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Wave-driven flooding and overwash on Roi-Namur Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands Photo: Peter Swarzenski, U.S.G.S.
Researchers studying climate change have found that despite sea-levels rising, some islands are growing faster and are able to stay ahead of the ocean. Atolls — islands that are situated within rings of coral reefs — are formed by sediments shed by the reefs around them. Scientists believe that many atolls in the Pacific will disappear in the decades to come because of sea-level rise. The team of researchers, who compared aerial photos of certain atolls, was surprised to find that at least some atolls are still increasing their landmass. The researchers focused on Jeh Island in the Marshall Islands, where even though sea levels have risen by 0.3 inches a year since 1993, the island had increased in size by 13 percent, with two separate islands merging.
Why This Matters: This research, funded in part by the U.S. Geological Survey, shows that natural systems can adapt in the face of momentous changes — the sea level at Jeh Island is rising much more each year than in most parts of the world. As one of the authors of the study explained,“We have found islands are resilient in the face of rising seas and that sediment supply to some atolls is out-pacing sea level rise. What we don’t know is how that will play out in coming decades.”
Previous research
Pacific Island nations are acknowledged to be particularly at risk due to climate change. For example, a recent 2018 US Geological Survey study found that many low-lying atolls will be uninhabitable by 2050. Moreover, the Asian Development Bank president Takehiko Nakao said “the four atoll nations — the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu, Kiribati, and the Maldives, which are together home to more than half a million people — were the most vulnerable on the planet to climate change.” But, according to CNN, a number of studies in the last 10 years have shown atolls increasing in size. For example, a 2018 study of 30 Pacific and Indian Ocean atolls, including 709 islands, found that no atoll had lost land area. More than 88% of islands were either stable or increased in area, according to the study. And climate change is still a problem for atolls and their residents — sea level rise causes other threats like more frequent flooding that could deteriorate freshwater reserves and make atolls uninhabitable, as well as tides that could also cause coastal erosion.
New Sedimentation
The researchers also used sediment samples to determine that much of the new sediment that caused the island to grow was added after 1950. “This is the first time we can see the islands form, and we can say the stuff making that island is modern … so it must be coming from the reef around the island,” one of the study’s authors told CNN. “It’s entirely the skeletons of the reef and the organisms that live on it.”
By Eric Schwaab, Senior Vice President, Environmental Defense Fund These are challenging times for our oceans and fisheries. Climate impacts, so evident along our coasts, in our forests, and on our farms, are even more disruptive to our oceans. Fish stocks are shifting at unprecedented rates and in unexpected ways. Fishermen are traveling farther to […]
by Ashira Morris, ODP Staff Writer Along North Carolina’s coast, commercial fishers who used to catch clams are now bringing in marine debris. The four-man crew was contracted by the North Carolina Coastal Federation to haul away debris from Hurricane Florence, which hit the state in 2018. It’s funded by the NOAA Marine Debris Program, […]
by Margaret Spring and Justin Kenney Preparing to take office on January 20, President-elect Joe Biden is building the most qualified and experienced team of experts that any president has assembled to address the climate change crisis. As excited and hopeful as we are about the Biden Administration’s extraordinary climate team, there is a major […]
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