A rise in water of 50 centimeters should take place before 2050, according to the latest projections from the IPCC due to the melting of glaciers and ice caps. What should coastal inhabitants worry about in the event of total melting?
Dark perspectives that give cold sweats. Could the Côte d’Azur partly disappear because of the rise in sea level and the submersion of the coastline? This scenario worthy of a disaster movie will eventually be a reality for the coastal regions of the globe, where almost 80% of the world’s population currently lives.
Global warming could melt all the ice on the globe. Both at the poles and at the highest mountain peaks. Enough to lead to a rise in sea level… of 65 meters!
Opinions differ as to the deadline, the maximum level that the oceans and open seas of the globe could reach if all the ice were to melt. It could take 5,000 years, but the deleterious effects could be felt in just a few years, according to the 6th report of the IPCC, published in March 2023.
Climate Central is an organization specializing in climate-related issues and working to provide data to media around the world. It models different data sources.
On this interactive map dedicated to the rise in sea level, and risk areas, we can see the flooded areas with a rise of 30 meters in water level.
The city center of Cannes, as well as La Bocca and a good part of the Siagne valley will be entirely covered with water, as will 90% of the Lérins islands.
The Antibes coast, the road from the seaside to Nice, also under water, to the first heights of Vaugrenier.
The plain of the Var will be nothing more than a long canal and the main town of the department will be a distant memory. Only the hill of the castle would be spared, the cornices leading to Monaco and the heights of Saint-Philippe and Cimiez.
Further east, Menton and the Principality of Monaco would see their current seaside disappear further. Only the coastal towns located to the west, at the foot of the Estérel, would see their fate somewhat preserved.
In 2021, Climate Central had already published data and images showing projected future sea levels at Sainte-Réparate Cathedral in Nice.
In the department of Var, the communes of Hyères or Fréjus would be wiped off the map. The sea would arrive directly at Le Muy.
Sainte-Maxime, Saint-Tropez, Cogolin, as well as Saint-Cyr-sur-Mer or Toulon would not fare much better. The Iles d’Or would still exist, but are damned eaten away by the Mediterranean.
Saint-Mandrier and Six-Fours-les-Plages would see their territory become small islands.
The gradual rise in sea level is inexorable, these previous scenarios on the horizon of several centuries or millennia are far from being tangible concerns for the moment.
On the other hand, a much more immediate deadline will impact the lifestyle of the Riviera residents. A proven risk which will translate, according to the latest IPCC reportby the rise in the level of the seas and the oceans of about fifty centimeters in 2050. And that is in the best of cases.
A few tens of centimeters of rise will force the port infrastructures to find parades, just like the Nice airport of Mandelieu.
In the Var, the municipalities of Fréjus and Hyères would be the most impacted, with in particular the peninsula of Giens which would only see a thin strip of land connecting it to the mainland.
In more pessimistic scenarios, it will be an increase of 1.5 meters, still by 2050 according to the international group of experts.
The melting of this eternal ice has begun and its disappearance could overwhelm our Riviera coastlines, but significant consequences are already expected over the next two decades.
The obligation to adapt to these new climatic constraints is no longer hypothetical.
#Global #warming #rising #sea #levels #Côte #dAzur #disappear
