How much land floods if the sea rises, or seafloor dries if it falls?

The share of land flooded by a rise in sea level, or of seafloor laid dry by a fall, from ETOPO 2022 terrain.

Seafloor laid dry

6.05 %

If the sea fell by 120 m, 6.05 % of today’s seafloor would lie dry, and 96.9 % of today’s ocean water would be left.

Ocean water left: 96.9 %

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How it is worked out

falling: water_left = interp(LEFT, change_m)/TODAY_KM3seafloor_dry = 1 - area(change_m)/AREA_KM2, area = -(dV/dz)*1000 (central difference over neighbouring LEFT rows)

Where the numbers come from

ETOPO 2022 (NOAA NCEI), doi:10.25921/fd45-gt74, computed at 2 arc-minutes

Keep in mind

Static exposure of today’s seafloor, with each ocean at its surveyed deepest point; no isostasy, sediment or ice loading.

Link to this answer

Address

https://clipwright.studio/tools/sea-level-rise?change_m=-120

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