Climate Central Story Featured on Google Earth’s Voyager

September 12, 2018

Google is featuring a Climate Central story on Google Earth’s Voyager website. Sea Level Rise and the Fate of Coastal Cities illustrates long-term scientific projections flowing from different near-term emissions pathways for heat-trapping gases. The story takes viewers on a tour of seven coastal cities across the globe and visualizes future sea-level rise under different future warming scenarios based on peer-reviewed research by Climate Central and collaborators. Carbon emissions leading to 4 degrees Celsius of warming (7.2 degrees Fahrenheit) would lock in enough eventual sea-level rise to submerge land currently home to as many as 760 million people around the world. Limiting warming to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) — the upper international target adopted in the Paris climate agreement — would dramatically reduce the sea-level rise threat, though areas now occupied by 130 million people or more would still be inundated. The Sea Level Rise and the Fate of Coastal Cities story makes the benefits of lower-emission choices clear.