USGS - Most Beaches On Hawaii's 3 Largest Islands In Retreat; 9% Loss In Past Century

[hatrack]

EDIT

Most beaches on the state’s three largest islands are eroding, and the erosion is likely to accelerate as sea levels rise, the United States Geological Survey is reporting.

Though average erosion rates are relatively low — perhaps a few inches per year — they range up to several feet per year and are highly variable from island to island and within each island, agency scientists say. The report says that over the last century, about 9 percent of the sandy coast on the islands of Hawaii, Oahu and Maui has vanished. That’s almost 14 miles of beach.

The findings have important implications for public safety, the state’s multibillion-dollar tourism economy and the way of life Hawaiians treasure, said Charles H. Fletcher, who led the work for the agency. “This is a serious problem,” said Dr. Fletcher, a geologist at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Sea level does not rise uniformly around the world, and so far, Dr. Fletcher and other geologists said in interviews, Hawaii has escaped some of the rise that has occurred elsewhere as earth’s climate warms. But that situation is unlikely to continue, the report says.

EDIT

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/15/science/hawaiis-beaches-are-in-retreat-and-way-of-life-may-follow.html?_r=1

[AtheistCrusader]

1. Isn't this... yanno... expected?

On a long enough timeline, erosion will eventually reduce those islands to nothing.

By all means, inhibit human behavior that is contributing to that erosion, but people should keep in mind, Hawaii won't last forever, regardless, if we allow nature to take it's course.

[happyslug]

2. This erosion has NOTHING to do with Global Warming

The Hawaii Islands are the product of the Pacific Plate flowing over a "Hot Spot". Presently the "Hot Spot" is centered in the big island, which is EXPANDING do the lava flows from the Volcano on the Big Island.

In the geological past, the various islands have flow over the "Hot Spot" and was in turn made bigger and bigger. Then the island moved away from the "Hot Spot" and lost its ability to expand. The next island in the chain became the island that grew till it in turn flowed from the spot the "Hot Spot" is at.

This is HOW all of the Islands of Hawaii were formed, and once the the island was NO longer over the "Hot Spot" it started to erode. Technically the island started to erode as soon as it was formed, but as long as the "Hot Spot" was adding lava to that island, it grew. Once the Volcano on that island went extinct, erosion continued, but with no new lava flows, each island became smaller and smaller. Thus the smallest island is the WeSt of the Chain, with the largest, the Big Island, in the East.

My point is this erosion of the beeches of Hawaii has NOTHING to do with global warming (Or the effect is very minimal) compared to the effect of erosion by waves of the ocean hitting these islands and beeches.

More on the Hawaii Hot Spot:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaii_hotspot

List of Islands of "Hawaii" starting with the big island, then going West to Midway (remains of an extinct volcano, through with a huge addition of Coral). to the Mejii Seamount (an island so eroded it is no longer above sea level) near the Aleutian chain and Siberia.

My point is the erosion of these island is a product of they being ISLANDS, global warming is NOT a factor in this erosion.

[FogerRox]

3. And that chain of islands are clearly visible on a map

http://labspace.open.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=434375