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Encyclopedia of Coastal Science pp 1–5Cite as

Eustasy

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Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series ((EESS))

Definition

Eustasy originally referred to a globally simultaneous and uniform change in sea level. However, sea-level changes are affected by many processes that operate on different temporal and spatial scales. These processes are described more fully below and summarized in Table 1. Therefore, the original concept of eustasy, as a globally uniform rise in sea level, has been challenged, and some authors suggest abandoning the term altogether (e.g., Carlson and Clark 2012). Nevertheless, eustatic sea level plays an important role within the framework of geophysical models that calculate glacial isostasy (see below; Peltier 2004; Mitrovica et al. 2010; Lambeck et al. 2010; Spada 2017). In current usage, the eustatic sea-level change is the global sea-level change averaged over the surface of the oceans, over a specified time interval (Spada 2017).

Table 1 Summary of processes affecting global sea level
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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Columbia University/Center for Climate Systems Research (CCSR), Earth Institute Affiliate: Columbia University/Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), New York, NY, USA

    Vivien Gornitz

  2. Columbia University, GISS 2880 Broadway, New York, NY, USA

    Vivien Gornitz

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  1. Vivien Gornitz
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Correspondence to Vivien Gornitz .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Coastal Education & Research Foundation, Fletcher, North Carolina, USA

    Charles W. Finkl

  2. Coastal Education & Research Foundation , Coconut Creek, Florida, USA

    Christopher Makowski

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Gornitz, V. (2017). Eustasy. In: Finkl, C., Makowski, C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Coastal Science . Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48657-4_142-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48657-4_142-2

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-48657-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-48657-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Earth and Environm. ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Earth and Environmental Sciences

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