What America Looks Like After 700 Meters of Sea Level Rise

Ever wondered what North America would look like if the oceans rose by a staggering 690 meters?

The Sliding Shores map gives us a fascinating peek at a radically transformed United States. Granted, even if every global ice sheet melted tomorrow, sea levels would max out around 80 meters - meaning this apocalyptic drowning is strictly theoretical. But as an exercise in extreme topographic visualization, it makes for a captivating spatial experiment.

If you’re looking to explore actual, science-backed climate projections rather than wild cartographic extremes, Climate Central's Coastal Risk Finder is probably a better sea level rise map. However, Sliding Shores does offer a more dynamic, global perspective by rendering the entire planet as a 3D interactive globe rather than as a flat 2D map.

Rather than sticking strictly to realistic sea level forecasts, the map features 16 pre-set, extreme planetary scenarios - ranging from catastrophic rises like total ice sheet melt (+70m) or drowning Mt. Everest (+8,849m), down to dramatic ocean drop-offs like the Last Ice Age coastline (-120m) or draining the oceans entirely (-11,000m).