NASA Sea Level Change Glossary
Link to original: NASA Sea Level Change Glossary: https://sealevel.nasa.gov/glossary.
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This visualization shows total sea level change between 1992 and 2014, based on data collected from the TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason-1 and Jason-2 satellites. Blue regions are where sea level has gone down, and orange/red regions are where sea level has gone up. Since 1992, seas around the world have risen an average of nearly 3 inches.
In the event the webpage (above) has been removed or relocated to a new URL, here’s the glossary entries with partial descriptions:
Ablation
(1) The combined processes (such as sublimation, fusion or melting, evaporation) that remove snow or ice from the surface of a glacier or from a snow…
Absorption of radiation
The uptake of radiation by a solid body, liquid or gas. The absorbed energy may be transferred or re-emitted.
Accumulation
All processes by which snow or ice are added to a glacier. This is typically the accumulation of snow, which is slowly transformed into ice; other ac…
Adaptation
Necessary changes to protect oneself, structures and communities from the effects of sea level rise.
Air temperature
The ambient temperature indicated by a thermometer exposed to the air but sheltered from direct solar radiation, or placed in an instrument shelter 1…
Albedo
A non-dimensional, unitless quantity that measures how well a surface reflects solar energy; ranges from 0 to 1. A value of 0 means the surface is a …
Altimetry
A technique for measuring height. Satellite radar altimetry measures sea surface height, and it has also been used to measure the height of ice surfa…
Antarctica
Earth’s southernmost continent, containing the geographic South Pole and the Antarctic Ice sheet.
Antarctic Circumpolar Current
An ocean current that flows eastward around Antarctica, “pushed” by the strong winds at those southern latitudes.
Antarctic Ice Sheet
The largest single mass of ice on Earth. It covers an area of almost 14 million km² and contains 26-30 million km³ of ice, an amount equivalent to ap…
Antarctic Peninsula
The northernmost element of mainland Antarctica, between longitudes 78oW and 55oW, approximately. It is the only part of the continent of Antarctic…
Anthropogenic
Human-caused or -produced.
Aquifer
A body of saturated rock through which water can easily move. Aquifers must be both permeable and porous and include such rock types as sandstone, co…
Arctic Ocean
The smallest ocean, c.5,400,000 mi2 (13,986,000 km2), located entirely within the Arctic Circle and occupying the region around the North Pole. Due t…
Argo float/Array
A system for observing temperature, salinity and currents in the Earth’s oceans. The real-time data it provides is used in climate and oceanographic …
Atlantic Ocean
The body of salt water covering approximately one-fifth of Earth’s surface and separating the continents of Europe and Africa to the east from those …
Atmosphere
The mixture of gases surrounding the Earth. The Earth’s atmosphere consists of about 79.1 percent nitrogen (by volume), 20.9 percent oxygen, 0.036 pe…
Atmospheric circulation
The large-scale movement of air by which heat is distributed on the surface of the Earth.
Atmospheric energy budget
Just as the incoming and outgoing energy at the Earth’s surface must balance, the flow of energy into the atmosphere must be balanced by an equal flo…
Atmospheric loading
The weight of the atmosphere, evidenced as surface atmospheric pressure, is sufficient to deform slightly the surface of the Earth. Since the surface…
Basin (drainage)
A topographic region in which all water drains to a common area.
Bathythermographic
A reference to an instrument that automatically records the temperatures of water at various depths.
Bedrock
The solid rock that lies under the surface of the ground.
Bias
“Bias” has several interpretations. When measuring some property of the Earth, bias is a systematic distortion of a statistic as a result of sampling…
Buoyancy
The ability or tendency to float in water or air or some other fluid. For example, in the oceans, less dense, warmer seawater usually “floats” above …
Calving
Calving occurs when chunks of ice break off at the terminus, or end, of a glacier. Ice breaks because the forward motion of a glacier makes the termi…
Carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the primary greenhouse gas emitted through human activities. In 2014, CO2 accounted for about 80.9 percent of all U.S. greenh…
Climate
Climate can be thought of as the long-term average of weather. Note that not only the atmosphere is involved in weather or climate—for example, a wea…
Climate change
Climate change refers to any significant change in the measures of climate lasting for an extended period of time. In other words, climate change inc…
Climate feedback
An atmospheric, oceanic, terrestrial or other process that is activated by direct climate change induced by changes in radiative forcing. Climate fee…
Climate model
A quantitative way (usually implemented as a very large computer program) of representing the interactions of the atmosphere, oceans, land surface an…
Confidence interval
Gives an estimated range of values that is likely to include an unknown population parameter, the estimated range being calculated from a given set o…
Continental shelf
The area of seabed around a large landmass where the sea is relatively shallow compared with the open ocean. The continental shelf is geologically pa…
Coriolis effect
The effect of the earth’s rotation upon the direction of the wind or ocean currents. The Coriolis “force” turns the wind or current to the right in t…
Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP)
Under the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP), the Working Group on Coupled Modelling (WGCM) established the Coupled Model Intercomparison Projec…
Crevasse
A deep open crack, especially one in a glacier.
