A new website has been launched that allows Australians to see how rising sea levels might impact their homes.
Coastal Risk Australia layers sea level rise projections over Google Maps, accounting for tide and elevation.
Users can see where water levels will reach by the year 2100 under low, medium and high greenhouse gas emissions, using projections from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
The IPCC says in a high emissions scenario, sea levels will likely rise by a median of 0.74 metres by 2010.
"We don’t want to create hysteria, but we don’t want people burying their heads in the sand either,” one of the website's creators, Nathan Eaton from NGIS Australia, told Guardian Australia.
The maps show houses and landmarks in every state and territory except the ACT will be underwater by 2100. Manly, Byron and Coogee beaches on the NSW east coast will all be substantially eroded.
The launch of the site coincided with the beta launch of Climate Valuation, a tool that will let users estimate the impact of climate change on their property value and insurance premiums over the life of their mortgage.
