Interactive Mapping - How Wet Will You Get?

A clever blogger at firetree.net has put together an interactive mapping project which works with Google Maps, to show you the effect of a rise in sea level of 1 to 14 meters (roughly, 3 to 42 feet). There might be some surprises . . .

For example, Portland, Oregon is quite a few miles from the ocean -- over an hour's drive. But its average elevation? 50 feet above sea level, at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia Rivers. (That'd be why it was once, and will likely be again, a port city.)



Here's a map showing Portland with that 14m rise in sea level. You'll note, if you follow the link and knock it back to 7m, or other levels, that most of the same areas get flooded, though it appears to become intermittent.

At only 7 meters, some significant chunks of Seattle get pretty moist, too. A mere 3-meter rise will take out much of Sacramento. Might not be the best place for a capital city, after all?

San Francisco, you ask? That hilly city by the Bay? It will hold up fairly well . . . but most of the surrounding areas get nailed with as little as 3m. Here's 14m for comparison. Most of SF is fine, but inland areas like Stockton are completely obliterated. Modesto gains a bay of its own.

Have a look at the map, and check out your area. It helps put that pesky global warming thing into perspective!

How are you situated?