Cryosphere
One of the interrelated components of the Earth’s system, the cryosphere is frozen water in the form of snow, permanently frozen ground (permafrost),…
Cyclone
In meteorology, a cyclone is an area of closed, circular fluid motion rotating in the same direction as the Earth. The winds spiral inward and blow c…
Delta
A piece of land shaped like a triangle that is formed when a river splits into smaller rivers just before it flows into an ocean.
Density gradient
A spatial variation in density over an area. The term is used in the natural sciences to describe varying density of matter, but can apply to any qua…
Dielectric
Having the property of transmitting electric force without conduction; insulating.
Discharge
The action of discharging a liquid, gas or other substance.
Earth science
The study of Earth’s atmosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere and biosphere as a single connected system.
Earth System Models (ESMs)
Models that integrate the interactions of atmosphere, ocean, land, ice and biosphere to estimate the state of regional and global climate under a wid…
Earth System Models of Intermediate Complexity (EMICs)
A spectrum of models of varying complexity is used in modeling the natural Earth system. Depending on the nature of questions asked and the pertinent…
East Antarctica
Also called Greater Antarctica, constitutes the majority (two-thirds) of the Antarctic continent, lying on the Indian Ocean side of the Transantarcti…
El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO)
El Niño, in its original sense, is a warm water current that periodically flows along the coast of Ecuador and Peru, disrupting local fisheries. This…
Embayment
A recess in a coastline forming a bay.
Energy fluxes
Energy is exchanged between the atmosphere and Earth’s surface. Solar radiation and atmospheric longwave radiation warm the surface and provide energ…
Erosion
The slow wearing away of the land by wind, water and ice.
Error
In common language, an error is a mistake. In scientific parlance, an “error” is a statistical measure of the uncertainty of a measured quantity. Thu…
Estuary
A body of water formed where freshwater from rivers and streams flows into the ocean, mixing with the seawater. Estuaries and the lands surrounding t…
Evaporation
The process by which water changes from a liquid to a gas or vapor.
Evapotranspiration
The sum of evaporation from the land surface and transpiration from plants.
Extreme weather events
Unusual weather events, such as heat waves, intense precipitation, and drought. There is growing empirical evidence that warming temperatures create …
Feedback mechanisms
Factors that increase or amplify (positive feedback) or decrease (negative feedback) the rate of a process. An example of positive climatic feedback …
Flux
In common language, flux means continuous change. In the physical sciences, a flux is a measure of the transport of some property in a unit of time—f…
Forcing mechanism
A process that alters the energy balance of the climate system, i.e. changes the relative balance between incoming solar radiation and outgoing infra…
Forcings
In the context of climate change or climate models, the initial climate drivers: solar irradiance; greenhouse gas emissions; and aerosols, dust, smok…
Freshwater
(1) Water that is not salty, especially when considered as a natural resource. (2) Of, relating to, being or living in freshwater (not salt water).
…
General Circulation Model (GCM)
A global, four-dimensional computer model of the climate system that can be used to simulate both natural and human-induced climate change. GCMs are …
Geodetic reference system
A coordinate system, and a set of reference points, used to locate places on the Earth (or similar objects). The modern definition of sea level, and …
Geoid
The geopotential surface that best fits mean sea level.
Geopotential
The potential of the Earth’s gravity field. The difference between the potential energy of a mass at a given altitude and the potential energy of an …
Geothermal energy
Heat transferred from the Earth’s interior to underground deposits of dry steam (steam with no water droplets), wet steam (a mixture of steam and wat…
Geothermal heat
Relating to the internal heat of the Earth.
