Key Facts about: Climate Change
Sea level rise at selected sites: 1850-2006
United Kingdom
Global-average sea level is estimated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to have risen by about 150 mm during the past century, and the IPCC estimates that it will further rise by between 180 and 590 mm in the next 100 years. Rising sea levels are largely a consequence of the thermal expansion of the ocean, melting of low latitude glaciers for example in the Alps and Rockies and many other factors, each of which are reviewed every few years by the IPCC.
All the sites shown indicate a rise in historic mean sea level, ranging from 0.6 mm per year at Aberdeen to 2 mm per year at Sheerness. This reflects a UK sea level rise of approximately 1mm per year combined with long term geological movements (which are causing the south and east to sink and the north to rise).
Annual mean values of sea level from Aberdeen, North Shields, Sheerness, Newlyn and Liverpool, which are the five longest sea level records in the UK, are shown here.
- Source:
- Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory, Met Office, Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research
Data Tables:
Download Chart Data: Microsoft Excel
Further Information:
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Page last modified: 15 April 2008
Page published: 12 August 2005