Sea-Level Change -- Copyright -- PREFACE -- Contents -- OVERVIEW AND RECOMMENDATIONS -- EXECUTIVE SUMMARY -- INTRODUCTION -- PROCESSES AND FEEDBACKS -- Time Scales of Sea-Level Change -- Sea Level and the Geoid -- Land Elevation Changes -- Effects of Atmospheric Pressure, Winds, and Ocean Currents -- Changes in the Mass of Ocean Water -- Eustatic Effects of Changes in Liquid Water on Land -- Changes in the Volume of Water Without Changes in Mass -- Volume of Ocean Basins -- RECORD OF CURRENT AND PAST CHANGE -- Historic and Tide-Gauge Records-The Past 100 Years -- The Past 18,000 Years -- The Past 250,000 Years -- The Past 250 Million Years -- From 250 to 2500 Ma -- DO CHANGES IN SEA LEVEL CAUSE CHANGES IN CLIMATE? -- FORECASTING CHANGES IN SEA LEVEL RELATED TO GREENHOUSE GASES -- HOW CAN WE IMPROVE THE MEASUREMENT OF SEA-LEVEL CHANGE? -- RECOMMENDATIONS -- REFERENCES -- THE RECORD -- 1 Recent Changes in Sea Level: A Summary -- INTRODUCTION -- SOME PRIOR STUDIES OF "GLOBAL" SEALEVEL -- THE DATA -- Sources and Distribution -- Instruments -- Potential Problems -- ESTIMATES OF RELATIVE SEA-LEVEL CHANGE: KEY STATION APPROACH -- Methods -- Results -- ESTIMATES OF RSL CHANGE: AREA AVERAGE APPROACH -- Methods -- Results -- Cautions: Nonuniqueness -- DISCUSSION: POSSIBLE CAUSES -- Subsidence Argument -- Global Warming -- Glacial Retreat -- Ocean Circulation Changes -- CONCLUSIONS -- References -- 2 North Atlantic Sea Level and Circulation -- ABSTRACT -- INTRODUCTION -- OBSERVED SEA-LEVEL VARIABILITY -- Western Boundary -- Eastern Boundary -- FORCING FUNCTIONS -- Air Pressure -- Wind Stress -- Wind-Forced Ocean Circulation -- Thermohaline Changes -- MULTIPLE REGRESSION ANALYSIS -- Eastern Boundary -- Western Boundary -- SECULAR CHANGES OF SEA LEVEL -- DISCUSSION -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- References.

3 Large-Scale Coherence of Sea Level at Very Low Frequencies -- ABSTRACT -- INTRODUCTION -- SEA LEVEL ALONG A SINGLE COAST -- SEA LEVEL AT SAN FRANCISCO AND CASCAIS -- SEA-LEVEL SIGNALS FROM PROPAGATING OCEAN WAVES -- Pacific Ocean -- Atlantic Ocean -- SAN FRANCISCO TO CASCAIS -- DISCUSSION -- CONCLUSIONS -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- References -- 4 Glacial Isostatic Adjustment and Relative Sea-Level Change -- ABSTRACT -- INTRODUCTION -- THE GLOBAL MODEL OF GLACIAL ISOSTASY -- Postglacial Variations of Relative Sea Level -- The Free-Air Gravity Anomaly over Centers of Post-Glacial Rebound -- PLEISTOCENE DEGLACIATION AND EARTH ROTATION -- SECULAR VARIATIONS OF RELATIVE SEA LEVEL WITH GLACIAL ISOSTASY REMOVED -- CONCLUSIONS -- References -- 5 Quaternary Sea-Level Change -- ABSTRACT -- INTRODUCTION -- APPROPRIATE (AND INAPPROPRIATE) TECHNOLOGY -- Stratigraphic Context of Study Materials -- Geochronology/Chronostratigraphy -- The 18O Ice Volume/Temperature Relationship -- 18O and 13C Relationships to Subaerial Exposure Surfaces -- THE 18 KABP TO PRESENT TIME INTERVAL -- Latest Pleistocene Maximum Continental Ice Volume -- Lowest, Low Sea-Level Estimates for the 18-KaBP Shoreline -- Submergence Curves for 12 KaBP to Present -- Calibration of Deep-Sea 18O Signal as Continental Ice Volume -- THE 180- TO 18-KABP TIME INTERVAL -- Coral-Reef Terrace Sequences -- The 18O Record from Coral-Reef Terraces and Deep-Sea Cores -- The Deep-Sea 18O Record as an Ice-Volume Signal -- THE PAST AS THE KEY TO THE FUTURE -- West Antarctic Ice Surge Accompanying Warm Interglacial High Stand -- Ice Growth Adjacent to a Warm Ocean -- GLACIO-EUSTACY IN STRATIGRAPHIC PREDICTION -- CONCLUSIONS -- References -- 6 Graphic Analysis of Dislocated Quaternary Shorelines -- ABSTRACT -- INTRODUCTION -- THE GLACIAL CYCLE: 104 TO 105 YEARS.

