Hundreds of sea level studies have underestimated ocean rise

Antarctica: A continent mostly covered in ice, which sits in the southernmost part of the world.

Atlantic: One of the world’s five oceans, it is second in size only to the Pacific. It separates Europe and Africa to the east from North and South America to the west.

average: (in science) A term for the arithmetic mean, which is the sum of a group of numbers that is then divided by the size of the group.

buoy: A floating device anchored to the bottom of a body of water. A buoy may mark channels, warn of dangers or carry instruments to measure the environment.

circulation: (adj. circulatory) A term that refers to the pumping of some fluid repeatedly throughout a system of vessels. (in medicine) The pumping of blood through the arteries and smaller types of vessels (and from there into other organs and tissues).

climate: The weather conditions that typically exist in one area, in general, or over a long period.

current: A fluid — such as of water or air — that moves in a recognizable direction. (in electricity) The flow of electricity or the amount of charge moving through some material over a particular period of time.

elevation: The height or altitude at which something exists.

gauge: A device to measure the size or volume of something. For instance, tide gauges track the ever-changing height of coastal water levels throughout the day. Or any system or event that can be used to estimate the size or magnitude of something else. (v. to gauge) The act of measuring or estimating the size of something.

geographer: A scientist who studies Earth’s features and how the living and nonliving parts of the planet affect one another.

geoid: An imaginary depiction of Earth where its average surface coincides with the mean sea level. The result: This image looks like a ball of water.

gravity: The force that attracts anything with mass, or bulk, toward any other thing with mass. The more mass that something has, the greater its gravity.

Indo-Pacific: A merging of Indian and Pacific that refers to the tropical Indian Ocean and adjoining western and central parts of the Pacific Ocean.

model: A simulation of a real-world event (usually using a computer) that has been developed to predict one or more likely outcomes. Or an individual that is meant to display how something would work in or look on others.

oceanographer: Someone who works in the branch of science that deals with the physical and biological properties and phenomena of the oceans.

Pacific: The largest of the world’s five oceans. It separates Asia and Australia to the west from North and South America to the east. The term can also refer to island nations that sit within the Pacific Ocean.

physical: (adj.) A term for things that exist in the real world, as opposed to in memories or the imagination. It can also refer to properties of materials that are due to their size and non-chemical interactions (such as when one block slams with force into another).

risk: The chance or mathematical likelihood that some bad thing might happen. For instance, exposure to radiation poses a risk of cancer. Or the hazard — or peril — itself. (For instance: Among cancer risks that the people faced were radiation and drinking water tainted with arsenic.)

sea: An ocean (or region that is part of an ocean). Unlike lakes and streams, seawater — or ocean water — is salty.

sea level: The overall level of the ocean over the entire globe when all tides and other short-term changes are averaged out.

storm surge: A storm-generated rise in water above normal tidal level. In most cases, the largest cause of storm surge is strong onshore winds in a hurricane or tropical storm.

tides: (adj. tidal) The alternate rising and falling of the sea, usually twice in each lunar day at a particular place, due to the attraction of the moon and sun.

tsunami: One or many long, high sea waves caused by an earthquake, submarine landslide or other disturbance.