Sea Level Rise Maps

Sea Level Rise Maps

California Sea Level Rise Maps 

10 Feet (3 Meters). Interactive map showing the Los Angeles coastline under water as a result of a 10 foot rise of sea level.

Newport Beach Maps Showing Rise in Sea Levels
According to Gary Griggs, director of the Institute of Marine Sciences at UC Santa Cruz, although the rise in sea levels will occur gradually, vulnerable cities like Newport Beach and San Francisco will be among those impacted first by large wave events and storm surges.

1 Foot (0.3 Meters).  Map showing those approximate areas of Newport Beach that would be under water with a 1 foot rise in sea level.  The National Research Council projects that sea levels along the Southern  California coast will rise up to one foot (2 inches - 12 inches) by the year 2030.

7Meters (23 Feet).  Newport Beach landmarks at risk include the Balboa Pavilion, Newport Beach’s oldest standing building and one of its most famous landmarks.  Submerged under water at 7 meters - roughly the equivalent of the sea level rise resulting from the melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet (see table at right). 

How will global warming sea rise changes impact Sacramento? What will Sacramento look like?  What happens to the map of Sacramento if sea level rises by 2 metres? 7 meters? 9 meters? 80 meters?

6.6 Feet (2 Meters). Map of Sacramento under a sea level rise level of 2 meters.

23 Feet (7 Meters).  Consequences of a 23 foot (7 meter) rise in sea level for the Sacramento area.  Showing the effect of a 20 foot rise in sea level.  The Greenland ice sheet contains enough water to raise the sea level by 23 feet if all of it were to melt, according to Bill Krabill, a scientist conducting Arctic ice mapping research at NASA's Wallops Island Flight Facility (WIFF).

29.5 Feet (9 Meters).  Sea level rise map of the city of Sacramento, California flooded to almost 30 feet.

Santa Monica Rising Sea Level Maps

197 Feet (60 Meters).  Map of Santa Monica flooded at almost 200 feet.  Melting all Antarctica ice would cause a global sea level rise of about 240 feet (USGS).  Coastal inundation mapping.

Ventura County Sea Level Rise Maps 

13 Feet (4 Meters).  Map of the Oxnard Plain coastline of Ventura County, California flooded at 4 meters (13 feet). Firetree.net using NASA data. A 13 foot sea level rise is projected to occur if the West Antarctic ice sheet collapses according to the Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis (an Environment Canada research lab at the University of Victoria) and the University of Calgary, Nature Geoscience, January 9, 2011.

2 Feet. Sea level rise projected for 2040.  Coastline of the Oxnard Plain. Projected 2 foot ocean rise map.  Maurice D. Van Arsdol, Jr., Douglas J. Sharman, Angela Constable, Jinkang Wang, and Louise Rollin, "Impacts of Global Sea Level Rise on California Coastal Population Resources,” Basia Zaba and John Clarke, eds., Environment and Population, CICRED - Committee for International Cooperation in National Research in Demography, Paris, 1995, pp. 413-430.  See map on p. 425.

Enhanced risk zone (gray shaded area) from 2 foot sea level rise projected for the year 2040 along the California coastline of Ventura County Oxnard basin area.  Van Arsdol et al, p. 425.

Maryland Sea Level Rise Maps

2025.  Sea levels forecast to rise up to 10 inches by 2025 based on a 3 degree Fahrenheit rise in ocean temperatures.  “As global temperatures rise because of the greenhouse effect, oceans levels expand by the warmer water temperatures and because of the glacial melting, according to John S. Hoffman, director of EPA's Strategic Studies staff, which conducted [the Sea Level Rise Project].  The study provided two scenarios on the possible effects over the next 40 to 100 years.  The low scenario, based on on the calculated three-degree rise in ocean temperatures, will make the seas rise . . . up to 10 inches by 2025.  Such an increase by 2025 would be enough to 'significantly increase (storm and erosion) hazards at places like Ocean City [Maryland].' Hoffman said. . .

For barrier islands like Ocean City, according to Stephen P. Leatherman, a University of Maryland coastal geographer who participated in the research, the results would differ, depending on the scenario.  'Even the rate of sea level rise in the low scenario would mean erosion problems two or three times worse than what they (Ocean City) are seeing now, and the high scenario would be almost catastrophic — at least a major, major increase in storm hazards, there,' he said.  One big problem cited by Hoffman is that around the United States there are already 1,137 active hazardous-waste disposal sites located in 100-year floodplains, areas where major innundations should occur at least once a century.” Climate change 2025.  (Associated Press, "Greenhouse effect' may harm bay water," Frederick News-Post, Frederick, Maryland, May 2, 1983, p. 13)

2025.  Maryland shoreline in Somerset County projected to be eroded back 17 feet with a 2 inch sea level rise by 2025.  “In August [2008], consultants with URS Inc. presented a draft report [Somerset County, Maryland : Rising sea level guidance] on sea level rise to the Somerset County Planning and Zoning Commission. They predicted that by 2025 the shoreline will be eroded back some 17 feet across the board [with a sea level rise of 2 inches or 53 mm], increasing to 42 feet by 2050 and 92 feet by 2100. The greatest impact will be in the Deal Island and Chance communities, while Smith Island for the most part will be underwater just 90 years [2098 or ca. 2100] from now. . . .

The URS consultants are basing their report on historical data by predicting a 2 inch increase in average sea level by 2025, 5 inches by 2050 and one foot by 2100. [Somerset County Technical and Community Services Director Jack Willing Jr. ] said the state [of Maryland] is forecasting a two to three foot rise with four feet ‘the worst case scenario.’ He asked the consultants to modify their report accordingly.  Kyle Gulbronson, the senior planner and project manager with URS, said four feet ‘is a doomsday scenario’ for much of the county. The effects "will be dramatic," he said.” (Richard Crumbacker, Crisfield Times, “Storm gives look into the future - Consultants predicted vulnerable areas, and high tide showed it,” Crisfield Times, Crisfield, Maryland, September 10, 2008, pp. 1, 3 reporting findings in URS & RCQuinn Consulting, Inc., "Somerset County, Maryland : Rising sea level guidance," a report to the Maryland Coastal Zone Management Program, Department of Natural Resources pursuant to NOAA Award No. NA05NOS4191142, September 24, 2008, p. 14) 

North America Sea Level Rise Maps

60 Meters (197 Feet).  Map of North America flooded to 60 meters.  Global flooding. The Nexial Institute, 2002

North Carolina Rising Sea Levels Maps

Texas Sea Level Rise Maps