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The Magnitude And Nature Of 'Noise' In World Sea-Level Records, Edward A. Bryant

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

While average world sea-level is rising at a uniform rate of 1-1.5 mm yr-1, regional rates can vary by an order of magnitude. Over time scales of several years these rates can be 10-100 times greater because sea-level is affected at this scale by highly changeable meteorological and oceanographic variables. The inherent "noise" level in world sea-level records is 35 mm. Much of this is expressed as fluctuations on the order of 20-100 mm with a frequency of 3-5 years. This latter "noise" is highly coherent at tide gauges around the globe and appears unrelated to resonance or wave excitation …