Statistical analysis of vertical land motions and sea level measurements at the coast

Ensuring the long-term stability of sea-level measurements at the coast is essential for the sustainable management of coastal territories. To do this, scientists mainly rely on two complementary measurement techniques: tide-gauges, which measure changes in sea-level with respect to the coast, and space geodesy, which allows measuring the vertical movements of the coast itself, with respect to the centre of the Earth. These two techniques are complementary because the correction of the vertical land motions estimated using geodetic techniques allows estimating geocentric sea-level change at the coast, and thereby to understand the origin of sea-level change better.

To estimate and improve the stability and quality of these two sources of information, this thesis proposes methodological developments dedicated to the estimation of the precision of each type of observation and investigates the potential sources of errors.