By Paul Homewood

https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2017/07/20/uk-sea-level-data-for-2016/

Tide gauge data for the UK has just been published by PSMSL for 2017, so we can take a look at the latest numbers for the two major, long running sites at North Shields and Newlyn:

http://www.psmsl.org/data/obtaining/

Long term rates of rise are similar to what we are used to seeing globally, although it must be pointed out that the coast at Newlyn is sinking, maybe by as much as 1mm/year. (See above map).

The 120-month running totals show the enormous amount of variability, not just on a monthly or annual basis, but even over much longer periods.

Little wonder then that proper oceanographers advise against relying on such short term trends. For instance, Bruce Douglas stated in 1996:

It is well established that sea level trends obtained from tide gauge records shorter than about 50-60 years are corrupted by interdecadal sea level variation

NOAA publish 50-year sea level trends for major sites. These are run at 5-year intervals, and have recently been updated for 2015.

Data for North Shields and Newlyn shows the same cyclical pattern that we see globally – sea levels were rising just as fast as now during most of the 20thC up to around 1970, before a slowdown in the 1970s and 80s.

Indeed, sea level rise at North Shields was much higher than now for much of the 20thC:

https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/sltrends/sltrends_station.shtml?id=170-053

https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/sltrends/sltrends_station.shtml?id=170-161

There is no evidence at all at either North Shields or Newlyn that current sea level rise is in any way unprecedented.