How a Polar Meltdown Would Reshape the Planet's Coastlines

"The maps here show the world as it is now, with only one difference: All the ice on land has melted and drained into the sea, raising it 216 feet and creating new shorelines for our continents and inland seas."

"There are more than five million cubic miles of ice on Earth, and some scientists say it would take more than 5,000 years to melt it all. If we continue adding carbon to the atmosphere, we’ll very likely create an ice-free planet, with an average temperature of perhaps 80 degrees Fahrenheit instead of the current 58."

Scroll through the interactive map to see how rising seas will impact each continent. Africa is relatively unscathed, but "rising heat might make much of it uninhabitable". The Netherlands and Denmark will largely disappear, as will global capitals such as London, Buenos Aires, Singapore, and Shanghai.