Tidal gauges are devices used to measure the height of tides in the ocean. They help scientists and researchers track and predict the movement of tides, which is important for navigation, coastal planning, and studying the impact of sea-level rise.
Full definition
Global mean sea level (eg - the global average height of the ocean) has typically been calculated
from tidal gauges.
The biggest difficulty in
using tidal gauges to study global sea level trends is separating local changes from global changes.
He checked
local tidal gauges, revealing that seas in the region were rising nearly 10 times faster than the long - term rate recorded in that region.
As these processes are occurring in areas across the world, it will mistakenly introduce a «global sea level rise» bias into estimates constructed
from tidal gauges.
In order to
use tidal gauges to reliably estimate global sea level changes, researchers have to successfully separate the components of shifting land heights and local sea level variability from any global trends.
Your «Oceans» image shows raw
tidal gauge data for certain cities around the world, and you claim that sea level rise and acceleration are disproved by those few gauges.
Sea levels in South Florida have gone up about a foot since the 1930s, but around 2011, the slow upward creep of the ocean seemed to kick into high gear,
with tidal gauges recording much faster rates of sea level rise and residents noting a stark uptick in so - called «nuisance» floods.
Records of long - term
tidal gauges show that sea levels were 17 - 20 cm higher at the start of the twenty - first century than 100 years before, correlating with a globally averaged rise in temperature of 0.75 degrees.
Again, to justify applying another positive adjustment (this time, nearly doubling the trend from +1.7 mm / yr to +2.8 mm / yr), they relied on a comparison with
tidal gauge trends!
Another systemic problem
in tidal gauge analysis of sea levels, is that of coastal subsidence.
... But there's those satellite measurements and here in Oz, the lack of significant sea rise is confirmed by a similar lack of sea level change as measured since at least 1888 against the Ross - Lempriere benchmark carved in rock at Port Arthur in Tasmania
tidal gauge measurements, documented in «Testing the Waters, A Report on Sea Levels,» by John Daly.
The alert, issued by the international organization that was greatly bolstered following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, said that
tidal gauges confirmed that a tsunami was generated.
Figure 5: Total sea level rise as measured by altimeter satellites and confirmed
by tidal gauges (black line).
After the Japan earthquake, seismic stations, deep - ocean buoys and
tidal gauges delivered a wealth of data for accurate tsunami forecasts in Hawaii, California and the rest of the Pacific Rim, but public preparedness can be even more important
The team
analyzed tidal gauge records from 15 locations in the Delaware and Chesapeake bays, the oldest of which dates back to 1901.
Much of the paper reads like an essay in the salesmanship of doubt; for instance, the
Aden tidal gauge is highlighted as the sole one for the Arabian peninsula, and the fragmentary nature of its record is discussed at some length, as in this sentence:
One approach has been to place GPS detectors
near tidal gauges, e.g., Wöppelmann et al., 2007 (Abstract; pre-print version).
Unfortunately, while they do offer relatively long records, they are severely limited by the fact that
tidal gauges measure the relative height of the land to the local sea levels in the area.
Another approach is to
compare tidal gauge - based estimates to satellite - based estimates, e.g., Ostanciaux et al., 2012 (Abstract; Google Scholar access).
We define nuisance flooding as occurring when the water level at a NOAA
tidal gauge exceeds the local threshold for minor flooding impacts that has been established by the local Weather Forecasting Offices (WFO) of the National Weather Service (NWS).
But, it turns out that the only satellite estimates which are actually independent of the
problematic tidal gauge records are the raw, unadjusted estimates.
Only a few areas with
tidal gauges seem to be far enough away from plate boundaries for it not to be a possible factor, e.g., northern Europe, eastern North America, central Pacific islands.
So, there is a major problem in calculating what the overall global (called «eustatic») sea level trend is —
different tidal gauges suggest linear trends ranging from as much as -10 mm / year to +10 mm / yr.
Moreover, we also have argued elsewhere that linear trends should be treated cautiously when the data shows non-linear trends, as
many tidal gauges do.
It is possible that such changes could significantly influence
decadal tidal gauge trends, e.g., see Gratiot et al., 2008 (Abstract; Google Scholar access) or Currie, 1987 (Abstract).
The Permanent Service for Mean Sea Level (PSMSL) database shows that the
only tidal gauge currently operating in Kiribati is at Betio (Lat.
Threats of ever rising sea levels are stock in trade for the climate mafia, yet when we look at
actual tidal gauge records, we see nothing other than a gradual rise, going back to the 19thC.