Earth  ID: 3656

Sea Level Rise "What Ifs" in the Southeastern United States

Visualizations by Greg Shirah Released on October 17, 2009
This visualization shows the Southeastern United States with population data over the land. Darker areas over land indicate higher population densities. Sea level scenarios are shown starting with 0 meters of sea level rise (current sea level) and proceeding through 9 meters of rise. Blue areas moving inland indicate where the coastline would be at various levels.

We will likely see some sea level rise in our lifetimes, but the middle-to-higher levels in this visualization are unlikely in the next 100 years.

This visualization is based on Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) data. This data primarily measured canopy heights. So, this visualization is showing where water might reach the tops of the trees in various areas.

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Sea level coastlines from 0 to 9 meters above current sea level
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Color bar indicating approximate people per pixel (0=white, 2000+=black)

Visualization Credits

Greg Shirah (NASA/GSFC): Lead Animator
Jefferson Beck (UMBC): Producer
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio GRUMP population data provided by CIESIN

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3656

Mission:
Shuttle Radar Topography Mission - SRTM

Data Used:
SRTM/SIR-C
2000/02
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Population Density Data from CIESIN's Global Rural-Urban Mapping Project, alpha version (GRUMP alpha) also referred to as: GRUMP alpha
CIESIN - 2000
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Note: While we identify the data sets used in these visualizations, we do not store any further details nor the data sets themselves on our site.

This item is part of this series:
Earth Science Week

Keywords:
SVS >> HDTV
DLESE >> Physical oceanography
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Human Dimensions >> Population
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Oceans >> Coastal Processes >> Sea Level Rise
SVS >> Sea Level
SVS >> For Educators
NASA Science >> Earth

GCMD keywords can be found on the Internet with the following citation: Olsen, L.M., G. Major, K. Shein, J. Scialdone, S. Ritz, T. Stevens, M. Morahan, A. Aleman, R. Vogel, S. Leicester, H. Weir, M. Meaux, S. Grebas, C.Solomon, M. Holland, T. Northcutt, R. A. Restrepo, R. Bilodeau, 2013. NASA/Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Earth Science Keywords. Version 8.0.0.0.0