Identification

Title

Skillful multiyear to decadal predictions of sea level in the North Atlantic Ocean and U.S. East Coast

Abstract

Long-term sea-level rise and multiyear to decadal sea level variations pose substantial risks for flooding and erosion in coastal communities. Here we use observations and climate model predictions to show that sea level variations along the U.S. East Coast are skillfully predictable 3 to 10 years in advance. The most predictable component of sea level is a basin scale upward trend, predictable a decade in advance and primarily a response to increasing greenhouse gases. Significant additional predictability comes from multidecadal variations of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). While perfect model simulations show AMOC-related sea level predictability of 5-7 years, model biases and initialization uncertainties reduce the realized predictive skill to 3-5 years, depending on location. Overall, greenhouse gas warming and predictable AMOC variations lead to multiyear to decadal prediction skill for sea level along the U.S. East Coast. Such skill could have significant societal benefit for planning and adaptation.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d77w6gqr

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2023-11-17T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Copyright author(s). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata date

2025-07-11T15:12:38.380179

Metadata language

eng; USA