We present new sea-level reconstructions for the past 2100 y based on salt-marsh sedimentary sequences from the US Atlantic coast. The data from North Carolina reveal four phases of persistent sea-level change after correction for glacial isostatic adjustment. Sea level was stable from at least BC 100 until AD 950. Sea level then increased for 400 y at a rate of 0.6 mm/y, followed by a further period of stable, or slightly falling, sea level that persisted until the late 19th century. Since then, sea level has risen at an average rate of 2.1 mm/y, representing the steepest century-scale increase of the past two millennia. This rate was initiated between AD 1865 and 1892. Using an extended semiempirical modeling approach, we show that these sea-level changes are consistent with global temperature for at least the past millennium.
Kemp, A.C., Department of Earth and Environmental Science, Sea Level Research, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, United States, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale Climate and Energy Institute, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, United States; Horton, B.P., Department of Earth and Environmental Science, Sea Level Research, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, United States; Donnelly, J.P., Department of Geology and Geophysics, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543, United States; Mann, M.E., Department of Meteorology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, United States; Vermeer, M., Department of Surveying, Aalto University, School of Engineering, P.O. Box 11000, FI-00076, Aalto, Finland; Rahmstorf, S., Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Telegrafenberg A62, 14473 Potsdam, Germany
Recommended Citation:
Kemp A.C.,Horton B.P.,Donnelly J.P.,et al. Climate related sea-level variations over the past two millennia[J]. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America,2011-01-01,108(27)