Falling sea level in the Baltic (Celsius)

What was discovered

Anders Celsius and Olof Hiorter cut level marks on rocks along the Swedish coast in 1731 and, comparing them with older marks, concluded in 1743 that the Baltic's water level was falling steadily. Today it is explained by the rise of the crust after deglaciation.

Celsius interpreted the phenomenon as a drop in the water (by evaporation, in his hypothesis). Playfair proposed in 1802 a rise of the land and Jamieson (1865) linked it to the ice ages. The location of the marks (Lövgrund, Hällsö) is approximate.

What it led to

• the first quantitative measurement of post-glacial rebound, though misinterpreted
• a Swedish line of research on shorelines

Links

Sources

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-glacial_rebound
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anders_Celsius