Sea level in the late Quaternary: patterns of variation and implications |
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| Authors: | W H Berger |
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| Institution: | (1) Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, CA 92093-0244, USA |
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| Abstract: | Studies of oxygen isotopes in foraminifers from deepsea sediments yield information about rates of change of sea level, for
hundreds of thousands of years with a resolution of roughly 1,000 years. The statistics regarding fluctuations for the late
Quaternary (the last 900,000 years) suggest that a rise of 10 m per 1,000 years (1 m per century) is not unusual, even when
the system resides within a warm stage, as now. Values near 2 m per century, while rare, are well within the range of a warm
system, beyond the 5-percentile of the overall range. Once sea level is near +10 m, further rise becomes highly unlikely within
the conditions of the late Quaternary, suggesting the presence of some kind of natural barrier; that is, lack of vulnerable
ice. The present volume of ice generally considered vulnerable (Greenland and West-Antarctic ice sheet) adds up (roughly)
to the observed limit. |
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| Keywords: | Sea level Deep sea sediments West Antarctic ice sheet |
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