Sea level data
Our data holding
Please acknowledge the appropriate source if you use any of these data sets.
Datasets are updated regularly and are available via
HTTP server:
- Global mean sea level (gmsl) files – this includes the altimtery gmsl time series, and also the gmsl reconstructions
- Regional sea level files – this includes the gif files, the regional grid netcdfs and regional reconstruction netcdfs.
FTP server:
- Global mean sea level (gmsl) files – this includes the altimtery gmsl time series, and also the gmsl reconstructions
- Regional sea level files – this includes the gif files, the regional grid netcdfs and regional reconstruction netcdfs.
THREDDS server:
- Global mean sea level (gmsl) files – this includes the altimtery gmsl time series, and also the gmsl reconstructions
- Regional sea level files – this includes the gif files, the regional grid netcdfs and regional reconstruction netcdfs.
Sea level and ocean heat content
| Update of Reconstructed GMSL from 1880 to 2013. | This update from the Church and White (2011) paper extends the data files to the end of 2013 for the reconstruction from tide gauges and to the end of 2014 for the satellite altimetry.
Download the data Download (379.6 KB) Reference: Church, J.A. and N.J. White (2011), Sea-level rise from the late 19th to the early 21st century. Surveys in Geophysics, 32, 585-602, doi:10.1007/s10712-011-9119-1. This paper is published “Open Access” and is available as a pdf from here. We are currently attempting to more thoroughly evaluate the methodology and to improve the reconstruction so that it better represents the variability (Legresy et al., Workshop on Global and Regional Sea Level variability and change, Mallorca, Spain, June 2015). |
| History of our steric sea level and ocean heat content data sets | Click here to view the history and download data files.
Reference: Domingues, C.M., J.A. Church, N.J. White, P.J. Gleckler, S.E. Wijffels, P.M. Barker and J.R. Dunn (2008), Improved estimates of upper-ocean warming and multi-decadal sea-level rise. Nature, 453, 1090-1094, doi:10.1038/nature07080. |
| Reconstructed GMSL for 1880 to 2009 | As described in Church and White (2011).
The data, along with a list of tide gauges used, are available from CSIRO’s Data Access Portal here. Reference: Church, J.A. and N.J. White (2011), Sea-level rise from the late 19th to the early 21st century. Surveys in Geophysics, 32, 585-602, doi:10.1007/s10712-011-9119-1. This paper is published “Open Access” and is available as a pdf from here. |
| Reconstructed GMSL for 1870 to 2001 | As described in Church and White (2006).
The data are available from CSIRO’s Data Access Portal here. Reference: Church, J.A. and N.J. White (2006), A 20th century acceleration in global sea level rise, Geophysical Research Letters, 33, L01602, doi:10.1029/2005GL024826. |
| Reconstructed sea-surface heights for 1950 to 2001 | As described in Church et al. (2004), except that it has been extended to the end of 2001.
Briefly, this data set is
Download the gzip’ed netCDF file Download (13.9 MB) See also the Data Access Portal. Reference: Church, J.A., N.J. White, R. Coleman, K. Lambeck and J.X. Mitrovica (2004), Estimates of the regional distribution of sea level rise over the 1950 to 2000 period, Journal of Climate, 17, 2609-2625. |
Combined TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason-1 and Jason-2/OSTM sea level fields – several versions
See Historical sea level changes – last decades for information about recent changes to our processing.
These data sets are a combination of data from TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason-1 and Jason-2/OSTM, and comprise:
- near-global (65°S to 65°N) data on a 1° × 1° grid
- monthly averages, currently from January 1993 to May 2016 (this is extended as data becomes available)
- versions available:
- with or without the inverse barometer correction
- with or without the seasonal (annual + semi-annual) signal removed
- with or without the GIA correction
- all are available as gzip’ed netCDF files, and are each about 10 Megabytes in size
- they all include a time series of Global Mean Sea Level (GMSL)
| File name | Click to download | Inverse barometer correction | Seasonal signal | GIA correction |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| jb_ibn_srn_gtn_gin.nc.gz | Download | Not done | Not removed | Not done |
| jb_ibn_srn_gtn_giy.nc.gz | Download | Not done | Not removed | Done |
| jb_ibn_sry_gtn_gin.nc.gz | Download | Not done | Removed | Not done |
| jb_ibn_sry_gtn_giy.nc.gz | Download | Not done | Removed | Done |
| jb_iby_srn_gtn_gin.nc.gz | Download | Done | Not removed | Not done |
| jb_iby_srn_gtn_giy.nc.gz | Download | Done | Not removed | Done |
| jb_iby_sry_gtn_gin.nc.gz | Download | Done | Removed | Not done |
| jb_iby_sry_gtn_giy.nc.gz | Download | Done | Removed | Done |
Data is released via FTP here.
Acknowledgements
TOPEX/Poseidon and Jason-1 data were obtained from the NASA Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory / California Institute of Technology.
Jason-2/OSTM data was obtained from Aviso (CNES and CLS, France).
CNES (France) and NASA (USA) for their roles in the TOPEX/Poseidon and Jason-1 missions and for making the data freely available.
CNES, NASA, NOAA (USA) and EUMETSAT (Europe) for their roles in the Jason-2/OSTM mission and for making the data freely available.
The many people who have worked to make these missions the successes they have been.
National Tidal Centre (NTC) – Australia
The National Tidal Centre (formerly the National Tidal Facility) is responsible for sea level monitoring and analysis for the purpose of deriving trends in absolute sea level and producing national tide predictions, tide streams and related information.
The NTC is the primary source of tide tables, tidal streams and tidal constituents provided to the Australian Hydrographic Service. The NTC also manages the national data archive for sea levels and tides.
They hold the great majority of Australian historical tide gauge data and also maintain, and process and archive data from, two modern arrays of high quality acoustic tide gauges – the Australian Baseline array (ABSLMP) and the Pacific array (SPSLCMP).
The Permanent Service for Mean Sea Level (PSMSL)
The Permanent Service for Mean Sea Level (PSMSL) is part of the National Oceanography Centre, Liverpool in the UK. They are the main global repository of historical and modern tide gauge data. Wherever possible they have used available datum information to tie different records at a location to produce their “Revised Local Reference” or RLR tide gauge records. The PSMSL’s holdings are used in most analyses of global and (large) regional sea level. See their website for further information.
Global Extreme Sea Level Analysis (GESLA)
The Global Extreme Sea Level Analysis (GELSA) data product combines high frequency (hourly) tide gauge data from around the world for the purposes of studying extreme sea level events. Most data is public, but some private data is available on request (e.g. for Australia from the NTC). This collection has been developed and maintained by John Hunter (research affiliate of this group) with Phil Woodworth and associates. See the GESLA website for data access and further information.