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Chapter 9 - Spatial variations in sea level

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 May 2014

David Pugh  and
Philip Woodworth
David Pugh
Affiliation:
National Oceanography Centre, Liverpool
Philip Woodworth
Affiliation:
National Oceanography Centre, Liverpool
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Summary

But who would say that a sea surface is inclined?

Strabo, Geography

Introduction

Geodesy is a branch of science that is concerned with the Earth’s time-dependent geometric shape, gravitational field and rotation. Over 70 per cent of our planet is covered by ocean, and its shape is largely defined by the mean sea surface, so geodesy and sea-level science are intimately connected. A number of classic texts on geodesy are available [1, 2], and also excellent reviews of modern geodetic techniques [3]. In this chapter, we confine ourselves to a description of some of the main developments in geodesy that relate to understanding the spatial variations in the sea surface. In the next chapter we discuss its temporal variations.

The International Terrestrial Reference Frame

A principal goal of geodesy is to assign coordinates to points on the Earth’s surface as a function of time. Such a time series could be, for example, the height of sea level at a particular location (latitude, longitude) in the ocean, or the height of a benchmark on land. It is important to know something of the geodetic framework within which many of the sea- and land-level measurements described later in this chapter are made.

Type
Chapter
Information
Sea-Level Science
Understanding Tides, Surges, Tsunamis and Mean Sea-Level Changes
 , pp. 223 - 251
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2014

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