It occurred to me recently that people might not appreciate how much the predicted rise in sea levels, from global warming/climate change, will affect us, because the figures given are misleading to most people. A change in sea level refers to a vertical distance. The effects on shore line will be larger (except for sheer cliffs higher than that).

We can estimate this with a right triangle. The change in sea level would be the height. The change in the shore line would be the hypotenuse. For a fairly steep grade of 30 degrees, a rise in sea level of 3 feet would mean the water would come more than 6.7 feet farther up the shore. More shallow inclines would mean it would come up further.


http://motherjones.com/environment/2010/04/climate-desk-sea-level-rise-epa?page=2

By Josh Harkinson
Tue Apr. 27, 2010 3:00 AM PDT

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Titus estimates that a three-foot rise in sea level will push back East Coast shorelines an average of 300 to 600 feet in the next 90 years, threatening to submerge densely developed areas inhabited by some 3 million people, including large parts of New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC.

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