ABSOLUTE SEA LEVEL

Global eustatic sea level, excluding local influences on the relative heights of land and sea. The most important controls are changes in water volume (glacio-eustasy), changes in the volume of the world’s ocean basins (tectono-eustasy) and changes in water distribution in the oceans (geoidaleustasy). Less significant factors in controlling absolute sea level are isostatic decantation and the addition of juvenile water from the Earth’s interior. There is thought to be a detectable impact on absolute sea level caused by human interference with the hydrologicalcycle (e.g. groundwater depletion and drainage basin management schemes) as well as the possible impact of global warming.

[See alsogeoid, relative sea level, sea-level change, sea-level rise, thermal expansion of the oceans]