Articles | Volume 21, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-53-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-53-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
The geometry of sea-level change across a mid-Pliocene glacial cycle
College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon 97331, USA
Jessica R. Creveling
College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon 97331, USA
Jerry X. Mitrovica
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
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Jan Swierczek-Jereczek, Erica M. Lucas, Natalya Gomez, Andrew J. Lloyd, Konstantin Latychev, and Jerry X. Mitrovica
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-2640, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-2640, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for The Cryosphere (TC).
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Projections of Antarctic ice loss and associated sea level contributions over the coming centuries are linked to glacial isostatic adjustment, a process by which changing ice sheets deform the solid Earth and sea surface. We show that FastIsostasy, a computationally efficient glacial isostatic adjustment model, offers a viable approach for ice sheet modellers to accurately capture solid Earth – ice sheet feedbacks at multi-century timescales.
Sönke Dangendorf, Qiang Sun, Thomas Wahl, Philip Thompson, Jerry X. Mitrovica, and Ben Hamlington
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 3471–3494, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-3471-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-3471-2024, 2024
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Sea-level information from the global ocean is sparse in time and space, with comprehensive data being limited to the period since 2005. Here we provide a novel reconstruction of sea level and its contributing causes, as determined by a Kalman smoother approach applied to tide gauge records over the period 1900–2021. The new reconstruction shows a continuing acceleration in global mean sea-level rise since 1970 that is dominated by melting land ice. Contributors vary significantly by region.
Jan Swierczek-Jereczek, Marisa Montoya, Konstantin Latychev, Alexander Robinson, Jorge Alvarez-Solas, and Jerry Mitrovica
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 5263–5290, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-5263-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-5263-2024, 2024
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Ice sheets present a thickness of a few kilometres, leading to a vertical deformation of the crust of up to a kilometre. This process depends on properties of the solid Earth, which can be regionally very different. We propose a model that accounts for this often-ignored heterogeneity and run 100 000 simulation years in minutes. Thus, the evolution of ice sheets is modeled with better accuracy, which is critical for a good mitigation of climate change and, in particular, sea-level rise.
Natasha Valencic, Linda Pan, Konstantin Latychev, Natalya Gomez, Evelyn Powell, and Jerry X. Mitrovica
The Cryosphere, 18, 2969–2978, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2969-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2969-2024, 2024
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We quantify the effect of ongoing Antarctic bedrock uplift due to Ice Age or modern ice mass changes on estimates of ice thickness changes obtained from satellite-based ice height measurements. We find that variations in the Ice Age signal introduce an uncertainty in estimates of total Antarctic ice change of up to ~10%. Moreover, the usual assumption that the mapping between modern ice height and thickness changes is uniform systematically underestimates net Antarctic ice volume changes.
Schmitty B. Thompson and Jessica R. Creveling
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 3467–3490, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-3467-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-3467-2021, 2021
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The elevations of geological indicators of past sea level inform paleoclimate reconstructions of interglacial intervals, including changes in ice volume and equivalent sea level rise and fall. In this review article, we summarize previously reported elevations and chronologies of a global set of ~80 000- and ~100 000-year-old interglacial shorelines and compile these in the open-source World Atlas of Last Interglacial Shorelines (WALIS) database for further paleoclimate analysis.
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Short summary
In this study, we compute glacial–interglacial sea-level changes across the mid-Pliocene Warm Period (MPWP; 3.264–3.025 Ma) resulting from ice mass loss from different ice sheets. Our results quantify the relationship between changes in local sea level and global mean sea level (GMSL) and highlight the level of consistency in this mapping across different ice melt scenarios. These predictions can help guide site selection in efforts to constrain the sources and magnitude of MPWP GMSL change.
In this study, we compute glacial–interglacial sea-level changes across the mid-Pliocene Warm...