If you live along the coast, you are probably painfully aware of the threat of rising sea levels and what it could do to your communities. Sea levels have been observed to rise in most places by several different independent data sources, including both surface-based gauges and satellite imagery. Sea level rise has also been predicted to occur based on warmer temperatures which cause ocean water to expand and the melting of land-based ice like glaciers and ice sheets, which put additional water into the ocean. Pumping of groundwater can also add to this, although this is a smaller contribution than other sources. The latest scientific studies indicate that the rate of sea level rise is accelerating, so this is likely to become of increasing concern over time.
Climate Central has provided some visuals that can demonstrate how coastal areas may be inundated in the future by rising sea levels. They show two scenarios which illustrate the effects of different scenarios to greenhouse gas emissions. You can read more about it at https://sealevel.climatecentral.org/ or go right to the mapping tool at https://choices.climatecentral.org/. You can also read an article about the tool at https://www.takepart.com/article/2015/10/15/choose-adventure-sea-level.
