HR: 0800h
AN: U41A-0003    [Abstracts]
TI: Sea level research beyond the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report
AU: * Cazenave, A
EM: anny.cazenave@cnes.fr
AF: LEGOS, 18 avenue Edouard Belin, Toulouse, 31400, France
AU: Shum, C
EM: ckshum@osu.edu
AF: The Ohio State University, School of Earth Sciences, 275 Mendenhall Laboratory, 125 S. Oval Mall, Colombus, OH 43210, United States
AB: The chapter on Oceanic Climate and Sea Level of the fourth assessement report written by the IPCC Working Group I summarized a number of recent results about sea level change (e.g.: recent observations based on satellite altimetry indicate that sea level is rising faster since the early 1990s than during the previous decades, but it is yet unclear whether the recent increased rate indicates an accelerating trend or whether it is associated with decadal; Owing to progress realized in the recent years in understanding the causes of present-day sea level rise, we can now almost close the sea level budget for the 1993-2003 decade : about fifty percent of the rate of sea level rise is due to thermal expansion of sea waters in response to ocean warming; Recent estimates of the mass balance of mountain glaciers and ice sheets appear able to explain another forty per cent; Sea level change is highly non-uniform spatially, as revealed by satellite altimetry. In some regions, rates are up several times the global mean rise, while in other regions sea level is falling. The spatial patterns of observed sea level changes are highly correlated to regional change in global heat content and ocean thermal expansion and appear consistent with known characteristics of the large scale ocean circulation). As lead authors of this chapter, having contributed to the writing of the sea level section, we discuss here the degree of confidence we have in observations and in understanding present day sea level rise (i.e. in climate-related and anthropogenic contributions), try to identify current gaps and suggest a number of recommendations for future sea level research.
DE: 3305 Climate change and variability (1616, 1635, 3309, 4215, 4513)
DE: 3337 Global climate models (1626, 4928)
DE: 6620 Science policy (0485)
SC: Union [U]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting