Abstract
During the last deglaciation, sea levels rose by around 140 meters in 10 000 years. Today, the surface of the oceans is rising by an average of 4 mm per year, with a clear acceleration trend. For over 30 years, sea levels have been monitored by satellite, giving us a global view of the situation, which was no longer limited to the coasts when only tide gauges were available. Several factors contribute to this rise : melting glaciers and polar ice caps, thermal expansion of water, pumping of groundwater and the development of dams on land. The dynamics of the polar ice caps remain difficult to model, leading to significant uncertainties about sea-level trends.
