Vanishing Island

[Hugo930]

Beautiful photographs of a vanishing island. I'm posting it in here hoping that people see the beauty in the photos and skip the politics behind why the island is vanishing.

On the shore of a vanishing island – CNN Photos - CNN.com Blogs

[Tervuren]

Looks a lot like the woods out behind my parent's place. Every few years I walk through there, the erosion from water flow has it looking quite different each time.

Every now and then, you get some cool under ground flows, you can hear them when they rain, but you won't see anything. When the water level starts to go down, I look around for the exit, then try to trace the entrance. As a kid, some of these were big enough I could crawl into, they opened up into under ground rooms held up by the roots of trees, you could see sunlight in places the dirt was thin.

Dirt piles up, dirt gets washed away, the whole landscape keeps changing whenever I walk back there.

Here's one from a few years ago, a "window' had caved in giving me a shot up to the entrance with enough light to see it. Prior to the cave in, this was about 15 feet long.

[sammyg2]

According to NOAA, the seal levels in that region have risen just under 2 1/2" over the past 100 years and are rising .025" per year, that's about the thickness of 5 pieces of newspaper.
To blame that on global warming is a freaking lie intended to deceive the ignorant and uninformed and it's working.
Sea Level Trends

The mean sea level trend is 0.66 mm/year with a 95% confidence interval of +/- 0.50 mm/year based on monthly mean sea level data from 1969 to 2007 which is equivalent to a change of 0.22 feet in 100 years.

[Flieger]

So sammy, tell us. Why is the sea level rising?

[Tervuren]

Originally Posted by Hugo930

and skip the politics behind why the island is vanishing.

Sammy(and Flieger), what part of this did you miss?

Hugo, you might of should of could of tried to find an article without the religious GW mumbo jumbo if you wanted to skip politics, people are bound to bite on that one way or the other.

[Flieger]

Hey, sammy started it. I just couldn't resist. If the world is not warming then how is the sea level rising? Never mind why the world is warming. If it's not warming, why is the sea level rising? Maybe the land is sinking?

[Icemaster]

Doesnt mean you have to rise to the bait.

[Flieger]

The first time I heard about these little islands that are being swallowed up by the sea was a few years ago. Tuvalu:

Tuvalu - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tuvalu consists of three reef islands and six true atolls. Its small, scattered group of atolls have poor soil and a total land area of only about 26 square kilometres (less than 10 sq. mi) making it the fourth smallest country in the world. The islets that form the atolls are very low lying. Nanumanga, Niutao, Niulakita are reef islands and the six true atolls are Funafuti, Nanumea, Nui, Nukufetau, Nukulaelae and Vaitupu. Funafuti is the largest atoll of the nine low reef islands and atolls that form the Tuvalu volcanic island chain. It comprises numerous islets around a central lagoon that is approximately 25.1 kilometres (15.6 miles) (N–S) by 18.4 kilometres (11.4 miles) (W-E), centred on 179°7’E and 8°30’S. On the atolls, an annular reef rim surrounds the lagoon with several natural reef channels.[43]

The eastern shoreline of Funafuti Lagoon was modified during World War II when the airfield (what is now Funafuti International Airport) was constructed. Several piers were also constructed, beach areas were filled and deep water access channels were excavated. These alterations to the reef and shoreline resulted in changes to wave patterns with less sand accumulating to form the beaches as compared to former times and the shoreline now exposed to wave action. Several attempts to stabilize the shoreline have not achieved the desired effect.[44] The reefs at Funafuti have suffered damage, with 80 per cent of the coral becoming bleached as a consequence of the increase in ocean temperatures and acidification from increased levels of carbon dioxide.[45] A reef restoration project has investigated reef restoration techniques;[46] and researchers from Japan have investigated rebuilding the coral reefs through the introduction of foraminifer.[47]

The highest elevation is 4.6 metres (15 ft) above sea level on Niulakita,[48] which gives Tuvalu the second-lowest maximum elevation of any country (after the Maldives). However, the highest elevations are typically in narrow storm dunes on the ocean side of the islands which are prone to over topping in tropical cyclones, as occurred with Tropical Cyclone Bebe.[49][50]

Because of the low elevation, the islands that make up this nation are threatened by current and future sea level rise.[51] Additionally, Tuvalu is annually affected by king tide events which peak towards the end of the austral summer, and raise the sea level higher than a normal high tide.[52] As a result of historical sea level rise, the king tide events lead to flooding of low lying areas, which is compounded when sea levels are further raised by La Niña effects or local storms and waves. In the future, sea level rise may threaten to submerge the nation entirely as it is estimated that a sea level rise of 20–40 centimetres (8–16 inches) in the next 100 years could make Tuvalu uninhabitable.[53][54]

[masraum]

The climate of the world changing is not a question. I think you'd have to be a moron to NOT think that the climate of the world changes from time to time. Assigning the climate change to us as the only contributing factor and not understanding that it was going to happen whether we were here or not is the silliness.

[Flieger]

Originally Posted by masraum

The climate of the world changing is not a question. I think you'd have to be a moron to NOT think that the climate of the world changes from time to time. Assigning the climate change to us as the only contributing factor and not understanding that it was going to happen whether we were here or not is the silliness.

That's what I was getting at. I wasn't going to get into a debate about why, only saying that the facts are the facts. Climate is changing. (Pretty quickly on a geologic time scale).

[Porsche-O-Phile]

O.P. = MasterBaiter

Don't indulge. Please. Where's the "oh geez not this schoit again" pic?

[wdfifteen]

I was here a few years ago. Things change. Life adjusts and goes on. There is some sadness that the things we are familiar with change, but what choice do we have but to adjust and move on?

The coastline is disappearing a few meters each year, and what started with a small collection of houses and a lighthouse, only the lighthouse remains today, the rest of the constructions were either eaten by the sea, or demolished to keep the area safe for visitors. It is estimated that the lighthouse will fall into the sea, within the next 10 years, maybe less.

Abandoned Lighthouse, Denmark | Retronaut

[Flieger]

You're right. I didn't look at who the OP was.

[Seahawk]

Water in motion is an inexorable power.

[Hugo930]

The pics are stunningly beautiful, nothing else. Enjoy them for what they are.

Nothing else was meant by it.

[Flieger]

They may be striking, but I would not call them beautiful. They look very staged as well, with the people standing on the little plots of land in the middle of the water.

[Hugo930]

Yes, they are all staged. If you have a scale in which one end is photojournalism and at the other end, fine art, these photos sit on the fine art side but with heavy influence from journalism.

There are a great many artist that have worked and continue on making beautiful images from dire situations. The great part, in my opinion, on this type of work is that you can simply look at them from a fine art's perspective or you can also get involved in the politcal message. Either one or I guess, none.

I figured that car guys that are heavy into aesthetics would simple enjoy their beauty. Alas, I was wrong.

[Flieger]

I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Me being an engineer, this doesn't really strike me as something I'd want to frame and put on my wall. But that's just me.

I would say they are powerful, but I prefer photography that is not staged. Seeing the people in an unrealistic situation detracts from it for me.

[vas930]

Thanks for the pics, Hugo.

[Hugo930]

Thanks Vas, you have great taste in porsche's.

Flieger, I appreciate your comments.