Rarely mentioned or thought about in connection with climate change and sea level rise is the fact that many of the world’s major airports — including most of those serving coastal cities — are barely above sea level, on low-lying ground adjacent to the ocean, and will be inundated by the end of this century and possibly as soon as 2040 or 2050.
This extremely expensive (and difficult to relocate) infrastructure is already susceptible to flooding, a situation that will worsen as oceanic storms intensify and occur more frequently. The picture below is what Kansai International Airport in Japan looks like right now after last week’s typhoon. Read stories here and here.