evidence: Acceleration of U.S. Southeast and Gulf coast sea-level rise amplified by internal climate variability [...] Fig. 1: Rapid acceleration of sea level rise after 2010 in observations. [...] It is well known that global warming tends to increase sea level over most oceans due to thermal expansion and the melting of land ice22,23,24,25. Here we argue that the accelerated SLR along the USSEC in the most recent decade is the result of a compounding effect arising from long-term global warming trend and the NA sea level tripole. The leading empirical orthogonal function (EOF) mode of detrended sea level (see "Methods") in the NA Ocean in satellite observation is characterized by a tripole pattern13,26, with sea level anomalies of one sign over the subtropical band (15o–40oN) and anomalies of the opposite sign in the subpolar and tropical regions (Fig. 2a). The maximum sea level variability occurs near the GS and its extension regions. This tripole pattern imprints itself on the U.S. east coast, manifested as an out of phase sea level variability to the north and south of Cape Hatteras. The time evolution of the tripole sea level pattern exhibits pronounced interannual to decadal-scale variability (Fig. 2d). There is an extreme low value in 2010, coincident with a strongly negative NAO and the weakest AMOC state at 26.5oN in observation27,28.