ALEX KOLKER, PhD

Earth scientists like me collect data in many ways: with rock hammer and compass, with sediment or ice cores, or with measurements from satellites. As a Gulf Coast scientist working abroad for the year, I have been using a tool called a tide gauge to study sea level dynamics in Morocco, North Africa and the Mediterranean.

Tide gauges measure water levels. In the old days, they consisted of a float on a wire that moved up and down with the tides; nowadays they are submerged water pressure sensors or small radar devices. People started installing tide gauges in harbors in the 19th century. Financially motivated, they knew predicting tides was, as it still is, critical to docking commercial ships. In the 1980s, scientists led by NASA’s Vivien Gornitz, recognized that accumulated tide-gauge data could help show how sea levels and land movements have changed over time…

Continue reading this article by Dr. Alex Kolker in the Houston Chronicle