Rising Sea Levels Swallow 5 Pacific Islands

Scientists' warnings that climate change will cause rising sea levels to swallow large swaths of land is playing out in the Solomon Islands. At least five islands there have plunged completely below the ocean's surface over the past several decades. Numerous others in the South Pacific island nation appear to be headed for a similar fate, a new study has found. “It’s a perfect storm,” co-author Simon Albert of the University of Queensland study told New Scientist. "There’s the background level of global sea-level rise, and then the added pressure of a natural trade wind cycle that has been physically pushing water into the Western Pacific." This sovereign island nation northeast of Australia is no stranger to the threats that man-made climate change has brought on. The "global sea-level rise hotspot" has seen ocean levels rise 7-10 mm per year -- three times the global average, according to the study. And what's happening in the Solomon Islands may be a dark preview of what the future has in store for island communities and coastal cities around the globe. Albert and his team analyzed aerial and satellite imagery of 33 islands dating back to 1947 for their study, published in the journal Environmental Research Letters. They found that five -- Kale, Rapita, Rehana, Kakatina and Zollies -- along the northern coast of Isabel island have vanished, most of them as early as 2002. Six others, including t...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - Category: Science Source Type: news