The impact of groundwater depletion on spatial variations in sea level change during the past century

Abstract

Continental groundwater loss during the past century has elevated sea level by up to ∼25 mm. The mass unloading associated with this depletion locally uplifts Earth's solid surface and depresses the geoid, leading to slower relative sea level rise near areas of significant groundwater loss. We computed spatial variations in sea level using a model of the solid Earth's response to estimates of groundwater depletion during the past century and find large negative deviations of ∼0.4 mm/yr along the coastlines of western North America and southern Asia. This approximately corresponds to the difference between rates of sea level rise measured by tide gauges in these regions since 1930 and average rates inferred from global reconstructions. Groundwater-induced regional variations in sea level can be larger than those due to postglacial rebound and interseismic deformation and should become increasingly important in the future as both groundwater depletion and sea level rise accelerate.