A century of sea-level change in Ireland (1925–2024)

McLoughlin, Patrick J.; Upton, Maeve; Swan, Lionel D.; Nolan, Glenn; Hickey, Kieran; Edwards, Robin; O'Beirne, Catherine; McCarthy, Gerard D.

doi:10.5194/os-22-3499-2026

Articles | Volume 22, issue 5

https://doi.org/10.5194/os-22-3499-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/os-22-3499-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 22, issue 5

Research article

|

29 Oct 2026

Research article |

| 29 Oct 2026

A century of sea-level change in Ireland (1925–2024)

Patrick J. McLoughlin, Maeve Upton, Lionel D. Swan, Glenn Nolan, Kieran Hickey, Robin Edwards, Catherine O'Beirne, and Gerard D. McCarthy

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/os-22-3499-2026-supplement

Data sets

Title: Digitized Hourly Tide Gauge Data for Ireland: Belfast, Dún Laoghaire, Cork, Galway, and Tarbert Patrick J. McLoughlin et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17854748

Ireland-Sea-Level: Code and data for A Century of Sea-Level Change in Ireland (1925–2024) P. J. McLoughlin https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23413431

ERA5 monthly averaged data on single levels from 1940 to present H. Hersbach et al. https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.f17050d7

Model code and software

Ireland-Sea-Level: Code and data for A Century of Sea-Level Change in Ireland (1925–2024) P. J. McLoughlin https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23413431

Short summary

This study reconstructs historical relative sea-level change across Ireland using tide-gauge and newly digitized data. Mean modelled RSL rates ranged from 0.74 mm yr⁻¹ at Belfast to 1.43 mm yr⁻¹ at Tarbert, with a network mean of 1.21 mm yr⁻¹ over 1925–2024. Rates increased from 0.59 mm yr⁻¹ (1925–2000) to 3.13 mm yr⁻¹ (2000–2024), highlighting accelerating sea-level change and coastal risk.