Montreal Archipelago

See the other maps

This map shows 40 meters of sea level rise. Only 2/3 of the world’s ice sheets melted to produce this archipelago.

I spent a week in Montreal once–and I’ve been in love with it ever since.

I don’t really speak French. I gave names to some of the larger islands, but I don’t know it well enough to do it justice. If you have suggestions, let me know!

Thank you to all the commenters who helped me with grammar and place names.

This is the seventh in a series of extreme sea level rise maps.

See the original–Burrito Justice’s map of San Francisco.

This will happen someday, but not in our lifetimes. Some who have dared to speculate on a timeline have given themselves plenty of space for error in their predictions–one estimate says anywhere from 1,000 to 10,000 years. Whatever the time frame, anthropogenic climate change is a fact–humans are speeding up this process.

For all of these maps, I am not portraying any sea level higher than what is possible. The IPCC has estimated that the total rise would be about 66 meters.

This Post Has 33 Comments

  2. Aku December 3, 2014

    Love to see one of Rhode Island, the smallest US state – also known as the Ocean State.

    1. Brent February 24, 2015

      I think it would be known as part the ocean in this situation 🙂

    2. Kate May 6, 2016

      The highest point in Rhode Island, Jerimoth Hill, is only 59 meters high.

  3. Benjamin December 8, 2014

    It should be “Courant DES Prairies de la Mer” (plural) and probably “Détroit DES Mille-Poissons” (plural also) 🙂

  4. Thomas December 8, 2014

    1) Why did you rename the rivière des Mille îles the détroit des Mille poissons ?

    2) The island on which the city of Laval is already has a name : l’Ă®le JĂ©sus. The city of Laval is not historical, it used to be many autonomous parishes back then, and the whole island used to be a seignory called Ă®le-JĂ©sus.

    3) Mer Saint-Laurent would be Mer de Saint-Laurent (if you stress the saint’s name) or Mer du Saint-Laurent (if you stress the river’s name).

    4) “Courant du Prairies de la mer”. well… I assume by “courant” you intended to say “stream” ? When talking about a body of water, a stream is a ruisseau, but this is very small, so it would make no sense. Perhaps you mean that the Lachine Rapids will get bigger and encompass the former rivière des Prairies. Then it would be : les rapides des Prairies. (Note about the French language : “prairie” is feminine, and “du” is singular. so it’s “de la prairie” or “des prairies”)

    1. Alex December 9, 2014

      Hi, nice map!!!!

      I love maps to0!

      ĂŽle Claire should be named simply “West Island” as everyone in Montreal call the western part of the city which is populated by a bigger concentration of English-speaking Quebecois.

      The Historic (10,000 B.C.) sea covering the Montreal plain was called Mer de Champlain by the archeologists.

      If you want to give a name to the northern part, should be called “Les Laurentides” which is the name of the mountains covering the northern shore of the St-Lawrence river from Ottawa to CĂ´te-Nord.

      Thanks for the map, nice work!

      1. Jeffrey December 9, 2014

        Excellent–thanks for the information Alex.

    2. Jeffrey December 9, 2014

      Thanks for this, Thomas.

  6. Titus Leung December 8, 2014

    Hi,

    You did some good work!

    Just wonder, you have covered MontrĂ©al and Vancouver, the second and third largest city in Canada, but how about the largest one, i.e. Toronto? I have some concern with Ottawa as well, not only it is the capital city of Canada, but I have my happy university years there …

    Thanks for reminding us the threat of global warming and sea level rise of our home planet, i.e. the Earth!

    1. Titus Leung December 8, 2014

      Just some more: you can cover the Golden Horseshoe, which, other than Toronto, also include Hamilton and Niagara Falls, as one fifth of Canadian population.

      Sorry for being greedy …

  8. Sylvain December 9, 2014

    Hello,
    Just very nice of you that you took time to show us what our city could look like in case of a global warming.
    The names are just fine, even though they are not totally accurate. Thanks for the effort.
    Last thing, i’m glad to see that my family and I, will be safe… we live in Anjou .

    1. Anne August 23, 2016

      Global warming is a reality, it is happening. Great map modelling. This will take a very long time to happen in entirety. Geologically this is really fast. We have created a feedback loop that won’t stop, so we need to prepare now for the future enevitibility. This type of modelling can help in planning for many things such as crop growth and places to live. Hopefully it won’t divide us into WW III.

  9. gorge December 9, 2014

    Interesting map. I love the “Laval-sous-la-mer”.

