Pacific islands ‘growing not shrinking’ due to climate change

Paul Chapman
Telegraph
June 4, 2010

• A d v e r t i s e m e n t

Scientists have been surprised by the findings, which show that some islands have grown by almost one-third over the past 60 years.

Among the island chains to have increased in land area are Tuvalu and neighbouring Kiribati, both of which attracted attention at last year’s Copenhagen climate summit.

In the study, researchers compared aerial photographs and high-resolution satellite images of 27 islands taken since the 1950s.

Only four islands, mostly uninhabited, had decreased in area despite local sea level rises of almost five inches in that time, while 23 stayed the same or grew.

Seven islands in Tuvalu grew, one by 30 per cent, although the study did not include the most populous island.

Read entire article

This article was posted: Friday, June 4, 2010 at 9:04 am

---

---

---

---