What if sea level dropped? Drain the oceans map
Lower the sea by a set amount and the seabed shows. The map has 12 steps, from 10 m to 6,000 m lower than today, worked out from the GEBCO_2026 grid. Each step has a page with the seabed that becomes land and the land bridges that open. A fall of 120 m is about the lowest sea level of the last Ice Age: see Doggerland and the Ice Age land bridges.
| Sea level lowered by | Seabed becomes land | Share of today's land | Today's sea remaining | Land bridges open |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 m | 2.2 million km² | 1.5% | 99.4% | 0 of 10 |
| 20 m | 4.7 million km² | 3.2% | 98.7% | 0 of 10 |
| 50 m | 11.8 million km² | 8% | 96.8% | 3 of 10 |
| 80 m | 17.3 million km² | 11.8% | 95.2% | 8 of 10 |
| 120 m | 21.7 million km² | 14.8% | 94% | 10 of 10 |
| 200 m | 26.3 million km² | 17.9% | 92.7% | 10 of 10 |
| 500 m | 34.6 million km² | 23.6% | 90.4% | 10 of 10 |
| 1,000 m | 41.9 million km² | 28.5% | 88.4% | 10 of 10 |
| 2,000 m | 58 million km² | 39.5% | 84% | 10 of 10 |
| 3,000 m | 88.9 million km² | 60.5% | 75.4% | 10 of 10 |
| 4,000 m | 169.2 million km² | 115.1% | 53.2% | 10 of 10 |
| 6,000 m | 358.1 million km² | 243.5% | 1% | 10 of 10 |
A simple bathtub model: it lowers the sea everywhere by the same amount, keeps lakes as water and does not simulate how the water would really drain. Exposed area counts only seabed connected to the open ocean. It is not a forecast.
Climate zones, then and by 2100, on the Climate Zone Map →
Open the map and drag the slider · Undersea features · Oceans and seas