DGESL : Research : Climate Change and Sea Level

Overview

The Arctic has been warming dramatically and virtually all glaciers, ice caps, and ice sheets are melting. Sea ice is also retreating and thinning. At the same time, the Antarctic Ice Sheet is also losing mass and contributing to sea level rise in an increasingly significant manner. Our work focuses on both assessing the likely magnitude and rate of future sea level rise, and mapping the implications of potential future sea level rise for coastal areas of the U.S.A. and beyond.

Strauss, B.H., R. Ziemlinski, J.L. Weiss, and J.T. Overpeck. 2012. Tidally-adjusted estimates of topographic vulnerability to sea level rise and flooding for the contiguous United States. Environmental Research Letters 7: 014033 10.1088/1748-9326/7/1/014033.

abstract | request reprint (758 KB)

McKay, N.P., J.T. Overpeck, and B.L. Otto-Bliesner. 2011. The role of ocean thermal expansion in Last Interglacial sea level rise. Geophysical Research Letters 38: 10.1029/2011GL048280.

abstract | request reprint (1,400 KB)

Weiss, J.L., J.T. Overpeck, and B. Strauss. 2011. Implications of recent sea level rise science for low-elevation areas in coastal cities of the conterminous U.S.A. Climatic Change 105: 635-645.

abstract | request reprint (644 KB)

Overpeck, J.T. and J.L. Weiss. 2009. Projections of future sea level becoming more dire. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 106: 21461-21462.

no abstract available | request reprint (460 KB)

Otto-Bliesner, B.L., J. Marshall, J.T. Overpeck, G.H. Miller, A. Hu, and CAPE Last Interglacial Project members. 2006. Simulating Arctic climate warmth and icefield retreat in the Last Interglaciation. Science 311: 1751-1753.