Not that I give a shit about what douchebag Trump says because he’s bullshitting like usual, but to his credit it does bring up a neat math problem.
My best approximation of a comparison model would be something like this:
Get an elevation survey of the coast of the continental US from a reliable and detailed enough source, like USGS. If you have waaay too much time on your hands you can include islands, Alaska, Hawaii, and outlying territories.
Pick two levels above sea level to represent the before and after.
Draw a line that corresponds to the first countour closest to the ocean that is at or exceeds the level you picked. Do this for the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts.
Fully enclose the lines using the Canadian border in the northwest and northeast corners, and the Mexican border in the Southwest and Southeast.
Repeat this step at the second selected level. Use the same corner points as previously to avoid distorting the results from the size of the continent. Draw the closest line from the border point to the corner point or the closest point along the Canada/Mexico lines if you want to avoid crossing over the shape.
Find the difference in the areas between the two enclosed shapes.
Maybe some mapping softwares have functions that can do this relatively easily compared more manual methods.
Not that I give a shit about what douchebag Trump says because he’s bullshitting like usual, but to his credit it does bring up a neat math problem.
My best approximation of a comparison model would be something like this:
Maybe some mapping softwares have functions that can do this relatively easily compared more manual methods.
Water goes up = more land covered = less beaches