"No Change In California Sea Level Since 1871"
The truth? To date, there has been no Change In California Sea Level Since 2013.
California has seen a rise in sea level of approximately 7 inches (18 cm) over the past century (1900-2005) ( 4). During this time, sea level along almost our entire coastline has been rising (the only exception is in Crescent City where due to tectonic uplift, sea level has been dropping relative to land) ( figure 1).
The local tide gauge at Monterey only goes back to 1973 (compared to San Francisco’s which goes back to 1855), yet even in this short time period, we see a weak trend of sea level rise at the rate of approximately 0.05 inches per year (give or take 0.053 inches) (1.34 mm/yr +/- 1.35 mm/yr) ( figure 2). Due to local oceanographic conditions, sea level in Central California has been relatively stable or even declining over the past several decades. However, when the regional climate patterns that drive local sea level trends shift, our coast will very likely experience a rise in sea level that will correspond to, or may even exceed, the mean global rate of sea level rise (more detail below) ( 3, 5, 6). Despite agreement that a rise in local sea level is inevitable, it is unclear exactly when in the next century this change will occur ( 5, 6).
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