Title | Climate related sea-level variations over the past two millennia. |
Publication Type | Journal Article |
Year of Publication | 2011 |
Authors | Kemp AC, Horton BP, Donnelly JP, Mann ME, Vermeer M, Rahmstorf S |
Journal | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |
Volume | 108 |
Issue | 27 |
Pagination | 11017–11022 |
Date Published | 07/2011 |
Keywords | Climate, late Holocene, ocean, Salt marsh |
Abstract | 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. |
URL | http://www.pnas.org/content/108/27/11017.abstract |
DOI | 10.1073/pnas.1015619108 |