Sea Level Budget
D5. Coastal processes, sea-level, cryosphere and ocean observation scienceDefinition
Decomposition of sea-level change into mass and steric components.
The sea level budget decomposes observed sea-level change into its physical contributors so the parts sum to the total: thermal expansion (steric) from warming water, plus added mass from melting glaciers and the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets and from land-water storage. Closing the budget cross-checks altimetry against Argo float heat content and GRACE mass measurements. A closed budget is the test that the observing system is internally consistent.