Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 32, Number 11, 1 November 2015 — Atolls may be uninhabit able within decades [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Atolls may be uninhabit able within decades

A new study has found the combination of storm-induced wave-driven flooding and sea level

rise on atolls could force people to abandon their islands earlier than previously thouaht. More than half-million

people live on atolls in the Paeihe and Indian Oceans. The U.S. Geological Survey scientists and colleagues at the Deltares Institute in the Netherlands and the Hawai'i Cooperative Studies Unit at University of Hawai'i-Hilo report modeling shows the combination of sea level rise and storm-driven waves will cause twice as mueh land to be flooded than previously predicted. "Many atoll islands will be flooded annually, contaminating the limited freshwater resources with saltwater, and likely forc-

ing inhabitants to abandon their islands within decades, not centuries, as previously thought," said USGS geologist and lead author Curt Storlazzi.

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i fi u Hawaiian plale luneh. - Photo: Courtesy Ryan Kawamoto