Sea Level Update - Through March 2009

I’ve moved to WordPress.  This post can now be found at Sea Level Update – Through March 2009

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INTRODUCTION

This post presents graphs of raw, smoothed, and annualized sea level data for Global, Indian Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, and Pacific Ocean data sets. The recently updated data is available through the University of Colorado at Boulder. Here’s a link to their Sea Level Change Overview (index) webpage:
http://sealevel.colorado.edu/index.php
and a link to their Time Series Data Page:
http://sealevel.colorado.edu/results.php

Note 1: You’ll note the graphs of the raw and smoothed data include the notation “Smoothed w/ 35-Period Filter”. The number of samplings varies per year, from 35 one year to 38 the next for example. Keep that in mind when viewing the data. To assure that the smoothing did not misrepresent the data, I’ve also presented the annual mean of the data sets in separate graphs from 1993 to 2008.

Note 2: All of the data sets include the seasonal signals and they exclude the inverted-barometer adjustments.

GLOBAL SEA LEVEL

Figure 1 shows the Global Sea Level for the period of December 1992 to March 2009. Global Sea Level appears to have risen at a reasonably constant rate until mid-2005, when the rate of rise decreased.
http://i27.tinypic.com/2q8dfyc.png
Figure 1

Looking at the annual data from 1993 to 2008, Figure 2, confirms the sharp deceleration in the rise of Global Sea Level in 2006 through 2008.
http://i31.tinypic.com/vn369k.png
Figure 2

INDIAN OCEAN

The Indian Ocean Sea Level data is shown in Figure 3. Based on the smoothed data, the Indian Ocean Sea Level remained flat from early 2007 to early 2008, then rose again since then. Also note the multiple swings in sea level during 1996 and 1997, leading up to the El Nino of 1997/98.
http://i28.tinypic.com/24q0qw6.png
Figure 3

Figure 4 illustrates the annual Indian Ocean Sea Level from 1993 to 2008. The rate at which Indian Ocean Sea Level was rising (appears to have been increasing exponentially) finally slowed in 2008.
http://i29.tinypic.com/4rvw9y.png
Figure 4


ATLANTIC OCEAN

The raw sea level data for the Atlantic Ocean is illustrated in Figure 5. Based on the smoothed data , the Atlantic Ocean Sea Level does not appear to have risen since 2005.
http://i30.tinypic.com/dy6bo0.jpg
Figure 5

The annual Atlantic Ocean Sea Level data confirms this. Refer to Figure 6. Atlantic Ocean Sea Levels remained flat in 2006, dropped in 2007, then rose slightly in 2008, but 2008 levels are still lower than those in 2005 and 2006.
http://i32.tinypic.com/xkt56a.png
Figure 6

PACIFIC OCEAN

The smoothed sea level data for the Pacific Ocean, Figure 7, also appears to have flattened and decreased in recent years.
http://i32.tinypic.com/wu2y9u.png
Figure 7

Figure 8 illustrates the annual Pacific Ocean Sea Level data from 1993 to 2008. Pacific Ocean Sea Levels in 2008 are lower than they were in 2004.
http://i28.tinypic.com/sxbskp.png
Figure 8

COMPARISONS

Figures 9 and 10 are comparison graphs of Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Ocean Sea Level data. In Figure 9, that data is annual, and in Figure 10, it has been smoothed with a 35-month filter.
http://i28.tinypic.com/111nz39.png
Figure 9
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http://i29.tinypic.com/ruttlw.png
Figure 10