Barystatic and manometric sea level changes from satellite geodesy

Barystatic and manometric sea level changes represent the mass component of sea level changes at global and regional scales respectively. Barystatic and manometric sea level changes are estimated here using three different approaches:

• satellite gravimetry measurements from the GRACE and GRACE-FO missions
• a sea level budget approach combining satellite altimetry with in-situ measurements of the seawater temperature and salinity and
• an ocean mass budget approach, computed from the sum of contributors, i.e., variations in freshwater fluxes from continents to oceans, including ice mass variations in Greenland, Antarctica, and all continental glaciers, as well as continental hydrological cycle variations.

The satellite gravimetry solutions were calculated using an ensemble approach updated from Blazquez et al., 2018, allowing the estimation of uncertainties associated with processing and post-processing choices. The barystatic and manometric V6.0 products are computed from GRACE ensemble L3 V2.2. The sea level budget approach was adapted from Barnoud et al., 2023 and Bouih et al. (2024).

Barystatic sea level changes

Barystatic sea level changes are due to freshwater exchanges with the continents, including ice mass changes from Greenland, Antarctica and continental glaciers, as well as freshwater fluxes from continental areas (i.e. large river basins such as the Amazon). Here, barystatic sea level changes estimated with satellite gravimetry are compared with the sea level budget (SLB) and the ocean mass budget (OMB) approaches, showing remarkable consistency (Figure 1). The barystatic GRACE/-FO trend from the V6.0 product is slightly greater than the one from the V5.0 product after 2016 due to the correction of the drift in the mass component of the atmosphere (C00 GAA).

An extended barystatic series covering the period 1993-2027 is computed by combining the ocean mass balance approach and spatial gravimetry (Figure 2).

Manometric sea level changes

Manometric sea level changes (Figure 3) are due to several processes, including the atmosphere - ocean circulation, sea level fingerprints and the global water cycle. Climate modes, such as the El Nino Southern Oscillation, Arctic Oscillation, North Atlantic Oscillation or Southern Annular Mode, also significantly influence manometric sea level changes (e.g. Pfeffer et al., 2022).

Manometric sea level variations and their uncertainties are not provided for the sea level budget approach, due to the high uncertainties associated with the drift of the halosteric component (see Barnoud et al. 2021, Bouih et al., 2025 for more details). The change in leakage correction considered in the L3 V2.2 ensemble modifies V6.0 manometric trends near the coasts in comparison to V5.0.

Barystatic and manometric products

In total, 4 products are distributed including:

• Barystatic sea level changes from satellite gravimetry with uncertainties at 1-sigma: monthly time series from April 2002 to February 2026
• Manometric sea level changes from satellite gravimetry with uncertainties at 1-sigma: monthly grids with 1 degree spacing from April 2002 to February 2026
• Barystatic sea level changes from sea level budget with uncertainties at 1-sigma: monthly time series from January 1993 to June 2023
• Barystatic sea level changes from a combination of the ocean mass budget approach and satellite gravimetry, without uncertainties: monthly time series from January 1993 to June 2027.

DOI and metadata

The Barystatic and manometric variations in sea level based on gravimetry products are referenced with the DOI: https://doi.org/10.24400/527896/a01-2023.011 
More metadata: https://commons.datacite.org/doi.org/10.24400/527896/a01-2023.011 

The sea level budget and ocean mass budget products are referenced with the DOI: https://doi.org/10.24400/527896/a01-2023.012 
More metadata: https://commons.datacite.org/doi.org/10.24400/527896/a01-2023.012 

The extended barystatic time series is referenced with the DOI: https://doi.org/10.24400/527896/AVISO-2026.009 
More metadata: https://commons.datacite.org/doi.org/10.24400/527896/AVISO-2026.009 

Product access and condition of access

The product (NetCDF file) can be downloaded in open acces on the https server 

The product is available free of charge for any project or study, and delivered as stated in the licence agreement.