TERRACES OF SEA-LEVEL MAXIMA DURING AND SINCE THE LAST INTERGLACIAL -- TECTONIC MOVEMENTS ON THE TIME SCALE OF 20,000 YEARS -- CONTRADICTORY SEA-LEVEL EVIDENCE FROM OXYGEN ISOTOPES AND CORAL REEFS -- SEA LEVEL DURING FULL-GLACIAL AND STADIAL INTERVALS -- LATE-GLACIAL AND HOLOCENE SEA LEVELS: THE 103-TO 104-YEAR TIME SCALE -- CONCLUSIONS -- References -- 7 Seismic Stratigraphic Record of Sea-Level Change -- ABSTRACT -- INTRODUCTION -- Conventional Stratigraphic Record of Sea-Level Change -- Seismic Stratigraphic Record of Sea-Level Change -- SEISMIC IMAGING OF STRATAL GEOMETRY -- SEISMIC RESOLUTION -- Vertical Resolution -- Horizontal Resolution -- RECOGNITION OF UNCONFORMITIES IN SEISMIC SECTIONS -- SEISMIC REFLECTIONS LACKING PRIMARY STRATIGRAPHIC SIGNIFICANCE -- CHRONOSTRATIGRAPHIC SIGNIFICANCE OF UNCONFORMITIES -- Diachronous Unconformity on the Blake-Bahama Outer Ridge -- Diachronous Unconformity in Alluvial-Fan Sediments along the San Andreas Fault -- ORIGIN OF UNCONFORMITIES -- Sea-Level Change and Sediment Supply -- Tectonics -- GEOCHRONOLOGY -- INTERPRETATION OF SEA-LEVEL CHANGE -- Coastal Aggradation -- Downward Shifts in Onlap -- Coastal Encroachment -- Global Onlap Chart -- Eustatic Curve -- SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- References -- 8 Long-Term Eustasy and Epeirogeny in Continents -- INTRODUCTION -- VERY LONG TIME CHANGES OF FLOODING -- METHODS -- VOLUME OF MID-OCEAN RIDGES -- ICE-VOLUME EFFECT -- VOLCANIC ACTIVITY -- OCEAN SEDIMENT VOLUMES -- REDUCTION IN CONTINENTAL AREA -- OCEAN COOLING -- SUMMARY OF VOLUME EFFECTS -- SEA LEVEL MEASURED FROM CONTINENTAL FLOODING -- EPEIROGENY OF THE CONTINENTS -- COMPARISON OF VOLUME AND FLOODING ESTIMATES -- DISCUSSION OF EPEIROGENIC MOVEMENTS -- CHANGING THE AGE DISTRIBUTION OF THE OCEAN BASINS -- CRETACEOUS FLUCTUATIONS -- CONCLUSIONS -- NOTE ADDED IN PROOF -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.

