Sea level budget in light of recent observational advances since 1960

Closure of the global mean sea level (GMSL) budget is essential to understand the causes of GMSL rise. Accounting for the recent progress in observing and estimating of GMSL, steric sea level and ocean mass changes, this study assesses the budget for the GMSL trend and acceleration for the three key observational eras of 1960-2021, 1993-2023 and 2005-2023. For 1960-2021, the trend of GMSL is 1.86 ± 0.34 mm yr^-1, closely matching the sum of contributions of 1.88 ± 0.13 mm yr^-1, with most dominant contributions coming from steric height change and glacier melting. The observed GMSL acceleration of 0.072 ± 0.005 mm yr^-2 for 1960-2021 matches contributions of 0.066 ± 0.005 mm yr^-2 and is dominated by steric height change. From 1993 to 2023, the GMSL rise of 3.27 ± 0.06 mm yr^-1 also aligns with contributions of 3.22 ± 0.15 mm yr^-1. The acceleration of observed GMSL is 0.078 ± 0.013 mm yr^-2 for this period, which is supported by the acceleration inferred from sum of contributions of 0.072 ± 0.004 mm yr^-2. For 2005-2023, the observed GMSL acceleration is 0.084 ± 0.006 mm yr^-2, mainly driven by steric sea level change at 0.083 ± 0.016 mm yr^-2. Although the acceleration within three periods is consistent, the driver changes depend on the periods. This study reconciles the observed GMSL trend and acceleration with the sum of contributors since 1960, highlighting the importance of adequate data processing and bias corrections.