Around 13 million people could be forced inland in the U.S. due to the rising sea levels expected by 2100, according to a new study led by University of Southern California’s Professor Bistra Dilkina.
The study is the first to use machine learning to project migration patterns resulting from sea-level rise.
The most popular relocation choices are expected to be land-locked cities such as Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, Denver and Las Vegas. The study also predicts suburban and rural areas in the Midwest will experience a disproportionately large influx of people relative to their smaller local populations.
To predict the trajectory of sea-level rise migration, the researchers took existing projections of rising sea levels and combined this with population projections. Based on migration patterns after Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita, the team trained machine learning models – a subset of artificial intelligence – to predict where people would relocate. Read on.
Title inspiration thanks to David & David.