Gigaton (GT)
One thousand million tons (a billion tons in the U.S.)
Glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA)
The ongoing movement of land once burdened by Ice Age glaciers. It is also known as “postglacial rebound.”
Glacier
A multi-year surplus accumulation of snowfall in excess of snowmelt on land and resulting in a mass of ice at least 0.1 km2 in area that shows some e…
Glacier length
The length of the longest flow line of a glacier.
Glacier retreat
A condition occurring when melting at the front of a glacier takes place at a rate exceeding forward motion.
Glacier (thermal) regime
A function of ice temperature (a function of air and ground temperatures, with some glaciers being heated from below by geothermal heating) and the p…
Glacier tongue
A long and narrow sheet of ice projecting from a coastline. Forms when a valley glacier moves very rapidly out into an ocean or lake.
Glacier wastage
When large ice pieces break into the water. See calving.
Global Mean Sea Level (GMSL)
Global average sea level
Global Positioning System (GPS)
A space-based navigation system that provides location and time information in all weather conditions, anywhere on or near the Earth where there is a…
Global warming
The long-term warming of the planet. Global temperature shows a well-documented rise since the early 20th century and most notably since the late 197…
GRACE
A space borne twin satellite mission, called the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE), which measures time changes in Earth’s water and ic…
Gravimetry
The measurement of the strength of a gravitational field.
Gravity field (gravitational field)
The field of force surrounding a body of finite mass in which another body would experience an attractive force that is proportional to the product o…
Greenhouse gas
Any gas that absorbs infrared radiation in the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases include water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, ozone, chlor…
Greenland
An autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark experiencing rapid, record-breaking ice melt. If all the ice held on Greenland were to melt, it w…
Greenland Ice Sheet
With an area of 1.71 million km2 and volume of 2.85 million km3, the Greenland ice sheet is the second largest glacial ice mass on Earth.
Grounding line
The junction between a glacier or ice sheet and its ice shelf; the place where ice starts to float. On the ocean side of the grounding line, the ice …
Halosteric
Water density changes in sea level due to salinity (sea salt) changes.
Heat flux (thermal flux)
The rate of heat energy transfer through a given surface, per unit surface and unit time.
Highest astronomical tide (HAT)
The highest tide level that can be expected to occur under average meteorological conditions and under any combination of astronomical conditions. Th…
Hydrologic cycle
The process of evaporation, vertical and horizontal transport of vapor, condensation, precipitation and the flow of water from continents to oceans. …
Hydrosphere
The component of the climate system comprising liquid surface and subterranean water, such as: oceans, seas, rivers, fresh water lakes, underground w…
Hygric
Of or relating to moisture
Ice age
An ice age is a long interval of time (millions to tens of millions of years) when global temperatures are relatively cold and large areas of the Ear…
Ice-albedo feedback (or snow-albedo feedback)
A positive feedback climate process where a change in the area of snow-covered land, ice caps, glaciers or sea ice alters the albedo. Ice (whether on…
Iceberg
A large piece of freely floating freshwater ice, larger than 5 meters (16 feet) across, that has broken off a glacier, ice shelf or larger iceberg. I…
Ice cap
Ice caps are miniature ice sheets, covering less than 50,000 square kilometers (19,305 square miles). They form primarily in polar and sub-polar regi…
Ice core
A cylindrical section of ice removed from a glacier or an ice sheet in order to study climate patterns of the past. By performing chemical analyses o…
Ice dynamics
Describe the motion within large bodies of ice, such those currently on Greenland and Antarctica. Ice motion is dominated by the movement of glaciers…
Ice elevation
Ice height above sea level
Ice flow
Dynamic movement of land ice. Ice flow rates are usually provided in meters per second (m/s) and derived from radiometer measurements.
