Sea level change

Physics

Altimeter

Acceleration

Geology

Climate change

Satellite altimetry

Sea level

Astronomy

Global change

Climatology

Geodesy

Satellite

Sea level rise

Environmental science

Classical mechanics

Oceanography

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Significance Satellite altimetry has shown that global mean sea level has been rising at a rate of ∼3 ± 0.4 mm/y since 1993. Using the altimeter record coupled with careful consideration of interannual and decadal variability as well as potential instrument errors, we show that this rate is accelerating at 0.084 ± 0.025 mm/y 2 , which agrees well with climate model projections. If sea level continues to change at this rate and acceleration, sea-level rise by 2100 (∼65 cm) will be more than double the amount if the rate was constant at 3 mm/y.

Climate-change–driven accelerated sea-level rise detected in the altimeter era