100 Feet in 1000 Years

Although climate change is a topic people disagree about, it’s a good idea to have an idea of what a reasonable projection of sea level rise could be. This little post makes a first order estimate using the sea level rate that occurred when the glaciers melted eighteen thousand years ago.

For four successive millennia, the ocean level rose one hundred feet in each thousand year period. 100 feet in 100 years. Children who reach their centennial birthdays will have lived through a rise of ten feet.

Not a mind-boggling amount, but noticeable to centennials who live near the Baltimore Harbor.

If sea level started at that rate now, in two hundred years (the time of BaltSea, a science fiction story in the hopper), the rise will be twenty feet. In Figure 1 of Baltimore Harbor will expand to all areas darker than light blue. Much of downtown Baltimore, Dundalk, Essex, and Brooklyn Park will be under water.

Figure 1. Baltimore harbor in 200 years includes all darker areas than light blue.
Figure 1. Baltimore harbor
Science

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