Under the sea: Incredible images show what America's most famous coastal landmarks would look like if sea levels rose by just 12 feet
Scientists warn that vast glaciers in West Antarctica are locked in an irreversible thaw linked to global warming – and now incredible images show the effect the melt would have on some of the U.S’s classic coastal city areas.
Experts say the melt could add 12 feet (1.2 to 3.7 meters) to current sea levels in a few hundred years and the images illustrate the impact this increase would have on cities including Miami, Boston and San Francisco.
The photographs were developed by Pittsburgh-based digital artist Nickolay Lamm, based on sea level-rise mapping data from Climate Central.
In the shocking pictures the Jefferson Memorial in Washington D.C is surrounded by water, Ocean Drive in Miami looks like it would only be navigable by boat and Crissy Field in San Francisco is mostly under water.
And you'd need waders to walk around The San Diego Convention Center, according to the predictions.
A Nasa study looking at 40 years of ground, airplane and satellite data shows the melt is happening faster than scientists had predicted, crossing a critical threshold that has begun a domino-like process.
Some scientists believe that a build-up of man-made greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is affecting wind patterns around Antarctica, driving warmer waters towards the continent.
Bob Ward, from the Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy at London School of Economics and Political Science, said: 'Although such extreme sea level rise is only likely to occur after several centuries of global warming, these startling images should help U.S politicians and the public to understand the scale of the risks created by climate change.'
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