What would happen where you live if all the ice melted?

[Fragile Bird]

This is a rather interesting map showing what would happen if all the polar ice melted. The little that water has risen has already hit Florida (it's called the story that Florida refuses to discuss) but if all the ice goes, there is no more Florida.

The rise is estimated to be 216 feet, and a lot more of the world disappears than what I was previously aware of.

Would this affect you? Take a look at the USA and Europe, and the British Isles. Think about where you are currently living, especially if you are a teen or in your twenties...

http://www.iflscience.com/environment/what-would-earth-look-if-all-ice-melted

[Wise Fool]

Well of course it'd affect me, but the problem is that it won't come on as a huge flood. It'll be in small, easily ignorable bits and pieces with a few mechan

[Fragile Bird]

I think you are kidding yourself. In twenty years there will be serious problems in Florida and in many island nations. Twenty years will pass by a lot faster than you think. :)

[Wise Fool]

Punctuated equilibrium, I mean. Starts and stops. We'll notice the big breaks, the milestones as ti were, when certain systems that matter to us directly begin failing (they already are, of course), but there will be people denying the big picture all the way til the end.

[Kat]

I live in a hilariously hazardous neighborhood, 50 meters from the water at an elevation of approximately 1 meter. It would be alarming if there were any long term chance of my staying here, but these are the reasons that does not concern me in the long term:

1) An earthquake is likely to make my building fall over because of the liquefaction hazard

2) Regardless of whether it falls, the whole neighborhood is being cleaned out because the housing sucks and the soil is radioactive

3) They will then build 8000 new units and so far there are no plans to raise them above possible flood level or even raise the sea wall. lol SF

[Gears of the Beast]

The IPCC predicts that sea levels will rise 26-82cm this century so I don't really see how those maps telling us what it would look like if the sea level rose ~6500cm are all that useful.

[Ramsay B.]

Well Connecticut would be swallowed up so I'd be screwed.

[Krusty Kraken]

Northern coast of Spain... And I live by the Sea... I'm screwed

[Dr. Pepper]

I don't think I realized how much of the Southeastern US would be swallowed up in the coming centuries. I'm currently in Atlanta, which I think might become ocean front property.

I also didn't realize how redefined China's coast would become. It's puts some of their crazy island claiming into a bit of perspective as I assume territorial waters and maritime boundaries will alter significantly in the coming decades and centuries and all these forcefully claimed islands might help with that.

[ThinkerX]

I used to map this out in high school - more than thirty years ago.

These days, such extrapolations are a stock feature of 'young adult' SF books.

My best guess ocean levels will increase by about three feet - just under a meter between now and 2050. Big issue won't be so much flooding as erosion and displacement.

Politically, the republicans will successfully blame the democrats for having to abandon the likes of Miami. They will successfully convince their flocks they never denied ocean levels were increasing in the first place.

That said, way back when, I took a more detailed stab at the purely local effects of a 200 foot sea level increase. Where I'm at now is only 90 - 100 feet above sea level, and has a severe beach erosion problem with current ocean levels. (Cook Inlet is half a mile away, so I'm not real concerned.) The folks homestead, though...that's hill country. I figure part of it, at least would be an island or shoal of some sort.

[felice]

The IPCC predicts that sea levels will rise 26-82cm this century

The IPCC is very conservative in its estimates.

[Horza]

Yep, but if there was runaway warming, rising sea levels wouldn't be the thing bothering people about the ocean.

[DireWolfSpirit]

Im curious how Great Lakes coasts, peninsula's and islands will be affected.

Just imagine some of the sports franchises with so many arenas and stadiums near the water.

Yikes where'd Denmark and Cuba go?

http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2010/242/8/4/waterworld_parody_by_hailtothechimp-d2xm8cy.jpg

[Solmyr]

Video didn't show my area well, but I think it won't affect me. The entire country is mountainous, capital is at ~600 m above sea level and 400 km from the sea. Even if the water levels rise beyond that, there are plenty of regions at 1000 m or even higher in close proximity.

Sea is too far away atm, having to travel 5 hours and pay €50 for petrol just to go to the beach is sub-optimal. Melt that ice already *sprays deodorant zealously*!

[Sir Thursday]

Yep, but if there was runaway warming, rising sea levels wouldn't be the thing bothering people about the ocean.

I have to say, that's one of the most impenetrably written Wikipedia articles I've ever seen. Despite being very short it's full of grammatical errors (there's a massive run-on in the middle there) and technical terms that are difficult to parse. Is the general idea that an increase in ocean temperature will kill the plankton and cause the ocean food chain to collapse?

ST

[Theda Baratheon]

Think Wales and Cornwall looked ok surprisingly so if all the ice melted I think I'd be alright.

[baxus]

I live in a landlocked country, with reasonably high mountains between my hometown and nearest seas.

If the estimation in the video is correct, rising sea levels should not affect me much.

[Horza]

I have to say, that's one of the most impenetrably written Wikipedia articles I've ever seen. Despite being very short it's full of grammatical errors (there's a massive run-on in the middle there) and technical terms that are difficult to parse. Is the general idea that an increase in ocean temperature will kill the plankton and cause the ocean food chain to collapse?

ST

Pretty much. The hypothesis is that temperature rise breaks down thermohaline circulation, reducing the oxygen levels of the ocean. That, combined with increased ocean acidification from greater atmospheric carbon dioxide levels totally destroys the marine ecosystem, apart from anaerobic bacteria that munch on sulfates, releasing poisonous, Ozone-destroying hydrogen sulfide into the atmosphere.

This seems to have happened in the course Permian-Triassic extinction event, something likely triggered by a large release of carbon and methane gases.

[Stannis Eats No Peaches]

Damn the east of the UK is screwed... :(

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

GotB,

The IPCC predicts that sea levels will rise 26-82cm this century so I don't really see how those maps telling us what it would look like if the sea level rose ~6500cm are all that useful.

Yup.

Dr. Pepper,

Coastal South Carolina was underwater in the relatively recent geologic past. There is major escarpment showing where former coastlines were. The land my house sits on was part of sand dunes fronting that old coast line. There is a narrow region running north east paralelling the existing coastline of North America through Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina (I don't know if it makes it in to Virginia) called the "Sand Hills" that is old coast line sand dunes. The dividing line between the sand hills and the former sea floor os called the "Orangeburg Escarpment". It formed 3.5 million years ago and is about the age of the Human Species (an eyeblink in geologic time if not half an eyeblink):

https://markgelbart.wordpress.com/2014/02/14/the-orangeburg-escarpment-is-a-remnant-of-early-pliocene-sea-cliffs/

Horza,

The Permian-Triassic exctintion was caused by massive vulcanism is what is today Siberia. It last a million or more years and created the "Siberian Traps":

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siberian_Traps

The traps cover approximately a third of Siberia's land area and can be up to a Kilometer thick. In other words the Permian-Triassic exctinction event was about a lot more than the mere release of methane and carbon.