New Global Tide Gauge Study Blows Sea-Level Acceleration Claims Out of the Water
18 hours ago Anthony Watts
The alarmist narrative about “accelerating” sea level rise looks increasingly like a house of cards. A brand-new peer-reviewed study by Dutch engineer Hessel Voortman and independent researcher Rob de Vos offers a direct challenge to one of the most entrenched talking points in climate politics. Published in the Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, the paper is the first global tide gauge review of its kind—and its conclusions are stark.
After analyzing more than 200 tide gauge stations worldwide, Voortman and de Vos found that 95% of sites show no statistically significant acceleration in sea level rise. Where acceleration exists, it is caused by local land movements (subsidence, aquifer withdrawals, or tectonics), not rising CO₂. Their bottom line? The current global average sea level rise is about 1.5 mm/year (15 cm per century)—a far cry from the three- to ten-foot apocalypse scenarios constantly plastered across media headlines.
The authors’ paper, A Global Perspective on Local Sea Level Changes, provides three key findings:
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/09/10/new-global-tide-gauge-study-blows-sea-level-acceleration-claims-out-of-the-water/