Samples from a changing ocean
This field report is made for a desktop screen.
Samples from a changing ocean
This field report is made for a desktop screen.
As sea levels rise, the consequences become increasingly visible along the Pacific coastline. Low-elevation coastal zones [LECZs] are coastal areas less than 10 metres above mean sea level. Across the nine selected Pacific Island countries, exposure varies considerably: low-lying island states have the largest shares of their populations living within vulnerable coastal areas, while more populous countries can have much larger numbers of people exposed.
The visualisation compares both dimensions of exposure: the share of each country’s population living within the 0–10 m coastal zone and the total number of people this represents. Together, they reveal how coastal exposure takes different forms across the Pacific.
Drag and rotate to explore the contrast between relative and absolute exposure across the region.
The percentage shows the share of the country’s population living 0-10 m above sea level. The blue number shows how many people that represents.
Each spike marks 1% of the country’s population living 0-10 m above sea level. Each blue dot marks 5,000 people within the same zone.
Subregion: Melanesia Micronesia Polynesia