lightblueline

Source UNEP: February 2008
Cartographer: Hugo Ahlenius, UNEP/GRID-Arendal
Population, area and economy affected by a 1 m sea level rise (global and regional estimates, based on today's situation)

Citation:

On July 19th, Phil McKenna of the New Scientist newservice reported that recent estimates of near-term sea-level rise failed to capture the role of melting glaciers.
Here is a link to the original report: Melting glaciers will dominate sea-level rise

Below is a copy of the report's text:

In an article published in Environmental Research Letters on May 24, 2007, James Hansen, NASA scientist, discusses the non-linearity of shelf ice melting and the reticence of scientists to announce their fears about this process. The whole article is worth a read. Below is just the section on sea-level rise risks:

The NASA data center at Columbia University (SEDAC) has posted a great new resource: maps of the 10 meter coastal zone (with urban and rural estimates) for large parts of the planet:

GO here to view the maps: LOW ELEVATION COASTAL ZONE (LECZ) URBAN-RURAL ESTIMATES

Summary:

Thousands of scientists and a hundred governments yesterday agreed, at least in outline, on plans to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, in an effort to avoid the worst scenarios for climate change. Meeting in Bangkok, a city vulnerable to even modest sea-level rise, the IPCC's third report of the year offered new insights and a perspective of hope for nations looking to cut their greenhouse emissions. [There is a link to the actual report the end of this blog.] The good news is that the effort's near-term cost is less than three-percent of global GDP.

A year-long series of reports on the science and the impacts of climate change, this program offers schools and the public a wealth of information.
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A new resource has been created on the Internet. Climate Policy
Hosted by the American Meteorological Society, this site should prove to be a valuable source of information on translating science to policy.

Here is the "about us" description from Climatepolicy:

This week, the US Geological Survey's Center of Excellence for GIS released new maps and animations, and a report (presentation as a PDF file) on the impacts that sudden sea-level rise would have on global and regional populations. Here is their website:
Sea Level Rise

As reported on MSNBC.com (April 20, 2007), this project looked at both immediate (tsunami and storm surge) events, and longer term events, such as sea-level rise due to climate change:

Greenpeace International says the following about the topic of sea-level rise:

"Consequences

Between the Greenland ice sheet and the Western Antarctic ice sheet the world could well be facing a 13 metre (43 foot) rise in sea level if we do not drastically curb our greenhouse gas emissions. Even a small fraction of this much sea level rise would be an economic and humanitarian disaster. A few possible consequences of rising sea levels:

• Billions spent on adaptation – if you can afford it. The US has roughly 20,000 km (12,400 miles) of coastline and more than 32,000 km (19,900 miles) of coastal wetlands. A recent study estimated the costs of adapting to even a one metre sea level rise in the US would amount to US$156 billion (3 percent of GNP). Most countries don't have this kind of money to spend.

lightblueline has registered with Campus Climate to have our local action added to the international actions happening from January 29-February 2!

You can read more about Rising to the Challenge here:

Rising to the Challenge