Low-lying islands are some of the most vulnerable places on Earth to the impacts of our warming world. Many are being submerged by rising seas, while some have already vanished under the ocean's waters.
What's happening?
Many low-lying islands in the Pacific and Indian Oceans are falling victim to rising sea levels. The islands are only between 3 and 15 feet above sea level.
"When the island completely subsides beneath the water, it leaves a ring of growing coral with an open lagoon in its center, this is called an atoll," according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It can take up to 30 million years for an atoll to form.
One of the building blocks of atolls is calcium carbonate. Certain types of algae, as well as clams, snails, and tiny marine animals, secrete this material.
Calcium carbonate and other types of sediments are pushed into piles by ocean waves to form various-sized islands. Atolls that have experienced a reduction in sediment generation, which is often caused by coral reef decline, are especially at risk.
"They lose the capacity to keep up with sea level rise," University of Auckland ecologist Sebastian Steibl told Yale Environment 360, per Canada's National Observer.
"For an atoll, we need to restore it to survive sea level rise," he added.
Why are vanishing atolls concerning?
The rate of sea level rise has been accelerating, more than doubling during the 30-year period ending in 2023. Global sea levels have risen nearly four inches during that time as the overheating planet melts glaciers and ice sheets.
In addition to threatening atoll islands, rising seas can increase the destructive power of coastal storms, including hurricanes. The storm surges from storms that, in many cases, are being supercharged by our warming world, can push water further inland, causing more damage.
What's being done about protecting atoll islands?
Several scientists, like Steibl, believe advances in fields like geoscience, ecology, and conservation can help save many of the atoll islands.
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Definitely 👍 According to a study conducted by Steibl and an international group of scientists, which was published in the journal Trends in Ecology & Evolution, "The vulnerability of atoll islands to sea level rise is not intrinsically due to their low elevation but primarily due to the loss of their island-building capacity."
"The geophysical processes that control atoll island accretion are being impacted on global and local scales," the study stated. "Protecting and restoring the natural geophysical processes of atoll island accretion through local conservation actions is key to unlocking nature-based opportunities for enhancing atoll resilience to global change."
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