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The Fort Meyers News-Press (April 13, 2007) reports on the consequences that rising sea levels hold for the mostly low and flat countryside of South Florida:

"Sea-level rise is simple cause-and-effect: As the Earth gets warmer, glacial ice melts. That water goes into the sea, and the sea rises. Levels fluctuate naturally, but many scientists say the rate of sea-level rise has been accelerated by human activity, specifically pouring excessive carbon dioxide into the air.

Some scientists predict a 2-foot rise by the end of the century.

Along Southwest Florida's flat coast, shorelines would move inland 500 to 1,000 feet for every foot of sea level rise. So if you live 1,000 feet from shore, you'd be wise to have a house on stilts as 2100 approaches.

University of Arizona researchers have a more severe prediction: They say a sea-level rise of 6 meters (about 20 feet) by 2100 is possible.

If that happens, say goodbye to South Florida: The only land will be an island about the size of Lake Okeechobee separated from the mainland by a 10- to 12-mile-wide strait that today is the Caloosahatchee River.

Even with the Arizona team's most conservative projection of a 1-meter rise, the change in Southwest Florida would be huge: All barrier islands, Pine Island, the Burnt Store corridor, western Cape Coral and a nice piece of Fort Myers would be underwater, and the Caloosahatchee would be about three times its present size.

As sea level rises, estuaries — productive habitats where salt water from the sea mixes with fresh water from land — will be overwhelmed by salt water.

You can read the whole article here:

Florida's future shrinks by 2100