HR: 17:05h
AN: G14B-01 INVITED     [Abstracts]
TI: Bowie Lecture: The Record of Sea Level Change from Satellite Measurements: What Have We Learned?
AU: * Nerem, R S
EM: nerem@colorado.edu
AF: Colorado Center for Astrodynamics Research, University of Colorado, UCB431, Boulder, CO 80309-0431 United States
AB: Over the last decade, satellite geodetic measurements together with in situ measurements, have revolutionized our understanding of present-day sea level change. This is important because sea level change can be used as one barometer of climate variations and because of the implications sea level change has for coastal populations. With measurements from satellite altimeter missions (TOPEX/Posiedon and Jason), satellite gravity missions (GRACE), and the Global Positioning System (GPS), we are now able to start asking some important questions with regards to global sea level change and its regional variations. What has been the rate of global mean sea level change over the last dozen years? Is this rate different from the historical rate observed by the tide gauges over the last century? What are the principal causes of the observed sea level change, and are they related to anthropogenic climate variations? The record of sea level change from satellite altimetry will be reviewed, its error sources and limitations discussed, and the results placed in context with other estimates of sea level change from tide gauges, in situ measurements, and global climate models. The much shorter, but just as important, record of ocean mass variations from satellite gravity measurements will be similarly reviewed. In addition, GPS measurements of the deformation of the solid Earth due to the melting of continental ice and what they tell us about sea level change will be discussed. A sea level change budget will be presented, both for the altimetric era and the last century, containing estimates of contributions from thermal expansion, ocean mass changes (melting ice, runoff, etc.), and other contributions to sea level change. Finally, the need for continuing the satellite measurements of sea level change will be discussed in the context of future missions and the scientific gain that would result.
UR: http://sealevel.colorado.edu
DE: 1217 Time variable gravity (7223, 7230)
DE: 1223 Ocean/Earth/atmosphere/hydrosphere/cryosphere interactions (0762, 1218, 3319, 4550)
DE: 1225 Global change from geodesy (1222, 1622, 1630, 1641, 1645, 4556)
DE: 4556 Sea level: variations and mean (1222, 1225, 1641)
SC: Geodesy [G]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005