2024/10/17 by Benjamin D. Hamlington, Ashley Bellas-Manley, J. K. Willis +6 · 1 voice · 4 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Geophysics and Gravity Measurements #Groundwater and Isotope Geochemistry
paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/s43247-024-01761-5
openalex publication_date 2024/10/17 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
The rise in globally averaged sea level—or global mean sea level—is one of the most unambiguous indicators of climate change. Over the past three decades, satellites have provided continuous, accurate measurements of sea level on near-global scales. Here, we show that since satellites began observing sea surface heights in 1993 until the end of 2023, global mean sea level has risen by 111 mm. In addition, the rate of global mean sea level rise over those three decades has increased from ~2.1 mm/year in 1993 to ~4.5 mm/year in 2023. If this trajectory of sea level rise continues over the next three decades, sea levels will increase by an additional 169 mm globally, comparable to mid-range sea level projections from the IPCC AR6. Global mean sea level rise amounted to 4.5 mm per year as a result of warming oceans and melting land ice, more than twice the rate of 2.1 mm/year observed at the start of satellite data in 1993, based on a sea-level trajectory from altimeter data.