Influence of very large spatial heterogeneity on estimates of sea-level trends

摘要

We propose a new method to estimate sub-decadal to centennial time scales of sea-level change. Since the coastal data exhibit large spatial heterogeneity and temporal variability, the global sea-level rate is estimated as an appropriate average of the rates observed at available locations and computed with sliding windows. We claim that under such heterogeneity the median serves as a better representative of an adequate average than the mean. With this approach, the sea-level rate in 60 to 70 yr windows over the past century is found to be smaller than 1.7-1.9 mm/yr. These upper estimates are in line with those obtained with a scarce list of available long quasi-gapless series.