Skip to main content

Modelling Future Sea-level Change under Green-house Warming Scenarios with an Earth System Model of Intermediate Complexity

  • Conference paper
Book cover Gravity, Geoid and Space Missions

Part of the book series: International Association of Geodesy Symposia ((IAG SYMPOSIA,volume 129))

  • 1719 Accesses

Abstract

Recently, a lot of effort has been put into estimating possible near-future changes (say, 10–100 years) in the Earth’s abiotic system, especially changes induced by human activities. One of the most studied issues is the effect of greenhouse gases on global warming and the corresponding change in sea-level around the world due to the associated deglaciation. This study focuses at projections of global sea-level changes on geological time scales. The University of Victoria’s (Canada) coupled Earth System Climate Model of intermediate complexity was implemented. Two different green-house-warming scenarios were studied on time-scales from hundreds to thousands years. The model was used to predict sea level variations under the combined influence of changes in sea ice coverage, global precipitation and evaporation, seawater salinity and temperature. Long-term projections show unequal water mass distribution over the globe: a sea-level rise of order of decimetres in equatorial and mid-latitude regions and a sea-level fall of up to 2 metres in polar regions, mostly around Antarctica.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 169.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 219.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Bitz CM, Holland MM, Weaver AJ, Eby M (2001) Simulating the ice-thickness distribution in a coupled climate model. J Geophys Res 106: 2441–2464

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brovkin V, Ganopolski A, Svirezhev Y (1997) A continuous climate-vegetation classification for use in climate-biosphere studies. Ecological Modelling 101: 251–261

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chappell J (1983) Evidence for smoothly falling sea-level relative to north Queensland, Australia, during the past 6,000 yr, Nature 302: 406–408

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Claussen M, Mysak LA, Weaver AJ, Crucifix M, Fichefet T, Loutre M-F, Weber SL, Alcamo J, Alexeev VA, Berger A, Calov R, Ganopolski A, Goosse H, Lohman G, Lunkeit F, Mokhov II, Petoukhov V, Stone P, Wang Zh (2001) Earth system models of intermediate complexity: closing the gap in the spectrum of climate system models, Climate Dynamics 18: 579–586

    Google Scholar 

  • Donate GD, Vermeersen LLA, Sabadini R (2000) Sea-level changes, geoid and gravity anomalies due to Pleistocene deglaciation by means of multi-layered analytical Earth models, Tectonophysics 320: 409–418

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fang M, Hager BH (1999) Postglacial sea-level: energy method, Global and Planetary Change 20: 125–156

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fanning AG, Weaver AJ (1996) An atmospheric energy-moisture model: Climatology, interpentadal climate change and coupling to an ocean general circulation model. J Geophys Res 101: 15111–15128

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Farrell WE, Clark JA (1976) Postgacial sea-level, Geophys J of the Royal Astronomical Society 46(3): 647–667

    Google Scholar 

  • Gallee H, Van Ypersele JP, Fichefet T, Tricot C, Berger AL (1992) Simulation of the last glacial cycle by a coupled 2-D climate-ice sheet model. Part 2: Response to insolation and CO2. J Geophys Res 97: 15713–15740

    Google Scholar 

  • Gasperini P, Sabadini R, Yuen DA (1986) Excitation of the Earth’s rotational axis by recent glacial discharges. Geophys Res Lett 13: 533–536

    Google Scholar 

  • Holland MM, Bitz CM, Eby M, Weaver AJ (2001) The role of ice ocean interactions in the variability of the North Atlantic thermo-haline circulation. J Clim 14: 656–675

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Houghton JT, Ding Y, Griggs DJ, Noguer M, van der Linden PJ, Dai X, Maskell K, Johnson CA (eds) (2001) Climate change 2001: the scientific basis. Contribution of working group 1 to the third assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge Univ Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoyme H, Zielke W (2001) Impact of climate changes on wind behaviour and water levels at the German North Sea coast. Estuarine, Coastal & Shelf Sci 53(4): 451–458

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • James TS, Ivins ER (1997) Global geodetic signatures of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. J Geophys Res 102: 605–633

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Joos F, Planner G-K, Stacker TF, Marchal O, Schmittner A (1999) Global warming and marine carbon cycle feed-backs on future atmospheric CO2. Science 284: 464–467

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaufmann G (2002) Predictions of secular geoid changes from Late Pleistocene and Holocene Antarctic ice-ocean mass balance, Geophys J Int 148: 340–347

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuhn M, Featherstone WE (2004) Construction of a synthetic Earth gravity model by forward gravity modelling, in: Sansò F (ed) A Window on the Future of Geodesy, Springer, Berlin, pp 350–355

    Google Scholar 

  • Lambeck K, Nakada M (1990) Late Pleistocene and Holocene sea-level change along the Australian coast. Palaeogeog Palaeoclimat Palaeoecol 89: 143–176

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Milne GA, Mitrovica JX (1998) The influence of a time-dependent ocean-continent geometry on predictions of post-glacial sea-level change in Australia and New Zealand, Geophys Res Lett 25: 793–796

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mitrovica JX, Davies JL, Shapiro II (2001) Recent mass balance of the polar ice sheets inferred from patterns of global sea-level change, Nature 409: 1026–1029

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pacanowski RC (1996) MOM 2 Version 2 Documentation User’s Guide and Reference Manual. GFDL Ocean Technical Report 3.2. Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Peltier WR (1999) Global sea level rise and isostatic adjustment, Global and Planetary Change 20: 93–123

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prinn R, Jacoby H, Sokolov A, Wang C, Xiao X, Yang Z, Eckaus R, Stone P, Ellerman D, Melillo J, Fitzmaurice J, Kicklighter D, Holian G, Liu Y (1999) Integrated global system model for climate policy assessment: feedbacks and sensitivity studies, Climatic Change 41: 469–546

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Semtner AJ (1976) A model for the thermodynamic growth of sea ice in numerical investigations of climate, J Physical Oceanography 6: 379–389

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tamisiea ME, Mitrovica JX, Milne GA, Davis JL (2001) Global geoid and sea-level changes due to present-day ice mass fluctuations. J Geophys Res 106: 30849–30865

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weaver AJ, Eby M, Wiebe EC, Bitz CM, Duffy PB, Ewen TL, Fanning AF, Holland MM, MacFadyen A, Damon Matthews H, Meissner KJ, Saenko O, Schmittner A, Wang H, Yoshimori M (2001) The UVic Earth System Climate Model: model description, climatology, and applications to past, present and future climates. Atmosphere-Ocean 39(4): 361–428

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2005 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Makarynskyy, O., Kuhn, M., Featherstone, W. (2005). Modelling Future Sea-level Change under Green-house Warming Scenarios with an Earth System Model of Intermediate Complexity. In: Jekeli, C., Bastos, L., Fernandes, J. (eds) Gravity, Geoid and Space Missions. International Association of Geodesy Symposia, vol 129. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-26932-0_45

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics