HIGH WATER RISING – EVERYWHERE

New Analysis Shows Global Exposure to Sea Level Rise

Sept. 23, 2014 (Climate Central)

“Every global shore touches the same ocean, and the ocean is rising…147 to 216 million people live on land that will be below sea level or regular flood levels by the end of the century, assuming emissions of heat-trapping gases continue on their current trend. By far the largest group — 41 to 63 million — lives in China…But even these figures may be two to three times too low, meaning as many as 650 million people may be threatened…[Using more state-of-the-art methods], we found that global elevation data led to [underestimates by a factor of 3 to 4], whereas global population data led to overestimates by a factor of 1.6 to 1.8. The net effect of global data was underestimation by a factor of 2 to 3…[That could mean] 300 to 650 million people live on land that will be submerged or exposed to chronic flooding, by 2100, under current emission trends. Higher-quality global data — and in particular, elevation data — is needed to help resolve those figures…” click here for more

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