Workpackage 2 Irish sea level change and Atlantic context
Quantifying regional variations in sea level rise (SLR) is one of the Grand Challenges set by the World Climate Research Programme. Research has shown that changes in the North Atlantic linked to declining Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) are potentially significant drivers of spatially variable SLR in this region.
The A4 project seeks to understand the expression of this variability on the Irish shelf, a key factor in translating globally averaged rates of mean SLR to the regional and local scales at which coastal policies and management are enacted. We will extract records of past relative sea-level (RSL) change from saltmarsh sediments along the Atlantic coasts of Ireland and North America. These ‘geological tide gauges’ will expand and extend our knowledge of the how RSL in the region has changed in response to ocean and climate variations over the past two millennia.
This information will provide a baseline against which the significance of recent (and projected) changes can be assessed.
