Venice Could Vanish Underwater Within a Century

(Top photo: Juliette Gibert, via)

While cheap-as-chips Ryanair flights have made it a hotbed for lobster-faced tourists posting Snapchat stories from gondolas, visiting Venice might require a snorkel if we carry on polluting the air with shite. According to a new climate change report, Venice will be underwater within a century if the acceleration of global warming is not curbed and flood defences installed.
 
The floating city will become like Atlantis (if Atlantis was real and full of beautiful architecture, discarded selfie-sticks and people not mermaids), because the Mediterranean Sea is forecasted to rise by up to 140cm before 2100, according to research.
 
The same rise in sea level is expected to swamp a 176-mile long coastline in the north Adriatic and parts of the west coast of Italy, due to greenhouse gas emissions. The report, published in Quartenary International, also claimed that up to 5,500km2 of coastal plains will be flooded before 2100.

“The subsequent loss of land will impact the environment and local infrastructures, suggesting land planners and decision makers [should] take into account these scenarios for cognisant coastal management,” said lead author, Fabrizio Antonioli. “Our method developed for the Italian coast can be applied worldwide in other coastal areas expected to be affected by marine ingression due to global climate change.”

The team also believes that 33 areas across Italy in total are particularly at risk from the predicted rise. The research also said that sea levels rose by just 32cm over the past millennium, which makes the predicted rise over the next 100 years look pretty terrifying – despite it not actually making up even one Danny DeVito in height.
 
If the prospect of being able to get less pissed because of the weakening pound hasn’t tempted you to head for the bright lights of Skegness instead of an iconic European city, perhaps the prospect of your carbon footprint making it look like a scene out of Waterworld might.