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Water why it will not cover the entire planet

• Water shortage. Even if all the glaciers and ice sheets on Earth melt, the level of the World Ocean will rise, according to various estimates, about 60–70 meters. This is enough to flood many coastal cities and low-lying islands, but to cover all the land, including high mountains, this amount of water is catastrophically insufficient. There is simply not enough water on the planet to cover the highest land.
• Land volume. The ocean already covers about 71% of the Earth's surface today. If the surface of the planet were made perfectly flat, there would be enough water to cover it with a layer about 2.7 kilometers deep. However, the land has huge mountain ranges and elevated areas that would even in this hypothetical scenario remain above water.

What will actually happen: the threat to coastal zones

Scientific forecasts do not speak of the complete flooding of land, but of a significant but local rise in water levels, which will become a serious problem for coastal regions:

• Current rise: The level of the World Ocean is rising at an accelerating pace. Over the past 30 years, it has risen about 10 centimeters, and now the speed is about 3.4–5.9 millimeters per year.
• Forecast until 2100: According to scientists, by the end of the century, the sea level may rise by 1–2 meters. This will lead to more frequent flooding and storm surges in many coastal megacities, and some island states may disappear underwater.
• Long-term perspective: Even if all the glaciers melt completely, the level of the ocean may rise by tens of meters. But even in this scenario, we are talking about the flooding of vast coastal territories and low-lying plains, not the complete submersion of all continents.

Looking into the geological past: were there \"water worlds\"?

There were indeed periods in the history of Earth when the level of the ocean was significantly higher.

• Cretaceous period: About 117 million years ago, during the time of dinosaurs, the level of the sea was about 200 meters higher than today. This led to the fact that about 30% of modern land was covered by shallow seas. However, there were also extensive land areas even then.
• Distant past: Some scientists believe that in the early period of the formation of Earth, when continents were just beginning to appear, the ocean could have covered almost the entire planet. But these were completely different geological epochs, with a different volume of water and structure of the Earth's crust.

Conclusion: The complete flooding of land in the foreseeable future is impossible. However, the melting of glaciers and the rise in sea level already represent a real threat to coastal regions and large cities. Instead of a global apocalypse, humanity will have to deal with more local but no less serious problems related to the \"slow flood\" of coasts and the need to adapt to new climatic realities.

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