The Sea Level Equation: Theory and Numerical Examples

Area 04 – Scienze della terra

The so–called “Sea Level Equation” is a linear, integral equation that governs the sea level changes due to the melting of the Pleistocene ice sheets and allows to model a suite of associated geophysical processes, including the postglacial rebound of the solid Earth, and the shape variations of the geoid. In this book we discuss the sea level equation for a spherically symmetric, linear viscoelastic Earth, assuming fixed shorelines and no rotational feedbacks. The theoretical aspects of the problem are presented in detail and only a basic knowledge of physics is demanded, that makes the discussion particularly oriented to non specialists of the field of global geodynamics. In the final part of the book we present some applications of the sea level equation in which we face the problem of predicting the Holocene and the present–day relative sea level variations, and the ongoing deformations of the solid Earth.Giorgio Spada is Associate Professor of Physics of the Solid Earth at the Faculty of Environmental Sciences of the University of Urbino. His scientific interests are in the field of global geodynamics, including mantle rheology, long and short–term sea level changes, and Earth rotation. Paolo Stocchi is a doctorate student at the University of Bologna, currently involved in the study and the interpretation of the post glacial sea level variations in the Mediterranean.

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