New New Zealand research shows that hundreds of islands in the South Pacific are growing in the ground, despite the rising seas linked to global warming, which threatens so many small archipelago states in the region.
Scientists at the University of Auckland found that atolls in the Marshall Islands and Tuvalu, Tokelau and Kiribati, as well as the Maldives archipelago in the Indian Ocean, have grown in size by up to 8% over the past six decades, despite the uplift. sea level.
And they believe the research can help climate-vulnerable nations adapt to global warming in the future.
The researchers, led by coastal geomorphologist Paul Kench, used satellite imagery of the islands, as well as ground analysis, to monitor the changes.
And they believe that coral reef sediments are responsible for the growth of soil.
"All of the islands and atoll systems that we have studied are predominantly made up of fragments of coral, shells and skeletons of coral reef organisms, which waves have swept away and deposited on the islands," writes Kench on the university's website.
In areas where coral reefs are healthy, sufficient sediment is produced to encourage the growth of the islands.
'One of the notable aspects of the research is that these islands are quite dynamic in a physical sense,' he notes.
Coastal erosion caused by uplift is seen as a major threat to many Pacific communities, in several of which shorelines continue to recede.
10% of the islands studied in the research have lost ground.
He argues that a better understanding of which islands are growing and which are suffering erosion can help Pacific nations adapt to climate change.
"This gives island nations a chance to adopt adaptation strategies, where to focus further development, possibly choosing those islands that we can demonstrate are actually growing on the surface," he adds.
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