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Solar activity and lunar precessions influence extreme sea-level variability in the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts
  • Arnoldo Valle-Levinson,
  • Jonathan B. Martin
Arnoldo Valle-Levinson
University of Florida

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Jonathan B. Martin
Department of Geology University of Florida
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Abstract

Inter-annual sea-level variations of up to 20 mm are superimposed upon the global average sea-level rise (~3 mm/yr) from human-caused global warming. These variations affect the degree of coastal flooding, and related damage, during the highest annual tides. Along the Atlantic coast of the United States, such inter-annual sea-level variations have been attributed to several atmospheric and oceanographic processes. In the present analysis, detrended tide gauge data isolate inter-annual interannual variations that can be reconstructed using Fourier analysis of a limited number of coefficients based on frequencies of lunar orbit ( and precessions) combined with . Although a causal relationship between such forcings and extreme sea levels remains elusive, the reconstructions may provide an effective method for projections of occurrence of extreme sea levels. Two reconstructions project that anomalously high sea levels may occur in the late 2020s, mid 2050s, early 2060s, early 2070s and late 2090s.
28 Oct 2020Published in Geophysical Research Letters volume 47 issue 20. 10.1029/2020GL090024