The NASA Sea Level Change Team and Challenges of Generating Useful Sea Level Information

Improving the understanding of past and present sea level and providing an assessment of future sea level requires consideration of wide range of physical processes. To address the interdisciplinary challenges associated with sea level, the NASA Sea Level Change Science Team (N-SLCT) was formed in 2014. The scientific focus of the team is on fostering the interdisciplinary research required to improve the accuracy and spatial resolution of current and future sea level change estimates. An additional goal of the N-SLCT is to communicate the latest advances in science and provide useful information to support decision-making efforts. Specifically, the team seeks to 1) Identify gaps in scientific knowledge or understanding that are presently limiting the ability to plan for future sea level rise; 2) Identify what scientific information is being used to make plans, how this information is obtained, and where improvements are needed; 3) Understand the information pathway from scientist to decision-maker; and 4) provide guidance to scientists on how to provide more useful sea level information. This presentation provides an overview of the approaches taken thus far and identifies future efforts to generate more useful sea level information.