INTRODUCTION 



The purpose of this report is to provide a statistical, graphic, and numerical 

 description of sea-level variations. It is directed toward the fields of geological 

 oceanography and coastal engineering for coastal processes investigations; 

 meteorology, climatology, and hydrology for climate monitoring; geology, 

 tectonophysics, and geophysics for vertical land movement studies; and physical 

 oceanography for tidal datum evaluations. 



The report includes: (1) computations of secular trend and yearly variability 

 at each station, (2) graphs of areal means, (3) superimposed graphs of damped areal 

 means, (4) graphs of averaged monthly mean sea level for each station, (5) super- 

 imposed graphs of the most recent year of monthly mean sea level, (6) graphs of 

 yearly mean sea level for each station, and (7) the tabulation of all monthly and 

 yearly mean sea-level values used in the study. The scope of the presentation is 

 limited to: (1) the marine coasts of the United States, (2) observations from 

 National Ocean Service tide stations, (3) observational series which began prior to 

 1940 (for the analytical portion) and that have relatively few and short breaks, (4) 

 computed monthly and yearly mean sea level, and (5) variations occurring from 1855 

 through 1980. 



This report constitutes an expanded reintroduction of the annual series, NOAA 

 Technical Memoranda NOS 12 and 13 of Hicks in 1973 and Hicks and Crosby in 1974, 

 respectively. It has been enhanced by areal analyses after Hicks and Shofnos 

 {1965b) and NOAA Technical Memorandum NOS 15 of Hicks and Crosby in 1975. 



Sea-level variations over geological time spans leading up to the present 

 measurement series are given by Fairbridge (1958, 1962, 1972) and by Milliman and 

 Emery (1968). Lucid summaries are in Fairbridge (1960) and Emery (1969). 



No attempt has been made to give complete references or to provide an extensive 

 bibliography. The references are intended only to assist those readers who are 

 unfamiliar with the subject in "getting into" the literature. 



