Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Valle‐Levinson, Arnoldo
• Dutton, Andrea
• Martin, Jonathan B.

Titel

Spatial and temporal variability of sea level rise hot spots over the eastern United States

Ist Teil von

• Geophysical research letters, 2017-08, Vol.44 (15), p.7876-7882

Ort / Verlag

Washington: John Wiley & Sons, Inc

Erscheinungsjahr

2017

Quelle

Wiley-Blackwell Journals

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Regional sea level rise (SLR) acceleration during the past few decades north of Cape Hatteras has commonly been attributed to weakening Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, although this causal link remains debated. In contrast to this pattern, we demonstrate that SLR decelerated north of Cape Hatteras and accelerated south of the Cape to >20 mm/yr, > 3 times the global mean values from 2011 to 2015. Tide gauge records reveal comparable short‐lived, rapid SLR accelerations (hot spots) that have occurred repeatedly over ~1500 km stretches of the coastline during the past 95 years, with variable latitudinal position. Our analysis indicates that the cumulative (time‐integrated) effects of the North Atlantic Oscillation determine the latitudinal position of these SLR hot spots, while a cumulative El Niño index is associated with their timing. The superposition of these two ocean‐atmospheric processes accounts for 87% of the variance in the spatiotemporal pattern of intradecadal sea level oscillations. Key Points In the period of 2011–2015, sea level rise decelerated north of Cape Hatteras and accelerated south of the Cape to >3 times the global mean Comparable sea level rise accelerations (hot spots) have occurred over ~1500 km stretches of the eastern United States in the last 95 years The North Atlantic Oscillation determines the latitudinal position of hot spots, while ENSO is related to their timing