"Sinking" Pacific Islands Begins Rising, Defies Global Warming Predictions
More evidence defying global warming predictions has emerged, this time coming from the south Pacific Ocean.
According to new research, the nation of Tuvalu, a cluster of 101 islands northeast of Australia, has grown over the last four decades.
That is good news, unless you are a climate change alarmist who has perpetuated the notion that these islands would “sink” due to rising sea levels caused by man-made global warming.
For years, left-wing environmentalists have warned that the islands, which are no more than 15-feet above sea level, would be swallowed up by the ocean due to rising sea levels caused by burning fossil fuels that release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
As with most global warming scare tactics, the threat that faces Tuvalu may exist only in the minds of climate change enthusiasts.
The findings, published Friday in the journal Nature Communications, show that the small islands are not sinking — they are getting larger.
Scientists at the University of Auckland in New Zealand who have examined hundreds of aerial photographs of the islands over the last 40 years, reported that the total size of the nation has increased by nearly 3 percent. They report that that islands have gained 181.6 acres of new surface area.
Co-author of the study Paul Kench said the research questioned the theory that the low-lying islands would eventually “sink” as the sea rose.
“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,” he said, according to Phys.org.
“The study findings may seem counter-intuitive, given that (the) 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,” he added.
The study did reveal that man-made efforts, such as seawalls and shore reclamation, as well as wave patterns and sediment from storms have slowed some coastal erosion, but added that perhaps it was time to rethink what is considered a real threat to the islands.
In addition, the research revealed that reef islands adjust to shifting sediments, meaning they may be able to cope with any rising sea levels.
Bench said the research changed dire predictions for the islands.
“On the basis of this research we project a markedly different trajectory for Tuvalu’s islands over the next century than is commonly envisaged,” he said.
He added, “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.”
It will be difficult for climate change activists to challenge the fact that the islands are growing, but we doubt that will stop them from using their alarmist tactics in the future.
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