Citation

If you use the Barystatic and manometric variations in sea level based on gravimetry, please cite:

• for v2 to v4: "The barystatic and manometric products from satellite gravimetry (DOI: 10.24400/527896/a01-2023.011) were produced by Magellium/LEGOS/CNES in the framework of the WAMBOR (WAter Mass Balance in Ocean Reanalyses) project and are distributed by AVISO with the support from Copernicus Marine Service. "
• for v5 to v6: "The barystatic and manometric products from satellite gravimetry (DOI: 10.24400/527896/a01-2023.011) were produced by Magellium/LEGOS/CNES in the framework of SAGSA project, funded by CNES via the FormaTerre national center, part of the Data Terra research infrastructure, and are distributed by AVISO+ (https://aviso.altimetry.fr)”.

If you use the Barystatic mass variations in sea level based on sea level budget (SLB), please cite:

• for v2: “The barystatic and manometric products from sea level budget approach (DOI: 10.24400/527896/a01-2023.012) were produced by Magellium/LEGOS/CNES  in the framework of the WAMBOR (WAter Mass Balance in Ocean Reanalyses) project and are distributed by AVISO with support from the Copernicus Marine Service.”
• for v3: “The barystatic product from the ocean mass budget and the sea level budget approaches (DOI: 10.24400/527896/a01-2023.012) were produced by Magellium/LEGOS/CNES within the framework of SLBC CCI+ project, funded by ESA and is distributed by AVISO+ (https://aviso.altimetry.fr)”.

If you use the Extended barystatic time series from ocean mass budget and satellite gravimetry, please cite: "The Extended barystatic time series from ocean mass budget and satellite gravimetry (DOI: 10.24400/527896/AVISO-2026.009) was produced within the framework of the SLBC CCI+ project funded by ESA and SAGSA project funded by CNES, and is distributed by AVISO+ (https://aviso.altimetry.fr).”

Contacts

For any technical issues or additional information related to the barystatic and manometric products, users are advised to contact AVISO: aviso(at)altimetry.fr

Barystatic and manometric product versions, documentation and access

Main references

• Blazquez, A., Meyssignac, B., Lemoine, J.-M., Berthier, E., Ribes, A., Cazenave, A. (2018). Exploring the uncertainty in GRACE estimates of the mass redistributions at the Earth surface: implications for the global water and sea level budgets, Geophysical Journal International, 215 (1), 415–430, https://doi.org/10.1093/gji/ggy293
• Barnoud, A., Pfeffer, J., Cazenave, A., Fraudeau, R., Rousseau, V., and Ablain, M. (2023). Revisiting the global mean ocean mass budget over 2005–2020, Ocean Sci., 19, 321–334, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-19-321-2023 
• Bouih, M., Barnoud, A., Fraudeau, R., Larnicol, G., Cazenave, A., Meyssignac, B., ... & Benveniste, J. (2024). Global mean and local sea level budget from updated observations and residuals analysis (SLBC_cci+ project). European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2024 (EGU24), 16813.

Other references

• Antarctic and Greenland Ice Sheet mass balance 1992–2020 for IPCC AR6 (Version 1.0), UK Polar Data Centre, Natural Environment Research Council, UK Research & Innovation [data set], https://doi.org/10.5285/77B64C55-7166-4A06-9DEF-2E400398E452 , 2021
• Barnoud, A., Pfeffer, J., Guérou, A., Frery, M.-L., Siméon, M., Cazenave, A., et al. (2021). Contributions of altimetry and Argo to non-closure of the global mean sea level budget since 2016. Geophysical Research Letters, 48, e2021GL092824. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL092824
• Bouih, M., Barnoud, A., Fraudeau, R., Larnicol, G., Cazenave, A., Meyssignac, B., Blazquez, A., Horwath, M., Döhne, T., Bamber, J., Abele, A., Leroux, S., Kolodziejcyk, N., Llovel, W., Spada, G., Storto, A., Yang, C., Connors, S., Restano, M., and Benveniste, J. and the SLBC_cci+ team: Global mean and local sea level budget from updated observations andresiduals analysis (SLBC_cci+ project), EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-16813, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-16813 , 2024.
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• Ishii, M., Fukuda, Y., Hirahara, S., Yasui, S., Suzuki, T., and Sato, K. (2017). Accuracy of Global Upper Ocean Heat Content Estimation Expected from Present Observational Data Sets, SOLA, 13, 163–167, https://doi.org/10.2151/sola.2017-030
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