Impact of Rising Sea Level in Capo Blanco

Rice University; University of California, Irvine

       

       

If sea levels rise by 1 meter in the next fifty years, as expected, the sandbanks will begin to disappear at the Banc D’Arguin National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site in the northwest African country of Mauritania. These sandbanks shelter one-third of all birds from Europe, Russia, and Greenland during the winter.

The park is located in a transition zone between the Sahara Desert and the Atlantic Ocean and features both sand dunes and swamps. The mild climate of the area makes it the perfect location for migrating birds to use as their home in winter. Maps make it possible to readily see the looming potential destruction of habitat in a place not readily accessible to people. Assisting in this project were students Alessandro Pasqua and Charles Sharpless.

Courtesy of Patricia Seed.

Map Book Page [PDF]