    Thomas has some good points but his number misses one point:
    At this sea level there wouldn’t be any rapids anymore.

    You translated “Strait” as “DĂ©troit”, which isn’t wrong. A more peculiar word is “Pertuis”, for straits between an island and mainland. You could also use “Chenal” for the strait/channel between the two island you named “courant”. A third name for narrower channels of salt water bordered on two sides by land is “bras de mer”, arm of sea, but I have yet to see it on a map. It’s a geographical feature but on a map I only know one place whose name include it, Bras d’Or lake in Nova Scotia, and even there it’s disputed. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bras_d%27Or_Lake

    1. Jeffrey December 9, 2014

      Thank you for your suggestions, gorge. These are really good. I’ll try to re-work the names soon.

  10. Daniel Thomas December 10, 2014

    Montreal is 216 meters over the sea level. How can you explain that a 40 meter higher will have this effect? !!!

    1. Jeffrey December 10, 2014

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal

      Highest elevation 233 m (764 ft)
      Lowest elevation 6 m (20 ft)

      Which part of Montreal are you referring to?

      You seem to be taking the elevation at the peak of Mont-Royal and assuming that the entirety of Montreal is at this elevation. This is incorrect. The lowest elevation of Montreal is 6m. The highest is 233m. The low areas of Montreal become flooded by sea level rise. The high areas will become islands. This is what is shown in my maps.

      1. Stephane December 11, 2014

        So you means that, at the lowest point in Montreal, there is only 6 meters ASL ( above sea level) difference in elevation between that point and the mean sea level?
        I thought it would be higher. You might be right, i’m just questionning.
        I know there is 75 meters between the source of st-laurence river (lake ontario) and the estuaire. So once you get in Montreal area there is only 6 meters left to reach the sea level. That’s what i understand from your input.

        1. Jeffrey December 11, 2014

          Yes–Montreal itself is very near sea level. I’m trying to find a good graphic (beyond the statistics I provided above) to illustrate. Here are a couple of longitudinal sections….

          http://chriseagen.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/lock_profile.jpg

          This one doesn’t quite extend all the way to Montreal, but it shows the elevation change along the St-Lawrence below Lake Ontario…
          http://www.maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca/GreatLakes/Documents/HGL/figures.asp?ID=f168

        2. carswell December 14, 2014

          Ocean-going ships can travel up the St. Lawrence as far as Montreal without having to pass through locks. In other words, Montreal harbour is more or less at sea level. This was true in Jacques Cartier’s day (it’s why the settlement that became Montreal was located where it is) and it’s true today. It may no longer be true 50 years from now. “Valleyfield, the new Montreal!”

  11. Daniel Thomas December 10, 2014

    Seattle: +56M
    Vancouver +57M
    Portland +15M
    San Diego +31M
    San Francisco +3M
    New York +57M

    1. Jeffrey December 10, 2014

      is this supposed to be meters above sea level? Let me correct that for you:

      Seattle: 0
      Vancouver 0
      Portland 0
      San Diego 0
      San Francisco 0
      New York 0

      My point is that you’ve listed what appear to be the high points of each city. Each of these cities has a low point of sea level. The lower elevations become flooded, while the high points that you’ve listed become islands and peninsulas. This is what is shown in my maps.

  13. Gina Bisaillon December 11, 2014

    I love the new poetic names you gave to our landmarks, especially le “DĂ©troit des mille poissons”. I hereby appoint you Chief of Canadian Toponomy!

    1. Jeffrey December 11, 2014

      I am deeply honored and will strive to serve with dignity.

  14. Benoit Hudson December 14, 2014

    Fantastic!

    It would be great to see some landmarks in the city, or road names (at least highways), to orient yourself.

    I’m assuming the Olympic Park would become seashore?

  15. Cindy December 17, 2014

    I heard you on the CBC yesterday! I agree what what you are doing is incredibly important to the climate change debate, and to responsible urban and social planning. Please continue to chart sea level differences so the people of the world can see the future of their own cities. Drastic action can be inspired by visceral shock. I saw your map of Montreal and was overcome with the urgent need to do something.

    1. Jeffrey December 17, 2014

      Thank you Cindy! I do have a couple of cities in progress right now. Keep checking back!

  16. Emily January 5, 2015

    I would be very interested to see what would happen to the southeastern coastline along the Atlantic. I live in Georgia and am completely curious as to what would-be left.
    Beautiful work and insightful, too.

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