[IGSMAIL-5628]: AGU Session Geodesy/Geophysics/Sea Level Rise & Coastal Subsidence

[Ronald G. Blom]

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IGS Electronic Mail      14 Aug 14:58:22 PDT 2007      Message Number 5628
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Author:  Ronald Blom

Dear Colleagues,

We would like to call your attention to Session G06 "Geodesy and 
Geophysics of Coastal Subsidence, Regional Sea Level Rise, and 
Consequences" at fall AGU.

Coastal subsidence and regional sea level rise combine to form an 
important interdisciplinary scientific problem, with critical 
implications as people and property are increasingly at risk.

The session description is below.  Abstracts are due Sept. 6th.

Thank you!!!  and apologies for multiple posts.....

Ron

Ronald G. Blom, Ph.D.
Discipline Program Manager, Solid Earth Science and Natural Hazards
M/S 300-233 Jet Propulsion Laboratory
4800 Oak Grove Drive
Pasadena, CA 91109

818-354-4681 voice
818-687-7929 cell
818-354-9476 FAX
ronald.blom at jpl.nasa.gov





Session description.


Convener:
Ronald G. Blom
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
M/S 300-233
   4800 Oak Grove Drive
Pasadena, CA, USA  91109
818-354-4681
ronald.blom at jpl.nasa.gov

Timothy H. Dixon
University of Miami
RSMAS-MGG, N374
   4600 Rickenbacker Cswy.
Miami, FL, USA  33149
305-421-4660
tdixon at rsmas.miami.edu

Bert Vermeersen
TU Delft
Kluyverweg 1
Delft, NLD  2629HS
+31 (0)15 27 88272
L.L.A.Vermeersen at tudelft.nl


Coastal subsidence and regional sea level rise combine to form an 
important interdisciplinary scientific problem, with critical 
implications as people and property are increasingly at risk. The 
geophysical processes involved are incompletely understood, and 
specific contributions of various components of different spatial and 
temporal scales are poorly known. Significantly, regional sea level 
change can differ considerably from global-averaged values; in fact, 
in many places there is actually a sea-level drop (e.g. formerly 
glaciated areas). Meanwhile, areas such as the Mississippi delta show 
rapid relative sea level rise due to subsidence caused by multiple 
factors. The simple notion of a uniform redistribution of present-day 
meltwater over the world's oceans is incorrect due to the 
self-gravitation effect ("fingerprinting"). Local or regional 
authorities need to know what sea-level will be at their location, 
and this will likely differ substantially from this global average. 
In terms of sea-level change, any measurements of long-term sea-level 
rise are complicated by complex, non-secular signals which occur on 
seasonal, interannual and decadal time scales and vary by region. 
These non-secular variations are potentially important in accounting 
for observed discrepancies between historic tide-gauge data and data 
from recent altimeter missions such as TOPEX/Poseidon and Jason-1, 
and make it difficult to assess accelerations in sea-level rise. Many 
of these variations have oceanographic origins and are interesting in 
their own right as a key to understanding the global water budget. 
Crustal deformation, from sources such as sediment loading, 
post-seismic deformation after large earthquakes, and unloading as 
ice sheets melt, will also be evident in the tide-gauge record, and 
coastal subsidence will also cause non-secular signals for certain 
regions. Various space based data sets (GPS, InSAR, GRACE, LandSAT, 
ASTER, etc.), state of the art geodesy, and new geophysical modeling 
capabilities, all can be used to improve understanding of the 
underlying physics. Accurate measurement and prediction is vital for 
dealing with changing sea levels. In this session we seek to bring 
together scientists from diverse disciplines to discuss the current 
state of understanding of secular, non-secular, and regional changes 
in sea level, and the future impacts to changing coastlines. Focus 
will be given to studies that separate signals of a particular 
origin, either geodetic or oceanographic, seasonal or longer-period, 
from measurements of sea level and/or coastal subsidence. Modeling 
studies or synthesis efforts involving the combination of models and 
data are also emphasized. Case studies of specific regions are of 
particular interest. Studies that include or focus on ways this 
information has been used by planners or policymakers are welcome.