Long Flood
The Long Flood was one of the more dramatic consequences of the global heating which was caused by the Old World's prolific emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, an inevitable result of the impacts of fossil fuel consumption left uncontrolled.
But it would not always remain that way forever. Prior to the rise of human agricultural civilization, Earth had been through periods of glaciation where ice sheets would alternately expand and retreat over periods of millennia. With the emergence of extractive petrocapitalism came an ever-increasing appetite for energy and other resources to fuel the Old World’s appetite for growth without limits. People of the time turned to oil and other fossil fuels for energy, which had the consequence of producing carbon dioxide as part of their combustion. Such was the scale of the Old World that this gas could accumulate in the atmosphere in a massive spike orders of magnitude faster than any natural process, and trigger an equally rapid episode of warming. This temperature rise knocked the metaphorical foundations out from under the ice sheets, and they began to melt.
The northern ice cap is known to have melted before the Old World’s collapse, disappearing during the summer in so-called “blue ocean events” which eventually became the new norm. This caused a great deal of consternation, but any action which resulted from this was ultimately not enough to save the Old World. Antarctica melted much slower. Ancient climatologists at the start of the crisis had expected this to take easily thousands of years but, like many of global heating’s effects, it turned out to be worse than expected, sooner than expected. Sea levels rose some seventy-odd meters over a period of about three centuries, finally settling down not long before the renewal of civilization in North America (and elsewhere). This was likely no coincidence--the ever-rising seas while the icecaps melted made inhabiting the coasts difficult since settlements would have to be relocated every few decades or so. Antarctica, now mostly devoid of permanent ice, began to be settled and now host to quite an unusual group of societies.
To the inhabitants of Middle America, the Long Flood (and sea level rise in general) was a law of nature, one which has thankfully quieted down at long last.
Details
Before the rise of human industrial civilization, Earth had two ice caps at both of its poles. The north polar ice cap floated free on ice, with some of it hugging the northern shorelines of continents, plus an additional ice sheet over most of the island of Greenland, while in the south was the majority of the world's ice, frozen up on and around Antarctica. All of the world’s liquid fresh water, upon which humanity has always depended, was a mere drop in a bucket compared to the quantities locked away in these vast ice caps.But it would not always remain that way forever. Prior to the rise of human agricultural civilization, Earth had been through periods of glaciation where ice sheets would alternately expand and retreat over periods of millennia. With the emergence of extractive petrocapitalism came an ever-increasing appetite for energy and other resources to fuel the Old World’s appetite for growth without limits. People of the time turned to oil and other fossil fuels for energy, which had the consequence of producing carbon dioxide as part of their combustion. Such was the scale of the Old World that this gas could accumulate in the atmosphere in a massive spike orders of magnitude faster than any natural process, and trigger an equally rapid episode of warming. This temperature rise knocked the metaphorical foundations out from under the ice sheets, and they began to melt.
The northern ice cap is known to have melted before the Old World’s collapse, disappearing during the summer in so-called “blue ocean events” which eventually became the new norm. This caused a great deal of consternation, but any action which resulted from this was ultimately not enough to save the Old World. Antarctica melted much slower. Ancient climatologists at the start of the crisis had expected this to take easily thousands of years but, like many of global heating’s effects, it turned out to be worse than expected, sooner than expected. Sea levels rose some seventy-odd meters over a period of about three centuries, finally settling down not long before the renewal of civilization in North America (and elsewhere). This was likely no coincidence--the ever-rising seas while the icecaps melted made inhabiting the coasts difficult since settlements would have to be relocated every few decades or so. Antarctica, now mostly devoid of permanent ice, began to be settled and now host to quite an unusual group of societies.
To the inhabitants of Middle America, the Long Flood (and sea level rise in general) was a law of nature, one which has thankfully quieted down at long last.
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