Sea level: measuring the bounding surfaces of the ocean

The practical need to understand sea level along the coasts, such as for safe navigation given the spatially variable tides, has resulted in tide gauge observations having the distinction of being some of the longest instrumental ocean records. Archives of these records, along with geological constraints, have allowed us to identify the century-scale rise in global sea level. Additional data sources, particularly satellite altimetry missions, have helped us to better identify the rates and causes of sea level rise and the mechanisms leading to spatial variability in the observed rates. Analysis of all of the data reveals the need for long-term and stable observation systems to assess accurately the regional changes as well as to improve our ability to estimate future changes in sea level. While information from many scientific disciplines is needed to understand sea level change, this paper focuses on contributions from geodesy and the role of the ocean’s bounding surfaces: the sea surface and the Earth’s crust

Earth’s gravity from space

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Satellite gravimetry began with the launch of the satellites Sputnik 1 and 2 in 1957. During the following 43 years, more and more details were discovered and the models of the Earth’s gravity could be refined. Methods improved and more and more satellite orbits and ground stations were added in the analysis, employing more advanced and precise measuring techniques. A new era started with the dedicated gravimetry missions CHAMP (2000–2010), GRACE (2002–2017), and GOCE (2009–2013). The methods of satellite-to-satellite tracking and satellite gradiometry resulted in a substantial improvement of our knowledge of the Earth’s gravity field in terms of accuracy and its spatial and temporal variations. There are three basic ways of using gravity and geoid models in Earth sciences and geodesy. First, in solid Earth physics, the highs and lows of the field are investigated in comparison with an idealized Earth, e.g., a hydrostatic equilibrium figure. In particular, in South America, Africa, Himalaya and Antarctica the gravity field is known much better now, due to GOCE and lead to an improved understanding of the continental crust and lithosphere. Second, in oceanography, the geoid serves as surface in equilibrium, a hypothetical ocean at rest. The ocean topography is the deviation of the actual ocean surface, measured by satellite altimetry, from this reference. The ocean topography serves as a new and independent input to ocean circulation modeling and leads to an improved understanding of ocean transport of mass, heat, and nutrients. Similarly, geodetic heights of the land surface will soon be referred to the geoid, leading to globally consistent heights and enabling the removal of existent systematic deformations and offsets of national and continental height systems. Third, the GRACE time series of monthly gravity models, reflecting seasonal, inter-annual and long-term gravity changes, became one of the most valuable data sources of climate change studies.</jats:p&gt

Heat-flow anomaly and residual topography in the Mascarene hotspot swell (Indian Ocean)

We review the sea-bottom heat-flow determinations and present a new heat-flow observation on the Mauritius island, which is part of the long-lived Reunion hotspot track. The marine heat flow is on average 66 \ub1 11 mW m 122 and is consistent with the on-land value of 61 \ub1 18 mW m 122 found in Mauritius. Since these values do not significantly deviate from the reference cooling-plate model, lithosphere erosion does not seem a likely mechanism for the swell formation. The lack of significant reheating due to a mantle plume impacting the lithosphere base is confirmed by thermal modelling. Moreover, the coherency between on-land and marine data is argument against advective redistribution of heat near the axis of the swell. We also analyse the large-scale features of the ocean lithosphere, which are not simply a function of the plate cooling and can reflect variations in mantle dynamic topography. The predicted topography variation along the swell shows amplitude and wavelength comparable to other hotspots. Both the topographic swell magnitude and the wavelength increase northwards with the increase of the age of volcanism. The estimated flux of material from the mantle follows the same trend, being larger in the northern part of the swell. The result that residual topography and the buoyancy flux are smaller at the active volcano of Reunion could be evidence that the activity of the plume has decreased with time