Ice rise
A clearly defined elevation of the otherwise totally flat ice shelf, typically dome-shaped and rising 100 to 200 metres above the surrounding ice she…
Ice rumple
A locally grounded area of ice shelf that is overridden by an ice sheet. Ice rumples are distinguished by crevassing together with a rise in the surf…
ICESat I/II
ICESat (Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite) is the benchmark Earth Observing System mission for measuring ice sheet mass balance, cloud and aer…
Ice sheet
An ice sheet is a mass of glacial land ice extending more than 50,000 square kilometers (20,000 square miles). The two ice sheets on Earth today cove…
Ice Sheet System Model (ISSM)
The Ice Sheet System Model (ISSM) is a thermomechanical finite element model of ice flow that includes higher-order stresses, high spatial resolution…
Ice shelf
Permanent floating sheets of ice that connect to a landmass. Most of the world’s ice shelves hug the coast of Antarctica. However, ice shelves can al…
Ice softening
When ice becomes weaker usually due to changes in the ice temperatures. This has an impact on the ice viscosity. Also see Melt.
Ice stream
Fast-flowing rivers of ice
Ice surface
The upper- or outer-most layer of ice
Ice wall
An ice cliff forming the seaward margin of an inland ice sheet, ice piedmont or ice rise. The rock basement may be at or below sea level.
Indian Ocean
The body of salt water covering approximately one-fifth of the total ocean area of the world. It is the smallest, youngest and physically most comple…
Indian Ocean Dipole
Also known as the “Indian Niño,” is an irregular oscillation of sea-surface temperatures in which the western Indian Ocean becomes alternately warmer…
In situ
A Latin phrase that translates literally to “on site” or “in position.” It means “locally,” “on site,” “on the premises” or “in place” to describe an…
Insulation
The process of keeping heat, sound or electricity from spreading.
Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR)
Synthetic Aperture Radars (SAR) produce all weather, day and night, high resolution images of the Earth’s surface, providing useful information about…
Interferometry
A family of techniques in which waves, usually electromagnetic, are superimposed to extract information about the waves.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
An intergovernmental body of about 200 countries that assess the scientific, technical and socio-economic information relevant for the understanding …
Inundation
The submergence of land by water, particularly in a coastal setting.
Inverse barometer effect
The correction for variations in sea surface height due to atmospheric pressure variations (see atmospheric loading). It can reach about ±15 cm and i…
Jason 1, 2 and 3
The Jason-1 satellite continued the task of providing the important oceanographic data time-series originated by the TOPEX/Poseidon mission, carrying…
Kennedy Space Center
The NASA center that manages, develops, integrates and sustains space systems through partnerships that enable innovative, diverse access to space an…
Lake
A body of fresh or salt water of considerable size, surrounded by land.
Landfast ice
Sea ice that remains fast along the coast, where it is attached to the shore, to an ice wall, to an ice front, over shoals or between grounded iceber…
La Niña
Characterized by unusually cold ocean temperatures and lower than normal sea surface height in the Equatorial Pacific, compared to El Niño.
Larsen B Ice Shelf
The Larsen Ice Shelf is a long, fringing ice shelf in the northwest part of the Weddell Sea, extending along the east coast of Antarctic Peninsula fr…
Latitude
Distance north or south of the equator measured in degrees up to 90 degrees.
LIDAR
LIDAR, which stands for Light Detection and Ranging, is a remote sensing method that uses light in the form of a pulsed laser to measure ranges (vari…
Longwave radiation
Radiation emitted in the spectral wavelength greater than about 4 micrometers, corresponding to the radiation emitted from the Earth and atmosphere. …
Lowest astronomical tide (LAT)
The lowest tide level that can be expected to occur under average meteorological conditions and under any combination of astronomical conditions. As …
Mass balance
The gain and loss of ice from the glacier system. The mass balance is the difference between total snow input and total loss through melting, ablatio…
Mean dynamic topography (DOT)
The difference between the time-averaged sea surface and the geoid (the equipotential surface of the Earth’s gravity field that best fits the mean se…
Mesoscale eddies
Swirling masses of water (the “weather” of the ocean) with typical horizontal scales of less than 100 km and timescales on the order of a month. Meso…
Microwave
An electromagnetic wave with a wavelength in the range 0.001–0.3 m, shorter than that of a normal radio wave but longer than those of infrared radiat…
Milankovitch cycles
Cyclical changes in Earth’s orbit, as observed in variations of eccentricity, axial tilt, and precession over tens of thousands of years. These cycle…
Mitigation
A human intervention to reduce the human impact on the climate system. Includes strategies to reduce greenhouse gas sources and emissions and enhanci…
Modeling
The generation of a physical, conceptual or mathematical representation of a real phenomenon that is difficult to observe directly. Scientific models…
Mountain glacier
A glacier developed in high mountainous regions, often flowing out of icefields that span several peaks or even a mountain range. The largest mountai…
Mountain ice cap
A miniature mountain ice sheet covering less than 50,000 square kilometers (19,305 square miles).
