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Reply to ‘Waves do not contribute to global sea-level rise’

Nature Climate Change volume 9, page 3 (2019)Cite this article

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Melet et al. reply — The quantification of adaptation needs to sea-level hazards at global-to-regional scales is a major research challenge. Our global-scale analysis1 contributes to understanding the drivers of interannual-to-multidecadal coastal water level changes by reporting that at first order, wave contributions are sizeable. Typically these contributions have not been accounted for, and thus we advocate for their inclusion to provide more accurate assessments2 of the vulnerability of the coasts. We clarify below three main points regarding our analysis and its implications.

First, coastal water-level changes result from different processes acting over a range of timescales. Wind-wave-induced coastal water level changes are largest for short timescales (wave period or wave-group timescales). However, wave set-up and swash can be modulated at interannual-to-multidecadal timescales by: changes in offshore wave height, period and direction due to surface wind changes3; changes in geomorphology4 (such as beach orientation, nearshore bathymetry); and changes in currents and water depth5–7. Our analysis focused on the first point, highlighting that wave contributions should be considered not only for extreme events, but also in analyses of interannual-to-multidecadal coastal sea-level changes and rise.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mercator Ocean International, Ramonville St Agne, France

    Angélique Melet

  2. LEGOS, Université de Toulouse, CNES, CNRS, IRD, UPS, Toulouse, France

    Benoît Meyssignac & Rafaël Almar

  3. BRGM / French Geological Survey, Orléans, France

    Gonéri Le Cozannet

Authors
  1. Angélique Melet
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  2. Benoît Meyssignac
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  3. Rafaël Almar
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  4. Gonéri Le Cozannet
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Correspondence to Angélique Melet.

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Melet, A., Meyssignac, B., Almar, R. et al. Reply to ‘Waves do not contribute to global sea-level rise’. Nature Clim Change 9, 3 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-018-0378-4

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