Climate Change and the Lost World of Doggerland

What the study of past climate catastrophes can teach us about the future

From 10,000 to around 8,000 years ago, a landmass called Doggerland, stretching over most of what is today the North Sea, gradually sank beneath the waves. Estimates tell us that the rate of its sinking averaged 3–6 feet every 100 years.

For comparison, in the next century, models are all over the place, of course, but one says we’re looking at 2 feet in the next 100 years, and another says we’re…