References -- PROCESSES AND FEEDBACKS -- 9 Could Possible Changes in Global Groundwater Reservoir Cause Eustatic Sea-Level Fluctuations? -- ABSTRACT -- INTRODUCTION -- THE PRESENT DAY HYDROLOGIC CYCLE AND RUNOFF -- SEDIMENTARY RESERVOIRS OF THE CONTINENTAL BLOCKS -- Cratonic Sediments -- Geosynclinal Sediments -- Coastal Plain and Continental Shelf Sediments -- SEDIMENTS AS HYDROLOGIC RESERVOIRS -- POTENTIAL WATER-BEARING CAPACITY OF THE MAJOR SEDIMENT RESERVOIRS -- WATER-BEARING CAPACITY AND CONTINENTAL ELEVATION -- A HYPOTHETICAL MODEL OF CONTINENTAL ELEVATION AND SEA-LEVEL CHANGE -- RESIDENCE TIMES -- MECHANISMS FOR CHANGING THE VOLUME OF GROUNDWATER -- SIGNIFICANCE OF CHANGES IN THE GROUNDWATER TABLE FOR ACCUMULATION OF HYDROCARBONS AND FOR MINERALIZATION -- SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- References -- 10 Role of Land Ice in Present and Future Sea-Level Change -- ABSTRACT -- INTRODUCTION -- ICE ON EARTH AT THE PRESENT -- Glaciers and Small Ice Caps -- Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets -- CHANGES IN ICE IN THE NEXT CENTURY -- Energy and Mass Balances as a Function of Altitude -- Time Scales of Ice Wastage and Dynamic Response -- The Warming of Cold Snow and Firn -- Flow and Iceberg Calving of Tidewater Glaciers -- Stability of Ice Streams and Ice Shelves -- Increased Accumulation on Antarctica -- A LONGER-TERM PERSPECTIVE -- Fluctuations in CO2 Observed in Ice Cores -- Rapid Deglaciation in North America -- Did the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Disappear during the Last Interglacial? -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- References -- 11 Sea Level and Climate Change -- INTRODUCTION -- DIRECT EFFECTS OF SEA LEVEL ON CLIMATE -- Atmosphere-Surface Coupling -- Ocean Circulation -- Annual Temperature Cycle -- Ice Sheets -- Ocean Chemistry -- INDIRECT SEA-LEVEL AND CLIMATE ASSOCIATIONS -- SUMMARY -- References.

12 Long-Term Aspects of Future Atmospheric CO2 and Sea-Level Changes -- INTRODUCTION -- TIME SCALES OF SEA-LEVEL CHANGE -- TIME SCALES OF CARBON CYCLE CHANGE -- EXTENDING PREDICTIVE CO2 MODELS TO LONGER TIME SCALES -- A COUPLED ATMOSPHERE-OCEAN-SEDIMENT MODEL -- THE LONG-TERM PERSISTENCE OF FOSSIL-FUEL CO2 -- CONCLUSIONS -- References -- 13 Sea Level and the Thermal Variability of the Ocean -- ABSTRACT -- INTRODUCTION -- BERMUDA SEA LEVEL AND THE PANULIRUS DATA -- THE EASTERN NORTH PACIFIC -- DISCUSSION -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- References -- FUTURE MEASUREMENTS -- 14 Strategy for Future Measurements of Very-Low-Frequency Sea-Level Change -- INTRODUCTION -- DETECTABILITY OF LONG-TERM TREND -- CRUSTAL NOISE -- THERMAL EXPANSION VERSUS CHANGES OF OCEAN MASS -- MEASUREMENT OF G -- PRESSURE ON THE SEA FLOOR -- INVERTED FATHOMETER -- TOMOGRAPHY -- INTERPRETATION -- A PROPOSED STRATEGY -- References -- INDEX.