California Retrofuture…a 1879 Department of the Interior map with 218’ of sea level rise—if all the world’s ice caps melted. I’ve added modern shaded terrain to accentuate the landforms.
The base historical map shows the boundaries of the ranchos at the time. Take a close look at the yellow shaded areas.
The Retrofuture Series is a time machine–the maps combine elements of the past, the present and the future.
The base maps are rooted in the past–vintage and antique maps that show places very different from our current world.
The hillshade effects are contemporary, and the modern world can be seen shadowing the old maps–freeway embankments, dams and reservoirs, and a variety of earthworks.
The 218′ of sea level rise is the future. When all the world’s ice sheets have melted, this is what our world will look like–flooded coastal cities, valleys, and plains. This is a world thousands of years in the future, that none of us will live to experience.
All sea level rise depicted in these maps is based on estimates by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
