Which Future Will We Choose?

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

Airlie Gardens, Wilmington, North Carolina, United States

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USA__NC__Wilmington__Airlie_Garden__L13__3p0C.jpg
If we keep our current carbon path
(3°C global warming)
(3°C warming)
Image Landsat / Copernicus Data SIO, NOAA, US Navy, NGA, GEBCO
USA__NC__Wilmington__Airlie_Garden__L13__1p5C.jpg
If we sharply cut carbon pollution
(1.5°C global warming)
(1.5°C warming)
Image Landsat / Copernicus Data SIO, NOAA, US Navy, NGA, GEBCO
Present-day sea level1.1°C1.5°C2°C3°C4°C

These images show projected future sea levels at Airlie Gardens in Wilmington, 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.