How Popular Tourist Destinations Will Look Submerged In 25 Feet Of Water
Bring a bathing suit, kids, we're going to the Jefferson Memorial.
Climate change is going to ruin our vacations. Not only will it likely make our flights more uncomfortable, but our favorite destinations could be underwater–in a few hundred years anyway. Inspired by The New York Times‘s interactive project on sea level rise, Nickolay Lamm, a 24-year-old researcher and artist based in Pittsburgh, created this series of photo illustrations of the watery tourist traps of the future.
Currently, global sea levels are rising even faster than we’ve projected, according to recent studies. The Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change estimates that seas will rise an average of 6.6 feet by 2100. Over the coming centuries, as temperatures rise and ice sheets melt, our oceans could rise as much as 20 or 30 feet.
This is what the Boston Harbor Hotel would look like under 25 feet of water:
Using sea level rise maps from Climate Central graphic wiz Remik Ziemlinksi, Lamm illustrated what iconic destinations like the Washington Monument and Miami’s South Beach could look like under 5 feet, 12 feet (the potential level in about 300 years), and 25 feet (the potential level in a few centuries) of water. We made them into GIFs so you can see the change over time.
Lamm compared stock photos of the locations to Google Earth data and topographical maps to figure in how rising seas would affect different places at different tide levels. The illustrations show low or medium tide sea levels.
More like Statue of Watery, right?
South Beach: closer than ever.
Lamm hopes the illustrations will help raise public awareness about the impact of climate climate change — the change you really should believe in. No one wants to sink the Statue of Liberty, right?
[Images courtesy of StorageFront]