“Rising sea levels” is among the most common phrases one reads and hears whenever discussions of climate change- particularly anthropogenic climate change – occur. But on a planet where oceans cover over seventy percent of the surface, just how is sea level measured? And for that matter, given changes in technology, as well as in the recent increase in interest in shifting baselines and how they may affect historical data in many of the biological and Earth sciences, have the ways sea level has been measured in the past changed?
In his most recently published book Sea Level; A History, Dr.Wilko Graf von Hardenberg, senior research scholar at the Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte, presents the history of how – and often more importantly, why – sea level has been measured and recorded. “Mean sea level, Hardenberg reveals, is not a natural occurrence—it has always been contingent, the product of people, places, politics, and evolving technologies.”
Those whose interests encompass one or more of the Earth sciences, as well as those who study the history of science – particularly its applications and intersections with politics and commerce – should add this new book to their reading list, as should all who would simply like to acquire a better understanding and informed perspective on the terminology, techniques, and overall understanding of one of the more commonly referenced measurement values cited in the present-day discussions and debates about climate change.
