Assignment

Instructions

Go to the floodfiretree site and select a particular level of global sea rise and explain why you selected that level. Then, select a particular global map and zoom in on a particular area of interest or place that you have been and see what the sea level rise does to that coastal area. The sea level you choose can be based upon your C-Learn simulation or you can choose another level or try many different levels. For instance, what about a 30 meter rise if an Antarctica or Greenland shelf melts? Is this possible or likely? You might need to do a little research.

I selected Bangkok, Thailand. I have been there four times, it is a port city, one of the largest cities in the world and is a also a favorite commercial and tourism city by global travelers. I selected a 3 meter rise for this screenshot. The current BAU (Business As Usual) level is for a 1 meter rise by year 2100, but this does not take into account large ice shelf melts which might happen. Three meters seems beyond what we can expect, but it is a possibility if we get a greenhouse runaway effect and temperatures continue to rise. With a three meter rise, much of Bangkok is underwater, including the entire port, and the international airport, as well as central commercial areas. Even with a 1 m in sea-level rise the periodic flooding in Bangkok would interrupt commerce, travel and trading on a major scale. Bangkok is interspersed with rivers, major and minor waterways and the city does not have an advanced free water drainage system like some cities in the USA and Europe. Once the water hits the pavement, it just goes to wherever it wants to go! Even today it is common to have 1-2 feet of water rushing through the downtown Bangkok streets during a major rain. With a 3 m rise, it looks like millions of people would be displaced and would become part of the 21st century climate refugee population. Most likely, they would have to go into the rural areas of Thailand which would also be susceptible to flooding in the destruction of rice crops. The situation would not be as dire as some places like Bangladesh, but it would be tragic, and most likely result in many deaths from flooding, lack of access to clean drinking water, lack of food from destruction of rice crops, as well as endemic and perhaps epidemic waterborne diseases. I have included links to the maps below. The first one is to Bangkok as it is today. The second one is to Bangkok with a 3 m rise.

In order to complete this assignment, include your 250 word narrative and a live link to your map(s) in the textbox. To insert a live link, click on the "Link" button on the text editor (7th button, middle row) and insert your live link. You can start at the link below, which will take you to any part of the world, and any level of zoom.