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Global warming flood models for American cities


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Very awesome interactive map (DHTML!) showing what would be lost under various scenarios of sea level change. As a Californian I was surprised to see that Sacramento would be lost far more than San Francisco.

As a former historian though, one thing that stands out is how much of American historical heritage would be lost forever. An awful lot of our nation's most important events and beautiful sites are for obvious reasons located in the low-lying port cities of the seacoasts. Charleston: gone. Savannah: gone. Miami: gone. New Orleans and lower Manhattan: you've already seen it.

 but where will all the meth labs go?

 Isn't meth more of a... "heartland" or "trailer park" problem?

A gator-meets-shark scenario where I live....

Joyce is right: Meth is more of a mid-west and western U.S. problem.

Here's a map of meth users in rehab per 100k residents. Darkest blue is 51 or more:

Meth Map America

Any chance that cities like Charleston, Savannah, Miami, New Orleans, and lower Manhattan could adapt to the elevated water level?

 Adapt how? Like houseboats maybe?

Yes, houseboats. Or canals.

 From the notes:  These maps are based on elevation data from the U.S. Geological Survey and tidal level data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Maps show the extent of potential flooding relative to local high tide. 

The 25-foot sea level rise is based on a 2012 study in the journal Science, which augmented findings from a 2009 Nature study. They found that 125,000 years ago — a period that may have been warmer than today but cooler than what scientists expect later this century without sharp pollution cuts — the seas were about 20 to 30 feet higher than today. If temperatures climb as expected in this century, scientists believe it would take centuries for seas to rise 20 to 30 feet as a result, because ice sheet decay responds slowly to warming.

So essentially, we have time to re-build everything on stilts while the sea level rises (slowly) over centuries.

This is something I've never understood: a very large, very shallow, almost stagnant, practically endorheic bay with a narrow opening and the original ecosystem destroyed decades past is IDEAL for Dutch-style polders and houseboat communities. We could fit millions within the Bay itself.... Yet the most we get in that vein is Foster City.... why?

Someone doesn't want us living in the Bay?

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