When Americans flee rising seas, where will they go?
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Researchers at the University of Georgia are painting a picture of a massive migration in the United States because of climate change.
Their study says nine states will lose population as people flee inland.
The study was based on a prediction that sea levels will rise by 6 feet by 2100, almost two-feet below NOAA's worst-case scenario. Boston, Miami, New York and Seattle, would be almost completely submerged in this scenario, Huffington Post says today.
Texas, Georgia, and Pennsylvania receive most of the "climate migrants," the researchers say. But every state would feel the impact.
Minnesota, for example, gains up to 50,000 people in counties from the Twin Cities down along the Mississippi River.
"If future migration pathways mimic past pathways, SLR (sea level rise) is expected to reshape the US population distribution and could stress some landlocked areas unprepared for these migrations while revitalizing others," writes Mathew Hauer, a University of Georgia demographer.
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