Sea level and Climate Change
ECRA is developing a Collaborative Programme on the Regional Aspects of Sea Level Change which is a new challenging theme for European research and it would be very useful to integrate the several activities developed over the Atlantic and Baltic European coasts (e.g. EU programs ICE2SEA, national programs as UKCP09 and Dutch Deltaprogram) and the Mediterranean area (e.g. Hymex, CIRCE).
Satellite altimetry data indicate that since 1993, globally averaged sea level has been rising at a rate of more than 2.5 mm yr−1 (Cazenave et al., 2009). While a lot of effort has been dedicated to the analysis, monitoring and modelling of global sea level trends, a new relevant issue is emerging concerning the regional aspects of the sea level rise (Katsman et al., 2008; Slangen et al . 2011). For impact assessments, information of the impact of global change on the regional scale is often most relevant. Therefore, sea level variations and change should be evaluated locally in addition to the global changes. This in turn requires a good understanding of the various processes involved. Understanding the various processes contributing to sea level change at a location is a very challenging task because of their mutual link and because of various temporal and spatial scales involved.
To further elaborate an integrated view of this issue detailing the needs in terms of observation, new technological development (new instruments, new satellite missions etc) and modelling improvement for Regional Aspects of Sea Level Rise a workshop will be organised.
ECRA pilot workshop: Regional Sea Level Rise: a cross cutting theme
14.-16. March 2012, Mitland Hotel Utrecht, The Netherlands
The goals of the workshop will be to:
- Review the contributions of the different processes to regional sea level rise along European coasts using existing observations and model data
- Review ongoing research activities and projects in the field
- Discuss the observational requirements for attributing regional sea level change
- Discuss modeling requirements for predictions and projections from years to a century
- Identify critical knowledge gaps
If you are interested to participate in this workshop please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , KNMI.
A preliminary programme of the workshop is already available. More information on logistics and further organization can be found here.
