Objective
Nearly 700 million people live along flood-susceptible coastlines and actionable sea-level forecasts are urgently needed to protect these populations and their €4 trillion of critical infrastructure from rising sea levels. Unfortunately, current sea-level projections are of limited use due to deep uncertainties in the ice-sheet model calculations used to produce them. For example, the last Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report found end-of-century sea level could reach anywhere from 0.3 to 2 m above present.
Most of this uncertainty relates to ice-sheet instabilities that, once triggered, could lead to rapid sea-level rise. It can be substantially reduced by calibrating model parameterisations of these instabilities so that they reproduce past ice volumes, but the reliability of existing calibrations is challenged by the recent discovery that mantle flow generates much faster changes in Earth’s surface elevation than had been recognised. This paradigm shift in geodynamics implies that: i) accepted estimates of past ice volume may be ~25–50% too high, since the ancient shoreline elevations underpinning them have been uplifted by mantle flow; and ii) existing models are missing key physics, leading them to underestimate modern post-glacial bedrock rebound rates by a factor of ~10 and overestimate ice-sheet instability.
I will solve these issues by integrating new sea-level marker datasets with innovative mantle flow reconstructions to obtain probabilistic and geodynamically corrected estimates of past ice-sheet volume and sensitivity. By calibrating ice-sheet models that are compatible with this revised understanding of the palaeorecord and correctly incorporate mantle–ice-sheet feedbacks, I will produce the first geodynamically accurate global and regional-scale sea-level projections. These groundbreaking forecasts will enable decisionmakers to improve long-term coastal defence plans and better protect human life.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2025-STG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
SW7 2AZ London
United Kingdom
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