Vertical tectonic motions can affect apparent sea-level rise

摘要

Dramatic sea-level rises around the Torres Islands of the southwest Pacific have occurred over the past two decades, with increasing sea incursions displacing a village between the years 2002 and 2004. In 2005, these displaced villagers were described as possibly the world's first climate change "refugees" by the United Nations Environment Programme. Valerie Ballu et al. (pp. 13019-13022) investigated the sea level rise documented for the islands and determined that observations were affected by interseismic subsidence, or sinking, between earthquakes.