After Ice app uses NASA data to show climate change
We all have heard about the disastrous effects of climate change, but some have yet to take action because they have not experienced it firsthand. Now, a new app called After Ice has harnessed the power of geolocation, augmented reality (AR) and gathered NASA data to show users exactly how their city will look after the ice melts. The app reveals how many feet of water is predicted for your location with a stream of sea water floating across the screen bubbles and fish will also swim past. After Ice was released to the Apple Store this week in honor of Earth Day on Saturday by a New York-based artist who wanted to help the public 'visualize what is happening to the planet'. 'We have a serious disconnect from important existential issues like global warming and melting glaciers,' said . 'Glaciers live a world away, and in a temporal and spatial scale that evolution has not prepare us to understand.' 'As an artist interested in the existential, and feeling a great sense of urgency, I felt compelled to make this accessible.' After Ice lets users see NASA climate projects in an augmented world through their mobile phones and are presented with two different scenarios. The first highlights what would happen if all of the ice on the planet were to melt an effect that is said to occur far down the road. Guariglia noted that 'if the earth continues to warm, and all the ice melts, there will be over 263 feet of projected sea level rise'. And the other shows what could happen in the not so distant future- in 2080. 'According to the latest projections, the seas will rise by over 6ft (2m) by the 2080s. That's within the lifespan of children alive today,' he shared.' Sea levels have already climbed more than 27 cm in New York City and 38.5 cm along the New Jersey coast just in the 20th century. However, these rates are expected to exceed the global average of up to two feet because 'the East Coast is slowly sinking', explained NASA. And Guariglia used New York City as a test case for the app. Users can also read an explanations of the imminent threat the Big Apple faces as its 8.4 million residents would be a risk once climate change is in full effect. However, although the app warns of the dangers, it also shares tips on what users can do to stop climate change. To see how your city would be affected, simply download After Ice in the App Store and snap photos of the area around you. The app will share how many feet of water is predicted for your location and a augmented reality stream of sea water will flow across the top of the screen bubbles and fish will also swim past. 'We warm the earth, the glaciers melt, and we go under water... Global warming is happening, however it needs to be emotionally felt before people will want to take action,' Guariglia explained. 'I hope this app will at the very least get a conversation going and get some of the science out of the lab, and into people hands.'