Tuvalu isn't sinking, it's growing: study

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Tuvalu isn't sinking, it's growing: study

Newswire   

9 February 2018

 

High tides and rising sea levels have long thought to be slowly overwhelming the tiny Pacific Island nation of Tuvalu, but new research shows its land area to be expanding.

 

A study from the University of Auckland used aerial photos going back as far as 1943, photo collections from 1971 and 1984, and updated satellite imagery from 2004 to 2014, to compare how the shoreline of each of Tuvalu's 101 islands across nine atolls changed between 1971 and 2014.

 

Eleven of the remote and sparsely populated country's islands, more than 3700km north of New Zealand, have a permanent human population, with two having a population of more than 600.

 

Tuvalu is generally less than three metres above sea level and is often the subject of media scrutiny about the impact of rising seas.

 

However, the new research and mapping shows that Tuvalu has experienced a net increase in land of 2.9 per cent or 73.5 hectares.

 

Overall, 74 per cent of islands in the group - a total of 73 - are larger now than 40 years ago, although sea levels are still on the rise in the region.

 

"We tend to think of Pacific atolls as static landforms that will simply be inundated as sea levels rise, but there is growing evidence these islands are geologically dynamic and are constantly changing," says Professor Kench from the University of Auckland research team.

 

"The study findings may seem counterintuitive given that sea level has been rising in the region over the past half-century, but the dominant mode of change over that time on Tuvalu has been expansion, not erosion."

Tuvalu could be habitable a century from now, he said.

 

"On the basis of this research, we project a markedly different trajectory for Tuvalu's islands over the next century and while we recognise that habitability rests on a number of factors, loss of land is unlikely to be a factor in forcing depopulation of Tuvalu."

 

Source:   https://nz.news.yahoo.com/tuvalu-isnt-sinking-growing-study-100035361--spt.html

 

 

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