Uninhabited Hawaiian Islands Map

Study says many Pacific islands will be made uninhabitable by mid-century by 2010, says Rengger.

Scientists say many Pacific atolls will be untenable between the 2030s and 60s. Floods caused by sea-level rise will affect their potable waters. The islanders need to move or make substantial investment in new infrastructures. Hawaii's north-western islands, Caroline Islands, Cook Islands, Gilbert Islands, Line Islands, Society Islands, Spratly Islands, Maldives and Seychelles are under threat.

In a new survey, wave-driven floods through increasing oceans will make many islands in the Caribbean deserted by the middle of the 20th. According to the report in Science Advance on Wednesday, many islands are confronted with floods every year that will affect their potable supply. "These yearly floods will make the islands untenable due to common infrastructural degradation and the failure of their fresh waters acquifers to recuperate between floods," the report says.

Most of these Pacific atolls are predicted to be untenable at present levels of GHG emissions between 2030 and 2060. Islanders will be compelled to move, or the government will have to make substantial funding investment in new infrastructures to supply the people.

This survey was ordered by the US Department of Defense because many of these islands are home to US bases. You say the survey is pertinent to tens of thousand other islands in the Pacific and Pacific Ocean, as well as the North West Hawaiian Islands, Caroline Islands, Cook Islands, Gilbert Islands, Line Islands, Society Islands, Spratly Islands, Maldives and Seychelles.

"Curt Storlazzi, United States Geological Survey and principal investigator of the new survey, said: "The turning point at which drinking water will not be available in most of the islands will be achieved by the mid-2100s. As Storlazzi noted, other surveys were primarily concerned with sea-level rise, without paying attention to wave-driven floods and floods.

"This information is crucial in assessing several threats and prioritizing our effort to minimize risks and improve the resilience of the Atolls around the globe," said Mr Larlazzi. Scientists find that the most important fresh spring for inhabited islands of the river atolls is the rains that penetrate the soil. "Rainfalls throughout the year are not enough to rinse out the salt waters and freshen up the island's drinking waters before next year's floods repeat," said Stephen Gingerich, co-author of the story and USGS Hydrolog.