2 replies to this topic

[natcase]

My wife and I finally got to An Inconvenient Truth the other night. Good movie, and I was especially impressed with the animations showing rising water levels in Florida, Bangladesh and Lower Manhattan. It makes me wonder about maps or atlases showing flood levels based on various projected sealevel rises. I know the Harrisons did a painted map as part of their Lagoon Cycle in the 1970s showing a 300-foot contour. But this seems like a ripe subject for an atlas or a serious interactive site.
The only images I can find off the bat are at http://resumbrae.com...g/100meter.html
Any thoughts or leads?

[frax]

We have a few things here:
http://maps.grida.no...c..."sea level"

(I haven't prepared them, but my colleagues have)

No global maps though...

[Hans van der Maarel]

Something I did a few weeks ago, for a friend:

 Nederland_definitief.jpg   278.82K   173 downloads

This map was produced in November 2006 for the presentation of a MSc project regarding the institutional changes which will be necessitated in the Netherlands if sea levels continue to rise. This project was one part of a MSc course offered by the Communication and Innovation Studies chair group of the Social Sciences Department of Wageningen University. The aim is to show which areas of the Netherlands are located below sea level and are therefore under threat of flooding, and the percentage of the population and GDP they sustain. (The map was used in a Powerpoint presentation, which was a major influence on the design. I've also been inspired by the NYC maps shown at NACIS, so I tried to work with that style here).

The kind of maps you're talking about is mostly a simple elevation map, with some exceptions. For example, global warming isn't exactly going to make isolated depressions (Death Valley, Dead Sea, Qatarra, Caspian Sea) flood all of a sudden. On the other hand, flooding of a level that seriously incapacitates the Dutch ports will harm the German economy as well, since a very large portion of the goods travelling to and from the industrial Ruhr area comes through Rotterdam. We have taken our precautions in the form of the Delta Plan, but that won't keep us secure forever.

The global effect of flooding at such a scale is mind-boggling, and a rather frightening prospect. To make matters worse, 2006 was the warmest year in recorded history in The Netherlands (accuracte weather reports dating back to the early 1700s).