This is scientific American's 60 second science.

I'm Christopher Intagiyata.

The big hurricanes last summer, Harvey, Irma, and Maria, knocked out internet service for many residents.

But another threat to the internet is just plain old sea level rise.

Oh yeah, I mean, something is already happening.

Carol Barford, a biogeo chemist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

There's a lot of data out there that shows that sea level on the coast is rising.

And that, she says, means big problems for internet connectivity in major coastal cities like New York, Seattle, and Miami.

Barford and her colleagues forecast that danger using a map of global Internet networks

along with sea level rise data from NOAA.

So there are two maps. Where's the Internet stuff? along with sea level rise data from NOAA.

So there are two maps.

Where's the internet stuff and where's the flooding?

And they were superimposed and where they coincide.

There are problems.

Using NOAA's extreme sea level rise estimate,

recommended for forecasts involving long-term infrastructure like this,

the researchers say that 15 years from now,

4,100 miles of fiber optic cable could be underwater and 1,100 internet hubs could be surrounded

by water. And remember, our land-based infrastructure isn't waterproof like trans oceanic cables are.

See water comes in and cabling is not meant to work under water.

So signals will be interrupted and dropped, you know, the actual infrastructure itself might deteriorate.

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