Natural variability
Variations in the mean state and other statistics (such as standard deviations or statistics of extremes) of the climate on all time and space scales…
North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO)
The dominant mode of winter climate variability in the North Atlantic region ranging from central North America to Europe and much into Northern Asia…
Ocean buoyancy forcing
Buoyancy is an upward force exerted by a fluid that opposes the weight of an immersed object. In a column of fluid, pressure increases with depth as …
Ocean circulation
The large scale movement of waters in the ocean basins. Winds drive surface circulation, and the cooling and sinking of waters in the polar regions d…
Ocean column
A conceptual column, or imaginary cylinder, of water from the ocean’s surface to the bottom sediments.
Ocean current
Oceanic currents describe the movement of water from one location to another. Currents are generally measured in meters per second or in knots (1 kno…
Ocean heat content
The amount of heat stored in the ocean
Ocean mass
The total amount of water mass in the global ocean. Saline water covers approximately 72 percent of the planet’s surface (about 3.6×108 km2) and is c…
Ocean surface area
The total area of the ocean’s surface, measured in square units. The ocean covers approximately 72 percent of the planet’s surface (about 3.6×108 km2…
Outlet glacier
Valley glaciers that originate in ice sheets, ice caps and ice fields.
Ozone depletion
A chemical chain reaction in Earth’s stratosphere in which chlorine atoms, released from chlorofluorocarbons by ultraviolet radiation, destroy ozone …
Pacific Decadal Oscillation
A robust, recurring pattern of ocean-atmosphere climate variability centered over the mid-latitude Pacific basin; a long-lived El Niño-like pattern o…
Pacific Ocean
The largest ocean in the world, separating Asia and Australia on the west from North America and South America on the east.
Paleoclimate
A climate prevalent at a particular time in the geological past.
Parts per billion (ppb)
Number of parts of a chemical found in one billion parts of a particular gas, liquid or solid mixture.
Parts per million by volume (ppmv)
Number of parts of a chemical found in one million parts of a particular gas, liquid or solid.
Parts per trillion (ppt)
Number of parts of a chemical found in one trillion parts of a particular gas, liquid or solid.
Patagonia
The Patagonia region encompasses the vast southernmost tip of South America, shared by Argentina and Chile, with the Andes as its dividing line. Pata…
Polar amplification
A phenomenon in which any change in the net radiation balance (for example, greenhouse intensification) tends to produce a larger change in temperatu…
Pole tide
An ocean tide, theoretically 6 millimeters in amplitude, caused by the Chandler wobble of the earth; has a period of 428 days.
Post-glacial rebound (PGR)
Sometimes called continental rebound, is the rise of land masses that were depressed by the huge weight of ice sheets during the last glacial period,…
Process-based models
Process models are processes of the same nature that are classified together into a model. Thus, a process model is a description of a process at the…
Proxy measurements
In paleoclimatology, or the study of past climates, scientists use what is known as proxy data to reconstruct past climate conditions. These proxy da…
Radar
A system for detecting the presence, direction, distance and speed of aircraft, ships and other objects, by sending out pulses of high-frequency elec…
Radiation
Energy transfer in the form of electromagnetic waves or particles that release energy when absorbed by an object.
Radiative forcing
A measure of the influence of a particular factor (e.g. greenhouse gas (GHG), aerosol or land use change) on the net change in the Earth’s energy bal…
Radiometer
An instrument for detecting or measuring the intensity or force of radiation.
Reconstruction
A re-creation of past trends, such as changes in Earth’s climate. In paleoclimatology, for example, proxy data from tree rings, ice cores, fossil pol…
Reflectivity
The ability of a surface material to reflect sunlight including the visible, infrared and ultraviolet wavelengths.
Regional atmospheric climate model (RACMO)
A series of computer models based on the High Resolution Limited Area Model (HIRLAM) for numerical weather prediction. Increasing refinements have be…
Relative sea level
The sea level related to the level of the continental crust. Relative sea level changes can thus be caused by absolute changes of the sea level and/o…
Representative concentration pathway scenarios (RCPs)
A series of possible future climatic conditions and effects, produced by climate models using socio-economic and emission inputs of varying degrees. …
Reservoir
A large natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply.
