Which Future Will We Choose?

Climate and energy choices this decade will influence how high sea levels rise for hundreds of years.

Calle Loíza, San Juan, United States

DownloadView on Map
USA__PR__San_Juan__Calle_Loiza__L13__3p0C.jpg
If we keep our current carbon path
(3°C global warming)
(3°C warming)
Image © 2021 Maxar Technologies Data SIO, NOAA, U.S. Navy, NGA, GEBCO Data LDEO-Columbia, NSF, NOAA
USA__PR__San_Juan__Calle_Loiza__L13__1p5C.jpg
If we sharply cut carbon pollution
(1.5°C global warming)
(1.5°C warming)
Image © 2021 Maxar Technologies Data SIO, NOAA, U.S. Navy, NGA, GEBCO Data LDEO-Columbia, NSF, NOAA
Present-day sea level1.1°C1.5°C2°C3°C4°C

These images show projected future sea levels at Calle Loíza in San Juan, United States due to human-caused global warming under two different scenarios. Climate and energy choices in the coming few decades could set the destination, but the timing of rise is more difficult to project: these sea levels may take hundreds of years to be fully realized.