Abstract:Abstract Relative sea‐level rise along the Atlantic coast of North America is observed to be about 30 cm/century. No more than half of this rise can be explained by eustatic changes. It is improbable ...Abstract Relative sea‐level rise along the Atlantic coast of North America is observed to be about 30 cm/century. No more than half of this rise can be explained by eustatic changes. It is improbable that the remainder is explicable by steric changes. It is therefore almost certainly produced by a systematic subsidence of that coast. The required rate of at least 15 cm/ century is very large by long‐term geologic standards. However, it is comparable with rates measured in relevelling programs, and we must recognize that we live in extraordinary times geologically in that ice‐ages are unusual, and we are in a very warm portion of the present ice‐age. If at least half of the observed relative sea‐level rise is caused by subsidence, it seems reasonable to suppose that nearly all, except for the effects of the observed melting of small glaciers, is so caused. Sea‐level rise is so variable in other parts of the world that there also it is better explained by crustal movements than by eustatic sea‐level rise. The doubt that these considerations place on the usual interpretation of past sea‐level rise extends to consideration of a possible future rise brought ori by climate change. It is uncertainty that has clearly increased, not eustatic sea‐level.Read More