Sea level changes can be driven by either variationsin the masses or volume of the oceans, or bychanges of the land with respect to the sea surface. Inthe first case, a sea level change is defined ‘eustatic’;otherwise, it is defined ‘relative’. Several techniques canbe used to observe changes in sea level, from satellite datato tide gauges to geological or archeological proxies.Regardless of the technique used, ‘eustasy’ cannot bemeasured directly, but only calculated after perturbingfactors of different origins are taken into account. In thispaper, we review the meaning and main processes thatcontribute to eustatic and relative sea level changes, andwe give an overview of the different techniques used toobserve them.
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