"Waterworld Scenarios?" Topic

If the ice caps and glaciers melted, how high would the sea level rise?

Has anyone come up with maps of what the world would look like if this ever happened? Thanks.

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Has this ever happened in the past (while humans have been on the planet)?

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Found this link:

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For gaming purposes….you could always refer to the 'Spaceship Zero' rpg book…as it has a world map of Earth 2 (you'd have to read the story)…showing how Earth looks after 'hydronaut' invasion/terraforming causes massive melting of polar/ices and flooding/'swamp-forming'?

Of course…the 'Earthsea' maps work for that sort of thing too…8-)

Lt DWW

Get the soundtrack, too…Darkest of the Hillside Thickets is an awesome, awesome band.

I'd think one big blue ball would serve as the player's map, at least.

Not according to Brotherjason's link:

"If all of the Antarctic ice melted, sea levels around the world would rise about 61 meters (200 feet)."

How much of today's landmasses would end up underwater?

I can think of most of Florida and Louisiana, as well as the Bahamas. I wonder if someone has already done a map.

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Thinking of Kevin Costner and the post apocalyptic thing. Wasnt he in the Postman? I really liked that and thought it was one of his better films

200 feet cuts a big chunk out of the central US, and also makes Australia noticeably smaller. The Amazon Basin also drowns pretty thoroughly.

A good *printed* atlas is probably the best way to get real detail, though.

Here's a PBS site that has a good look at the sea levels for 20,000 years ago as well as flooded versions.

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On a semi-related counterpoint, I saw a show today on human adaptation to ice ages that said that at the height of the more recent cooling periods, the sea level dropped 350 ft (106 m)! You could walk from Ireland to Africa…

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Interesting map of Antactica, if the ice caps were ever to melt naturally or by some Greenhouse effect:

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As you can see, there would be plenty of land there.

There were other interesting maps and posts on this other thread:

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A more realistic scenario here:

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Cool ideas here:

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Just FYI: I know sci-fi author Stephen Baxter has a book out called "Flood" that comes up with a somewhat plausible scenario how a waterworld could come to be. Haven't read it, but I know the basic premise is that some of the water trapped in the earth's mantle rises to the surface, completely flooding the continents. He admits it isn't very likely, but it does provide a science-based explanation how you could get a waterworld. (There isn't enough ice in the ice caps to completely flood the world.)

J.G. Ballard had another take in The Drowned World, in which a sudden flare-up of the sun bathed the world in excess heat and radiation, turning much of dry land into a flooded swamp and producing superstorms. Probably not what you're looking for but just throwing it out there.

One more thing, you asked if it ever happened in the past. Actually, earth has been without ice caps for most of its history. Check out the Paleomap Project on the web. The Eocene -- the first part of the age of mammals -- closest fits what you're looking for. The continents have shifted somewhat but it is close to the modernworld.

scotese.com/newpage9.htm

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Shows highly detailed globes of early Earth's past to present…great stuff here.

flood.firetree.net

Goes to 14m, which is a start.

A 66m (216 feet) rise makes it very interesting . . .

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Antarctica looks cool . . .

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