Acceleration of global mean sea level rise
IPCC AR6
Headline statement A.1.7 Global mean sea level increased by 0.20 [0.15 to 0.25] m between 1901 and 2018. The average rate of sea level rise was 1.3 [0.6 to 2.1] mm/year between 1901 and 1971, increasing to 1.9 [0.8 to 2.9] mm/year between 1971 and 2006, and further increasing to 3.7 [3.2 to 4.2] mm/year between 2006 and 2018 (high confidence). Human influence was very likely the main driver of these increases since at least 1971.
WMO State of the climate 2022
In its “State of the climate 2022” report (Figure 6) released April 21, 2023, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) used satellite data of sea surface height to show that over the 1993-2002 period, global mean sea-level was rising at a rate of 2.3 mm/year. This accelerated to 3.3 mm/year over the 2003-2012 period, and then to 4.6 mm/year over the 2013-2022 period. This is mostly due to ocean thermal expansion and accelerated melting of the Greenland and Antarctica ice sheets.
Sea level blog
Interview on sea level rise
In this 13-minute interview with Markham Hislop of Energi Media, I discuss how ocean warming and the melting of mountain glaciers and the Greenland and Antarctica ice sheets contribute to global sea level rise. According to the IPCC Special Report on The Ocean and Cryosphere in a changing Climate, what were centennial (once per century) extreme high sea level events in the recent past will become annual (once per year) events around 2050 for most coastal locations around the world.
