SGER: Examining the Evidence for a Recent Acceleration in the Rate of Sea-level Rise Using Combined Instrumental and Proxy Data, Morbihan Golfe, Brittany France

海平面上升可能是未来气候变化最具破坏性的影响之一，但传统的潮汐计记录太短，无法显示今天海平面是否比过去上升得更快。这项研究将采用新的方法，利用高分辨率地质指标重新定位法国布列塔尼以前的海平面。这些基于地质的重建将根据潮汐计数据和海岸变化的历史证据进行验证，并将扩展到重建过去500年的海平面上升，并评估可能与人类活动有关的加速证据。这项研究将探讨现代的、仪器测量的相对海平面变化率如何与工业化前的值相比较，区域相对海平面变化是否与气候代用物相关，以及最近的相对海平面变化是否对当地沿海环境有明显的影响。政府间气候变化专门委员会的报告强调了与我们对20世纪海平面变化的理解相关的巨大不确定性，以及量化区域变率的迫切需要。这项研究将首次提供北大西洋东部边缘的高质量数据。法国布列塔尼是一个重要的地点，拥有世界上最长的潮汐仪记录之一，但没有类似的基于地质的海平面研究。得到的海平面上升速率是与历史和现在的变化进行比较的基本依据。它们提供了约束模式开发的数据，并提供了关于在区域到地方尺度上表达更大尺度气候变化的方式的新信息。这项研究促进了南布列塔尼大学、昂热大学和宾夕法尼亚大学之间的国际合作。宾夕法尼亚大学和南布列塔尼大学的研究生将全面参与研究。他们所获得的经验和培训将为那些计划在环保公司或政府机构开始职业生涯的学生提供新的视角，同时指导那些攻读高级学位的学生发展跨学科的职业道路和研究项目。主要科学家将开发和管理一个WWW资源，以提供对海平面数据的开放访问。

Sea-level rise is potentially one of the most devastating impacts of future climate change, but traditional tide gauge records are too short to show whether sea-levels are rising faster today than in the past. This research will apply new approaches to relocate former sea levels in Brittany, France, using high-resolution geological indicators. These geological-based reconstructions will be validated against tide gauge data and historical evidence of coastal change and they will be extended to reconstruct sea-level rise over the last 500 years, and evaluate the evidence for accelerations that may be linked with human activities. The research will address how the modern, instrumental rates of relative sea-level change compare with pre-industrial values, whether regional relative sea-level changes be correlated with climate proxies and whether recent relative sea-level variations had a discernible impact on local coastal environments.Broader Impacts The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report highlights the large uncertainties associated with our understanding of 20th century sea-level change, and the urgent need to quantify regional variability. This research will provide the first high quality data from the eastern margins of the North Atlantic. Brittany, France is a critical location with one of the longest tide gauge records in the world, but no parallel geological-based sea-level research. The rates of sea-level rise obtained represent the fundamental basis for comparison with the historical and present day changes. They provide data to constrain model development, and provide new information on the manner in which larger scale climate changes are expressed at regional to local scales. This research fosters international collaboration between the Universite Bretagne Sud, Université d'Angers-UFR Sciences and University of Pennsylvania. Graduate students of the Universities of Pennsylvania and Bretagne Sud will be integrally involved in the research. The experience and training they receive will provide fresh perspectives to students planning to embark on careers with environmental firms or government agencies, while mentoring those going on for advanced degrees to develop interdisciplinary career paths and research programs. The principal scientists will develop and manage a WWW resource to deliver open access to the sea-level data.