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Optus Stadium, Cottesloe Beach, Westfield Carousel could be washed away under dramatic climate modelling

Hannah RyanAAP
Huge patches of Maylands - including Optus Stadium - could be inundated, according to the dramatic modelling.
Camera IconHuge patches of Maylands - including Optus Stadium - could be inundated, according to the dramatic modelling. Credit: Supplied/Coastal Risk Australia

Optus Stadium, Cottesloe Beach, Westfield Carousel and vast swathes of Busselton, Rockingham and Mandurah could be washed away by 2150, according to dramatic climate change modelling.

The potential devastation is laid bare in a new website, Coastal Risk Australia, which allows users to visualise what the impact of rising sea levels could be.

Experts at two Australian mapping companies, FrontierSI and NGIS Australia, created the website by plugging in modelling from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change which predicted the behaviour of ice sheets.

The IPCC has predicted that sea levels could rise by 0.84 metres by 2100, if high carbon emissions continue.

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All of Busselton could be washed away in the worst case scenario modelling.
Camera IconAll of Busselton could be washed away in the worst case scenario modelling. Credit: David Johns/Coastal Risk Australia 2100

The experts also used Google Earth Engine technology to visually depict how higher sea levels would impact the Australian coastline.

Users can zero in on any coastal location for which there’s data and look at what would happen with an increase of 0.84 metres.

They can also manually adjust the maps to see the impact of any sea level rise between zero and ten metres.

The maps show a chilling vision of what could happen by the turn of next century to large stretches of riverfront land along the Swan and Canning rivers and coastal Perth suburbs - locations that are usually home to the wealthiest in the city.

Huge areas of Rockingham and Mandurah would be lost.
Camera IconHuge areas of Rockingham and Mandurah would be lost. Credit: David Johns/Coastal Risk Australia 2100

A big chunk of North Fremantle, the Crown Perth site, Hillarys, Coogee, Rockingham, Mandurah and Kwinana are all set to be inundated.

The experts also warn of inundation in interstate tourist attractions like Cairns and Hindmarsh Island.

Flooding is also more likely in the streets of North Fremantle, St Kilda and Docklands, and Lauderdale in Tasmania.

“The Coastal Risk Australia tool aims to place scientific modelling into the hands of the people so they can see for themselves how the areas they live in could be impacted in the future by climate change,” said Graeme Kernich, CEO of FrontierSI, in a statement.

Westfield Carousel shopping centre would be no longer.
Camera IconWestfield Carousel shopping centre would be no longer. Credit: David Johns/Coastal Risk Australia 2100

Sea level rises of up to 30cm by 2050 are already assured, but scenarios beyond then depend on choices made by global communities to reduce emissions, says Nathan Eaton, executive director of NGIS Australia.

The interactive map can be found here.

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