São João da Barra (Brazil) (AFP) – The Atlantic Ocean advances an average of six meters (nearly 20 feet) a year in Atafona, a small town north of Rio de Janeiro, which has long been prone to extreme erosion — now exacerbated by climate change. The sea has already submerged more than 500 houses, turning the once idyllic coastline into an underwater graveyard of wrecked structures.