The Maldives Islands is being swallowed alive!
The Islands consists of 1,192 coral islands grouped in a double chain of 26 atolls, along the north-south direction, spread over roughly 90,000 square kilometres (35,000 sq mi), making this one of the world's most dispersed countries. It lies between latitudes 1°S and 8°N, and longitudes 72° and 74°E. The atolls are composed of live coral reefs and sand bars, situated atop a submarine ridge 960 kilometres (600 mi) long that rises abruptly from the depths of the Indian Ocean and runs north to south.
Most atolls of the Maldives consist of a large, ring-shaped coral reef supporting numerous small islands. Islands average only one to two square kilometers in area, and lie between one and 1.5 meters above mean sea level. Although some of the larger atolls are approximately 50 kilometers long from north to south, and 30 kilometers wide from east to west, no individual island is longer than eight kilometers. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_the_Maldives)
Many sceptics have said that The Maldives Islands will be underneath the ocean in a couple thousand of years. However others have said the parts of the island is growing and the human intervention will have prolong the effect of survival of the island.
Hypothesis:
I surmise that the Islands will eventually be overtaken by the rising seas. Due to the changes on earth and the glacial effect causing the seas to rise.
Scientists say this nation is sinking at a rate of 0.9cm a year and that within 100 years almost 80 per cent of the islands, which sit just one meter above sea level (making it the lowest country on earth) will be under water.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/02/150213-tuvalu-sopoaga-kench-kiribati-maldives-cyclone-marshall-islands/
Climate change and rising sea levels are of great concern to the Maldives, which is only 8 feet above sea level at its highest point. As global warming causes the polar ice caps melt and sea levels to rise, the Maldives' entire existence is in jeopardy.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC) estimates that average global sea levels will rise by between 0.09cm and 0.37m (3.5 to 14.6 inches). Along with rising sea levels, increased beach erosion, more powerful storms, higher storm surges, and threats to biodiversity are among the major threatens to the Maldives due to climate change over the coming decades. (http://www1.american.edu/ted/ice/maldives.htm)
Scientist say that coral reefs are expanding and growing but not enough to compensate to the rising sea levels.
The Maldive islands are doing their part to combat the environment changes, and adjust themselves to new equilibriums. But there may come a point when they can no longer do that, and we don't know when that point will be reached. The biggest fear island people have is not knowing what will happen beyond that point.
Landscape of Maldives Islands 10,000 years from now: Using simple math: 0.03ft/300 = 1/10,000years( .03ft per year rising water levels x10,000 years- I have concluded that the sea will rise 300 ft within the time frame.
(I felt this was a relatively true picture of what The Maldives Islands would be in 10,000 years.)
Landscape of the Maldive islands One Million years from now: .03ft/30,000=1/1,000,000( .03x 1,000,000=30,000 ft in One million years.) I concluded that the Maldives Islands will be under water by 30,000 ft. I know that number might be unrealistic due to that there isn't enough ice on the globe to do rise the sea levels close to Mt. Everest heights. But after a million years my simple projection will be that the Islands might not exist and will be reminiscent of the yester-years.
Landscape of the Maldive Islands 10 million years from now: This is something that was hard to wrap my head around as 10, million years from now, we could have a major shift north and south poles again. We could have a major ice age and the polar ice caps could freeze again and the sea levels could subside back to normal levels, we could have more natural disasters that eventually erode the island completely. But my thoughts is that after 10 million years the Island of the Maldives will be a very different place.
Final Thoughts:
I think that our world is changing, with the polar ice caps melting, scientists feel that the coral reefs on the Maldive Islands are going yet they are being pummeled by erosion from storms and monsoons yet they are combating the climate change by promoting zero emissions and have strict laws on pollution. However the human intervention of trying to protect them from the rising levels of the sea maybe only a temporary solution to an even greater problem that we face. They are taking preventative measures, but we will only see greater results if more countries participate. Time will only tell, and The Maldives is running out of time.
Sources :
Allen, C. (2016). Lecture 22: Coastal Landscapes, Personal Collection of C. Allen, University of Colorado Denver, Denver, CO.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/02/150213-tuvalu-sopoaga-kench-kiribati-maldives-cyclone-marshall-islands/
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/02/150213-tuvalu-sopoaga-kench-kiribati-maldives-cyclone-marshall-islands/--
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_the_Maldives
