Climate Central has launched a campaign to raise awareness of sea level rise risk in the United States by analyzing region-specific data and creating an interactive mapping tool.
As global temperatures rise, coastal areas are increasingly threatened by storm surges and floods. While many U.S. cities may be accustomed to occasional flooding, it can be challenging to convey just how much more frequent and dangerous these events may become without signficant reductions in carbon emissions. Climate Central has created an interactive “Surging Seas” map tool to raise awareness of sea level rise and communicate the potential impacts on millions of U.S. residents by 2030.
To create the map, Climate Central used data from the US Geological Survey’s National Elevation Dataset to show the risk of coastal inundation for more than 3,000 towns, cities, counties and states in the Continental United States. The tool allows users to browse and search by geographic location to assess timelines of risk, including projected amounts of sea level rise and storm surges on local populations, homes and land. As part of the Surging Seas campaign, Climate Central has also released a complementary report and state fact sheets that include information, charts and graphics on sea level rise and flooding.
