Satellites reveal that the sea level does not rise uniformly - Earth.com

Satellites reveal that the sea level does not rise uniformly

01-29-2023

Today’s Video of the Day from the Los Alamos National Laboratory features a study based on satellite observations of sea-surface height around the Greenland ice sheet over the last three decades. The research shows that the sea level does not rise uniformly.

“Using sea-surface-height observations from satellites in the way we have independently verified observations of Arctic and Greenland ice-mass loss and allows us to tease apart contributions to global sea-level rise from individual ice sheets and glacier systems,” said study lead author Sophie Coulson.

“Accurately predicting regional patterns of sea-level change is absolutely central to understanding the impacts of future climate change and forecasting hazards.”

Coulson explained that as the melting continues, and the water is redistributed around the global oceans, the sea level does not rise uniformly. “And since every glacier and ice sheet has a unique pattern of sea-level change, these patterns have come to be known as sea-level fingerprints. But despite over half a century of research, these fingerprints have never been unambiguously detected.”

Image Credit: Matthew Hoffman

Video Credit: Los Alamos National Laboratory

By Chrissy Sexton, Earth.com Editor

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