Ocean Floor Map

What if sea level dropped 10 m?

2.2 million km² of seabed becomes land, 1.5% of today's land area. Drag the slider on the map to compare other levels.

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Sea level 10 m lower2.2 million km² of seabed becomes land, 1.5% of today's land area. 99.4% of today's sea remains.No land bridge in our list is open yet.

Sea level in metres below today’s. A simple bathtub model: it lowers the sea everywhere by the same amount and does not simulate how the water would really drain.

Key

Sea depth

  • Deeper than 6,000 m
  • 4,000 to 6,000 m
  • 2,000 to 4,000 m
  • 1,000 to 2,000 m
  • 200 to 1,000 m
  • Shallower than 200 m (the continental shelf)

Land height

  • Land up to 500 m
  • 500 to 2,000 m
  • Above 2,000 m

Drain the oceans

  • Seabed exposed when the sea is lowered A dashed white line marks today’s coast.

How to read the map. Darker blue is deeper water. Tap anywhere to see how deep the sea is there, or how high the land is, and the nearest named undersea feature. Depths come from the GEBCO_2026 grid, which in most of the deep ocean is predicted from satellite measurements of the sea surface rather than surveyed by ship, and the map’s tiles are coarser than the grid, so narrow trenches read shallower on the map than their true depth. Not for navigation.

Sea level 10 m lower at a glance

  • 2.2 million km²seabed becomes land
  • 1.5%of today's land area
  • 99.4%of today's sea remains (359.5 million km²)
  • 0of 10 land bridges open

With the sea 10 m lower than today, about 2.2 million km² of seabed becomes land, 1.5% of today's land area. 99.4% of today's sea, about 359.5 million km² of the 361.8 million km² connected to the open ocean, is still under water.

The exposed area counts only seabed connected to the open ocean. Lakes stay water, and basins below sea level on land, such as Death Valley, stay land. It is a simple bathtub model, not a forecast.

Land bridges at this sea level

None of the land bridges in our list is open at this step. The first, Doggerland (North Sea), opens when the sea is 50 m lower.

The list holds 10 places that we checked against the grid. It is not every land bridge there has been.

Seas that shrink most at 10 m lower

Sea, gulf or bayBecomes landShare of its water
Sea of Azov19,232 km²52.3%
Bo Hai16,830 km²22%
Persian Gulf50,200 km²21.1%
Kattegat4,480 km²19.5%
Gulf of Bothnia14,021 km²12.5%
White Sea10,891 km²12.4%
East Siberian Sea70,430 km²11.7%
Visayan Sea1,984 km²11.5%

The Caspian Sea is left out because it is a lake and stays water in this model.

Other sea levels

← All sea levels20 m lower →

Climate zones, then and by 2100, on the Climate Zone Map →

Frequently asked questions

How much land appears if sea level drops 10 m?

About 2.2 million km² of seabed becomes land, which is 1.5% of today's land area (147,036,202 km², lakes excluded). 99.4% of today's sea remains.

Which land bridges open at 10 m?

None of the land bridges in our list is open yet at this step.

Is this a forecast of sea level change?

No. It is a simple bathtub model that lowers the sea everywhere by the same amount, from today's coast, using the GEBCO_2026 grid. It does not simulate how the water would drain, how the land would adjust, or any past or future climate.

Data: land and depths from the GEBCO_2026 grid, lakes from Natural Earth. See data sources and licences. The GEBCO Grid should NOT be used for navigation or for any other purpose involving safety at sea.

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