The Impact of Climate Change on the Morphology of Marine Topography Using GNSS

Abstract

In recent decades, very important scientific studies have focused on the effect of climate change on the average Sea Level Rise (SLR). Recent data has shown that 44% of the increase is due to the melting of glaciers and 42% to the thermal expansion of water due to the increase in average temperature. Research has focused mainly on the rate of Sea Level Rise from radar altimetry data (showing an average rise of 2.3 – 3.1 mm/year since 1970), or from coastal tide gauge data. In particular, although the coastal observations in closed seas agree with the data showing there is a trend towards an increase in sea levels, which is a result of climate change, they show significantly different rates of change. The question therefore arises: does climate change also affect the morphology of the Mean Sea Level (MSL) topography? In this paper, the research focuses for the first time not only on the change in MSL but also on the change in the morphology of the MSL topography. Research expeditions were carried out in the Gulf of Patras in 2011 and 2023. The method used is the new GNSS-on-boat method that, for the first time, makes it possible to examine the morphology of the MSL with an accuracy of up to 1 cm. The results show that in the area which was studied there was a significant change in mean sea level of the order of 2.78 cm in 12 years, which corresponds with the estimates of other researchers. However, what we observe for the first time is an obvious change in the shape of the sea surface. The significant changes in both the maxima and the slopes of the geoid exceed 8%.

Keywords

• GNSS
• Climate Change
• Sea level rise
• GNSS-on-boat
• Environmental engineering

References

1. Lycourghiotis, S. & Crawford, E.P. (2024). The impact of climate change on the morphology of marine topography using GNSS. The Eurasia Proceedings of Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (EPSTEM), 30, 114-120.