Last Updated:
February 28, 2007

GCRIO Program Overview

Library 
Our extensive collection of documents.

Privacy Policy

Archives of the
Global Climate Change Digest
A Guide to Information on Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Depletion
Published July 1988 through June 1999

FROM VOLUME 3, NUMBER 3, MARCH 1990

PROFESSIONAL PUBLICATIONS...
SEA LEVEL

Item #d90mar7

"A 17,000-Year Glacio-Eustatic Sea Level Record: Influence of Glacial Melting Rates on the Younger Dryas Event and Deep-Ocean Circulation," R.G. Fairbanks (Lamont-Doherty Geol. Observ., Columbia Univ., Palisades NY 10964), Nature, 342(6250), 637-642, Dec. 7, 1989.

Coral reefs drilled offshore of Barbados provide the first continuous and detailed record of sea level change during the last deglaciation. The sea level curve derived from this supports the French two-step model. Reviews evidence for the oceanic and climatic response to two-step glaciation, with particular emphasis on understanding the cause of the Younger Dryas event.

Item #d90mar8

"Present and Near-Future Global Sea-Level Changes," P.A. Pirazzoli (Lab. Geog. Phys. (URA 141 CNRS), 1 Place Aristide Briand, 92190 Meudon-Bellevue, France), Palaeogeog., Palaeoclimatol., Palaeoecolog. (Global Plan. Change Sec.), 75, 241-258, Dec. 1989.

Values of 1.0-1.5 mm/yr often quoted in the literature for present-day eustatic sea level rise have been obtained by an approach that results in overestimation. The author proposes a new approach which shows that, on the Atlantic coasts of Europe, when land movements are removed, the rise during the last century has been only 4-6 cm (2-3 times smaller than claimed by most others). However, a significant sea level rise during the next century is a dangerous possibility that must not be ignored. Different authors suggest sea level changes ranging from a drop of 7 cm to a rise of over 3.5 m, but there are problems with the assumptions made and approaches used.

Item #d90mar9

"Drumlins, Subglacial Meltwater Floods, and Ocean Responses," J. Shaw (Dept. Geog., Queen's Univ., Kingston, Ont. K7L 3N6, Can.), Geol., 17(9), 853-856, Sep. 1989.

Drumlins and erosional marks in bedrock provide evidence for extensive, subglacial meltwater floods. Concludes that rapid changes of sea level may not be a direct consequence of melting arising from climatic causes, but may arise from glacial hydrological causes alone--the accumulation and flow of meltwater in reservoirs beneath the ice. Climatic fluctuations then become, in part, a consequence rather than a cause of meltwater floods. Discusses climatic implications of the formation of a coldwater lid over the North Atlantic Ocean.