From Paleo Studies

• Published in: Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union
• Main Authors: Siddall, Mark, Clark, Peter, Thompson, Bill, Waelbroeck, Claire, Gregory, Jonathan, Stocker, Thomas
• Other Authors: Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement (LSCE), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2009
• Subjects: 3309; 4215; 4513); Paleoceanography: Glacial; Cryosphere: Ice sheets; Paleoceanography: Interhemispheric phasing; Earth Science; Global Change: Sea level change (1222; 1225; 4556); Global Change: Climate variability (1635; 3305; [SDU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-04113778; https://doi.org/10.1029/2009EO090007

International audience Empirical Constraints on Future Sea Level Rise; Bern, Switzerland, 25-29 August 2008; Eustatic sea level (ESL) rise during the 21st century is perhaps the greatest threat from climate change, but its magnitude is contested. Geological records identify examples of nonlinear ice sheet response to climate forcing, suggesting a strategy for refining estimates of 21st-century sea level change. In August 2008, Past Global Changes (PAGES), International Marine Past Global Change Study (IMAGES), and the University of Bern cosponsored a workshop to address this possibility. The workshop highlighted several ways that paleoceanography studies can place limits on future sea level rise, and these are enlarged upon here.