Sea Level Variations – Prospects from the Past to the Present (SEAVAR)

Abstract

Climate change and climatic fluctuations are a natural phenomenon and have occurred over different temporal scales during the Earth’s history. In addition to this natural variability, the question of human-induced changes of climate has gained increasing public awareness. This interest is caused by indications of recent global warming, which has been related to increasing portions of anthropogenic greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The importance of sea level when studying climate change is, that it responds as a highly sensitive indicator of climate change, the main causal connections being the mass exchange between land ice and ocean water and the thermal expansion of the ocean water.