Sea Levels, Land Levels, and Tide Gauges

ISBN-13: 9781461391036 / Angielski / Miękka / 2011 / 238 str.

K. O. Emery; David G. Aubrey

Opis

Changes in sea level caused by global warming can be disastrous to modern civilization. Therefore, it is important to use accurate and reliable methods to monitor any change. During this century, and, in particular, the last three decades, tide-gauge records have been used to show these changes related to the world's oceans. Aubrey and Emery suggest, however, that tidal gauges should not be used unquestioningly as a benchmark for measuring eustatic sea-level changes. Tectonism, subsidence, ocean current variability, and human activity can, and do, affect the accuracy of these records. Understanding the reasons for changes in land and sea levels is essential for the proper development of coastal regions. The results of this study provide guiding data for scientific, engineering, and policy solutions to coastal flooding. Determining the true causes of relative subsidence, and how to use geological and oceanological controls, will allow us to exist within our natural environment, rather than force nature to conform to our legal and temporary 'remedies.'

Spis treści

1. Introduction.- Objective.- Early Knowledge of Relative Sea-Level Changes.- Prehistoric.- Epic Flood.- Charybdis and Maelström.- Periodic Movement-Tides.- Early Substitutes for Laws of Nature.- Identification of the Moon as the Cause of Tides.- Tide Tables.- Developments in Europe.- Developments in China.- The Chinese Tables of A.D. 1056.- Modern Prediction Tables.- Devices for Measurement of Water Level.- Fixed Scales.- Mechanical Recorders.- Electronic-Digital Recorders.- Satellite Altimetry.- Frequency Realms of Tide-Gauge Records.- Semidiurnal and Diurnal Tidal Frequencies.- 2. Causes of Relative Sea-Level Changes.- Sea Levels Versus Land Levels.- Plate Tectonics/Sea-Floor Spreading.- General.- Changes in Spreading Rates.- Changes in Areas of Oceans and Land.- Changes in Direction of Plate Motions.- Other Thermal Effects.- Deep-Ocean Sedimentation.- Isostasy.- General.- Glacio-Isostasy.- Hydro-Isostasy.- Sediment-Isostasy.- Glacial Surge/Melting.- Ocean Surface Topography.- Geoid.- Geological Faulting.- Sediment Compaction and Subsidence.- Processes.- Examples of Subsidence.- Sinkholes.- Climatic Effects.- Overview.- El Niño/Southern Oscillation.- River Runoff/Floods.- Steric Ocean Response.- General.- Temperature Effects.- Salinity Effects.- Long-Period Tides.- General.- Long Time Scales.- Amplitude Variation Through Time.- Changes in Hydrodynamical Conditions.- Shelf Waves and Seiches.- Tsunamis.- Surface Gravity Waves.- 3. Ancient to Modern Changes in Relative Sea Levels.- Source Materials.- Background.- Rocks on Continents.- Sediments and Rocks on the Ocean Floor.- Pleistocene Glacial Deposits and Ice.- Shoreline Classification.- Dating of Shore Fossils.- Archaeology.- Tide Gauges.- Phanerozoic.- General.- Seismic Stratigraphy.- Volumes of Igneous Rocks.- Sequence of Plate Movements.- Late Archaean to Present.- Orogenies.- Relative Sea Levels.- Tides.- Continental Glaciation.- Isotopes in Marine Sediments.- Evolution of Life.- Late Pleistocene.- Oxygen Isotopes.- Solar Insolation.- Latest Pleistocene and Holocene.- 4. Previous Studies of Relative Sea Levels from Tide Gauges.- Data Base.- Previous Methods and Interpretations.- United States.- Europe.- World (Through 1980).- World (After 1980).- Summary.- 5. Detailed Mapping of Tide-Gauge Records in Specific Regions.- General.- Northern Europe.- Southwestern Europe.- Mediterranean Sea.- Africa.- Antarctica.- India.- Southeastern Asia.- Australia.- New Zealand.- Eastern Asia.- Japan.- Northern Eurasia.- Western North America.- Central America.- South America.- Caribbean Sea.- Gulf of Mexico.- Eastern North America.- Islands of the Atlantic Ocean.- Islands of the Indian Ocean.- Islands of the Pacific Ocean.- Island Arcs.- Hot-Spot Chains.- Long-Term Tide-Gauge Records of the World.- 6. Significance of Tide-Gauge Records.- General.- Glacial Loading and Unloading.- Subduction and Rifting.- Volcanism.- Faults and Folds.- Deltaic Loading.- Extraction of Fluids.- “Stable” Coasts.- Observation.- Interpretation.- Eustatic Sea-Level Change.- Statistical Summary.- 7. Future Eustatic Sea-Level Change.- Climate Change Scenarios.- Sea-Level Change Scenarios.- 8. Impact of Sea-Level/Land-Level Change on Society.- General.- Physical, Chemical, and Biological Impacts of Rising Relative Sea Level.- Socio-Economic Impacts.- 9. Summary.- Appendix I.- Appendix II.- Author Index.