The Sea Is Higher Than the Netherlands

A quarter of the Netherlands lies below the sea: 25% of its dry land is lower than 0 m NAP, the Dutch sea level. Its lowest point, in the Zuidplaspolder, is 6.76 m below it, beside a tidal river where boats sail at sea level. Even the land the Dutch made out of the sea is below it: the Flevopolder, the largest artificial island in the world, lies about 4 m below sea level (98% of it under 0 m). How it was measured: the official Dutch height model AHN (bare ground at 5 m), sampled in 2 km squares every 10 km across the country: 25.4% of the dry ground is below 0 m NAP (the published figure is about 26%). Flevopolder: 957 km² measured, median -4.0 m. The cross-sections are real height profiles with the heights drawn over 100 times larger than the distances. On the map the sea rises to 0 m over the real heights, and every Dutch field lower than it floods. What is the lowest point in YOUR country? 👇 Heights: AHN (CC0). Aerial photos: Beeldmateriaal Nederland via PDOK (CC BY 4.0). Earth images: NASA Blue Marble. Borders: Natural Earth.