@ARTICLE{10.3389/fmars.2019.00437, AUTHOR={Ponte, Rui M. and Carson, Mark and Cirano, Mauro and Domingues, Catia M. and Jevrejeva, Svetlana and Marcos, Marta and Mitchum, Gary and van de Wal, R. S. W. and Woodworth, Philip L. and Ablain, Michaël and Ardhuin, Fabrice and Ballu, Valérie and Becker, Mélanie and Benveniste, Jérôme and Birol, Florence and Bradshaw, Elizabeth and Cazenave, Anny and De Mey-Frémaux, P. and Durand, Fabien and Ezer, Tal and Fu, Lee-Lueng and Fukumori, Ichiro and Gordon, Kathy and Gravelle, Médéric and Griffies, Stephen M. and Han, Weiqing and Hibbert, Angela and Hughes, Chris W. and Idier, Déborah and Kourafalou, Villy H. and Little, Christopher M. and Matthews, Andrew and Melet, Angélique and Merrifield, Mark and Meyssignac, Benoit and Minobe, Shoshiro and Penduff, Thierry and Picot, Nicolas and Piecuch, Christopher and Ray, Richard D. and Rickards, Lesley and Santamaría-Gómez, Alvaro and Stammer, Detlef and Staneva, Joanna and Testut, Laurent and Thompson, Keith and Thompson, Philip and Vignudelli, Stefano and Williams, Joanne and Williams, Simon D. P. and Wöppelmann, Guy and Zanna, Laure and Zhang, Xuebin}, TITLE={Towards Comprehensive Observing and Modeling Systems for Monitoring and Predicting Regional to Coastal Sea Level}, JOURNAL={Frontiers in Marine Science}, VOLUME={6}, YEAR={2019}, URL={https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2019.00437}, DOI={10.3389/fmars.2019.00437}, ISSN={2296-7745}, ABSTRACT={A major challenge for managing impacts and implementing effective mitigation measures and adaptation strategies for coastal zones affected by future sea level (SL) rise is our limited capacity to predict SL change at the coast on relevant spatial and temporal scales. Predicting coastal SL requires the ability to monitor and simulate a multitude of physical processes affecting SL, from local effects of wind waves and river runoff to remote influences of the large-scale ocean circulation on the coast. Here we assess our current understanding of the causes of coastal SL variability on monthly to multi-decadal timescales, including geodetic, oceanographic and atmospheric aspects of the problem, and review available observing systems informing on coastal SL. We also review the ability of existing models and data assimilation systems to estimate coastal SL variations and of atmosphere-ocean global coupled models and related regional downscaling efforts to project future SL changes. We discuss (1) observational gaps and uncertainties, and priorities for the development of an optimal and integrated coastal SL observing system, (2) strategies for advancing model capabilities in forecasting short-term processes and projecting long-term changes affecting coastal SL, and (3) possible future developments of sea level services enabling better connection of scientists and user communities and facilitating assessment and decision making for adaptation to future coastal SL change.} }