Risk assessment
A quantitative calculation of the likely failure rate of a complex system.
Rossby radius of deformation
The distance that a particle or wave travels before being significantly affected by the Earth’s rotation.
Rossby waves
A type of large-scale inertial wave, in the atmosphere or ocean, produced by Earth’s rotation combined with its spherical geometry, and strongly infl…
Rotation axis
An imaginary line around which a three-dimensional object rotates.
Runoff
The draining away of water (or substances carried in it) from the surface of an area of land, a building or structure, etc.
Salinity
Salt content of water or soil
Salt marsh
An area of coastal grassland that is regularly flooded by seawater.
Salt water intrusion
Displacement of fresh or ground water by the advance of salt water due to its greater density, usually in coastal and estuarine areas.
Satellite radar altimetry
Technique for measuring a satellite’s altitude above terrain by timing how long it takes a beam of radio waves to reflect from the ground and return …
Sea level budget
The two main causes of sea level rise are melting of Earth’s frozen landscapes—ice sheets, ice caps and glaciers—and thermal expansion. Water expands…
Sea level change
Change in average sea level height
Sea level equation
The sea level equation (SLE) is the linear, integral equation that describes the sea-level variations associated with the Glacial Isostatic Adjustmen…
Sea level equivalent
The change in global average sea level that would occur if a given amount of water or ice were added to or removed from the oceans.
Sea level paleo indicator
Indicators (usually natural, but sometimes man-made) whose age and height, relative to modern-day sea level, can be measured accurately enough to giv…
Sea level rise
The upward trend in average sea level height
Sea surface height (SSH)
The height (or topography or relief) of the ocean’s surface
Sea surface temperature
Water temperature close to the ocean’s surface. The exact meaning of surface varies according to the measurement method used, but it is between 1 mil…
Sediment
Material (such as stones and sand) that is carried into water by water, wind, etc., and settles to the bottom of the water.
Sediment core
Every year, billions of tons of dead plankton and other marine organisms, dust blown from far-off lands, and river sediment settle on the ocean floor…
Seismic
Of or relating to earthquakes and other vibrations of the earth and its crust.
Self-gravitational attraction and loading (SAL)
Self-gravity is influential in understanding sea level and the ice caps for oceanographers and geologists, which is particularly important as we go f…
Semi-empirical models
Models that try to make sense of massive measurements based on a few theoretical principles.
Shortwave radiation
Visible light that contains a lot of energy; longwave radiation (infrared light) contains less energy than shortwave radiation (shortwave radiation h…
Snowpack
A seasonal accumulation of slow-melting snow
Snow water equivalent
The amount of water contained within the snowpack. It can be thought of as the depth of water that would theoretically result if the entire snowpack …
Soil
Complex mixture of inorganic minerals (i.e., mostly clay, silt and sand), decaying organic matter, water, air and living organisms.
Solar energy
Direct radiant energy from the sun. It also includes indirect forms of energy such as wind, falling or flowing water (hydropower), ocean thermal gra…
Spectrometer
In physics, a spectrometer is an apparatus to measure a spectrum. Generally, a spectrum is a graph that shows intensity as a function of wavelength, …
Steric height
Technically, steric height is the vertical integral of specific volume anomaly (which is the inverse of the change in water density), and it represen…
Storm surge
Storm surge is an abnormal rise of water generated by a storm, over and above the predicted astronomical tides. Storm surge should not be confused wi…
Stratosphere
The layer of Earth’s atmosphere between 10 and 50 kilometers (6.2 to 31 miles) altitude, which contains the ozone layer and which reaches a peak temp…
Thermal expansion
The tendency of matter to change in shape, area and volume in response to a change in temperature, through heat transfer.
Thermosteric
The change of sea level due to warming or cooling of a column of sea water. Warming of a sea water column results in higher sea level and cooling of …
Tide gauge
A device for measuring the change in sea level relative to a datum. Sensors continuously record the height of the water level with respect to a heigh…
Troposphere
The layer of Earth’s atmosphere between zero and 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) altitude, defined by a linear decrease in temperature as a function of alt…
Uncertainty
The parameter associated with the result of a measurement that characterizes the dispersion of the values that could reasonably be attributed to the …