Which Future Will We Choose?

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

St Nicholaos Church of Piraeus, Pireas, Greece

DownloadView on Map
GRC__0__Pireas__Church_of_Saint_Nicholaos__L13__3p0C.jpg
If we keep our current carbon path
(3°C global warming)
(3°C warming)
Data SIO, NOAA, U.S. Navy, NGA, GEBCO Image Landsat / Copernicus
GRC__0__Pireas__Church_of_Saint_Nicholaos__L13__1p5C.jpg
If we sharply cut carbon pollution
(1.5°C global warming)
(1.5°C warming)
Data SIO, NOAA, U.S. Navy, NGA, GEBCO Image Landsat / Copernicus
Present-day sea level1.1°C1.5°C2°C3°C4°C

These images show projected future sea levels at St Nicholaos Church of Piraeus in Pireas, Greece 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.