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Sea level
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Mean sea level (MSL) is the average (mean) height of the sea, with reference to a suitable reference surface. Defining the reference level , however, involves complex measurement, and accurately determining MSL can prove difficult.
Measurement
To an operator of a tide gauge, MSL means the "still water level"—the level of the sea with motions such as wind waves averaged out—averaged over a period of time such that changes in sea level, e.g., due to the tides, also get averaged out.
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Mean sea level (MSL) is the average (mean) height of the sea, with reference to a suitable reference surface. Defining the reference level , however, involves complex measurement, and accurately determining MSL can prove difficult.
Measurement
To an operator of a tide gauge, MSL means the "still water level"—the level of the sea with motions such as wind waves averaged out—averaged over a period of time such that changes in sea level, e.g., due to the tides, also get averaged out. One measures the values of MSL in respect to the land. Hence a change in MSL can result from a real change in sea level, or from a change in the height of the land on which the tide gauge operates.
In the UK, mean sea level has been measured at Newlyn in Cornwall and Liverpool on Merseyside for decades, by tide gauges to provide Ordnance Datum for the zero metres height on UK maps.
Difficulties in utilization To extend this definition far from the sea means comparing the local height of the mean sea surface with a "level" reference surface, or datum, called the geoid. In a state of rest or absence of external forces, the mean sea level would coincide with this geoid surface, being an equipotential surface of the Earth's gravitational field. In reality, due to currents, air pressure variations, temperature and salinity variations, etc., this does not occur, not even as a long term average. The location-dependent, but persistent in time, separation between mean sea level and the geoid is referred to as (stationary) sea surface topography. It varies globally in a range of ± 2 m.
Traditionally, one had to process sea-level measurements to take into account the effect of the 228-month Metonic cycle and the 223-month eclipse cycle on the tides. Mean sea level does not remain constant over the surface of the entire earth. For instance, mean sea level at the Pacific end of the Panama Canal stands 20 cm higher than at the Atlantic end.
Despite the difficulties, aviators flying under instrument flight rules (IFR) must have accurate and reliable measurements of their altitudes above (or below - see Schiphol Airport) mean sea level, and the altitude of the airports where they intend to land. That problem can compound when landing on an aircraft carrier in a gravity anomaly. In aviation mean sea level is increasingly being defined according to the reference ellipsoid defined by the World Geodetic System. Compared to a geoid, an ellipsoid is simpler to model mathematically and therefore lends itself to use with the Global Positioning System.
Changes through geologic time
Sea level has changed over geologic time. As the graph shows, sea level today is very near the lowest level ever attained (the lowest level occurred at the Permian-Triassic boundary about 250 million years ago). For this reason, sea level is more prone to rise than fall today, and small changes in climate can have noticeable effects during human lifetimes.
During the most recent ice age (at its maximum about 20,000 years ago) the world's sea level was about 130 m lower than today, due to the large amount of sea water that had evaporated and been deposited as snow and ice in northern hemisphere glaciers. The majority of the glaciers had melted by about 10,000 years ago, but minor glacial melting has continued (with occasional reversals) throughout recorded human history. Most "recently" (within last 10,000 years) a "normal" interglacial increase of Earth temperature was interrupted at a level of a few degrees below peak, and this probably correlates with slowdown in the sea level increase at present. There is no clear data, was this Earth temperature decrease a result of human activities or just a new step in continuing "Earth freezing". More detail about the changes in sea level for the past 140,000 years can be seen by accessing .
Hundreds of similar glacial cycles have occurred throughout the Earth's history. Geologists who study the positions of coastal sediment deposits through time have noted dozens of similar basinward shifts of shorelines associated with a later recovery. This results in sedimentary cycles which in some cases can be correlated around the world with great confidence. This relatively new branch of geological science linking eustatic sea level to sedimentary deposits is called sequence stratigraphy.
Aviation Using pressure to measure altitude results in two other types of altitude. Distance above true or MSL (mean sea level) is the next best measurement to absolute. MSL altitude is the distance above where sea level would be if there were no land. If one knows the elevation of terrain, the distance above the ground is calculated by a simple subtraction.
An MSL altitude—called pressure altitude by pilots—is useful for predicting physiological responses in unpressurized aircraft (see hypoxia). It also correlates with engine, propeller, and wing performance, which all decrease in thinner air.
Flight levelMSL is useful for aircraft to avoid terrain, but at high enough altitudes, there is no terrain to avoid. In most countries, this level is , which, in the U.S., clears everything but Alaska's Mount McKinley. Above that level, pilots are primarily interested in avoiding each other, so adjust their altimeter to standard temperature and pressure conditions (average sea level pressure and temperature) and disregard actual barometric pressure—until descending below 18,000 ft. To distinguish from MSL, such altitudes are called flight levels. Standard pilot shorthand is to express flight level as hundreds of feet, so FL 240 is 24,000 feet.
See also
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