Reply to: Rahmstorf, S. and Vermeer, M., 2011. Discussion of: Houston, J.R. and Dean, R.G., 2011. Sea-Level Acceleration Based on U.S. Tide Gauges and Extensions of Previous Global-Gauge Analyses. Journal of Coastal Research, 27(3), 409–417

Rahmstorf and Vermeer (RV) argue that modeling sea level as a function of temperature using their semi-empirical approach as presented by Rahmstorf (2007) and Vermeer and Rahmstorf (2009) is superior to the standard approach of analyzing sea-level rise as a function of time used by Houston and Dean (2011). Their criticism applies not only to this paper, but also to the work of eminent sea-level experts such as Douglas, Holgate, Woodworth, and others who have used the same standard approach we use. In making this claim, RV present their Figure 1 as the key evidence supporting the efficacy of their model. Figure 1 purports to show good agreement between accelerations based on their modeling and accelerations based on the data of Church and White (2006). However, it is easily seen that the portion of Figure 1 where the agreement is “good” compares their modeling versus increasingly meaningless data,...