Letter

Climatic Change

, Volume 103, Issue 3, pp 619-625

First online:

The impact of Greenland melt on local sea levels: a partially coupled analysis of dynamic and static equilibrium effects in idealized water-hosing experiments

A letter
  • Robert E. KoppAffiliated withDepartment of Geosciences and Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton UniversityAAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science Email author 
  • , Jerry X. MitrovicaAffiliated withDepartment of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University
  • , Stephen M. GriffiesAffiliated withGeophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
  • , Jianjun YinAffiliated withCenter for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies, Florida State University
  • , Carling C. HayAffiliated withDepartment of Physics, University of Toronto
  • , Ronald J. StoufferAffiliated withGeophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

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Abstract

Local sea level can deviate from mean global sea level because of both dynamic sea level (DSL) effects, resulting from oceanic and atmospheric circulation and temperature and salinity distributions, and changes in the static equilibrium (SE) sea level configuration, produced by the gravitational, elastic, and rotational effects of mass redistribution. Both effects will contribute to future sea level change. To compare their magnitude, we simulated the effects of Greenland Ice Sheet (GIS) melt by conducting idealized North Atlantic “water-hosing” experiments in a climate model unidirectionally coupled to a SE sea level model. At current rates of GIS melt, we find that geographic SE patterns should be challenging but possible to detect above dynamic variability. At higher melt rates, we find that DSL trends are strongest in the western North Atlantic, while SE effects will dominate in most of the ocean when melt exceeds ~20 cm equivalent sea level.