To build an airport, you need a large, flat space. Sometimes those spaces can be found on top of hills (Duluth MN is one of those). Others are in valleys. Many are found along coastlines near sea level, and in some cases artificial runways have been built into the water itself. What could go wrong with this? The New York Times points out in an article this week that airports near sea level are threatened by both natural events like tsunamis and hurricanes and human-cased rise in sea level, which may make airports more vulnerable to flooding on a recurring basis. You can read the article at https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/07/climate/airport-global-warming-kansai.html?smid=tw-nytclimate&smtyp=cur.

Kansai airport, which serves Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe, was inundated this past week when a typhoon hit Japan.CreditCreditKentaro Ikushima/Mainichi Newspaper, via Associated Press