Urban land area where elevation is below 5 meters (sq. km) - Central America & the Caribbean

Definition: Urban land area below 5m is the total urban land area in square kilometers where the elevation is 5 meters or less.

Description: The map below shows how Urban land area where elevation is below 5 meters (sq. km) varies by country in Central America & the Caribbean. The shade of the country corresponds to the magnitude of the indicator. The darker the shade, the higher the value. The country with the highest value in the region is Puerto Rico, with a value of 432.93. The country with the lowest value in the region is Grenada, with a value of 1.54.

Source: Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN)/Columbia University. 2013. Urban-Rural Population and Land Area Estimates Version 2. Palisades, NY: NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC). http://sedac.ciesin.columbia.e

See also: Country ranking, Time series comparison

More maps: Africa | Asia | Central America & the Caribbean | Europe | Middle East | North America | Oceania | South America | World |

Development Relevance: Scientists use the terms climate change and global warming to refer to the gradual increase in the Earth's surface temperature that has accelerated since the industrial revolution and especially over the past two decades. Most global warming has been caused by human activities that have changed the chemical composition of the atmosphere through a buildup of greenhouse gases - primarily carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. Rising global temperatures will cause sea level rise and alter local climate conditions, affecting forests, crop yields, and water supplies, and may affect human health, animals, and many types of ecosystems.

Statistical Concept and Methodology: Elevation data used to generate the low elevation coastal zones come from the SRTM3 Enhanced Global Map developed by ISCIENCES. The ISCIENCES digital elevation model was created using NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory Shuttle Radar Topography Mission data processed to 3 arc-seconds (SRTM3).

Aggregation method: Sum

Periodicity: Annual