In October 2018, the Pacific Ocean brewed one of most intense hurricanes ever recorded,
AND it hit one of the most remote places in the world.
With so much force, it eliminated an entire island overnight.
But this isn't the first time an island has vanished.
It's part of a trend, so what's behind it?
The island we’re talking about is East Island, located about 890 km northwest of Honolulu,
Hawaii.
It may not seem like much - only 11-acres, but it’s part of one of the world’s largest
protected marine areas.
The region was home to diversity rarely found anywhere else on earth.
It was a nesting ground for over 95% of the Hawaiian endangered green sea turtle population
and about 200 critically endangered Monk seals visit the area each year.
Or used to?
And considering there’s only 1,400 of these monk seals left in the state, it’s a big
deal.
East island is now a mere 46 meter patch of sand and scientists estimate about 95% of
the islet is underwater.
Scientists don’t know if this critical habitat will bounce back anytime soon, and are very
concerned, since islands just don’t disappear overnight, right?
It takes years and years of erosion.
But islands are disappearing faster and it’s becoming more common.
Scientists have observed entire islands swallowed whole from sea level rise in a matter of a
few short years.
From 2007 to 2014 alone, 6 low-lying islands in Micronesia vanished without a trace.
Those were uninhabited, but as recently as 2017, people of the Carteret Islands of Papua
New Guinea are leaving their island homes for higher ground.
As they avoid the rising sea levels, they also face dying trees, scarcity of food, and
freshwater.
They aren't the only ones either.
The Maldives, Fiji, Marshall Islands, Republic of Kiribati, and Torres Strait Islands are
all being affected by rising sea Island nations across the globe are facing these same obstacles
because they’re the most vulnerable to the results of climate change
But wait, East Island didn't disappear from sea level rise, that was the fault of Hurricane
Walaka.
Well there’s a connection, because sea level rise can actually make the consequences of
hurricanes worse.Higher sea levels means stronger storm surges, which create higher floods of
water that move further inland.
Like the one that hit East Island that came from Hurricane Wakala.
Hurricane Walaka was actually one of two major tropical storms in the pacific; one on each
side of the ocean that reached Category 5 at the same time meaning they were forming
over 250 kilometer per hour winds.
Not only is this intense, but it’s highly unusual behavior.
On top of that, Hurricane Walaka was much further north than most hurricanes travel.
Scientists speculate that’s because the Pacific’s waters are warming.
See, typically hurricanes are near the equator because that’s where warmer waters are.
Tropical storms form when warm air rises from warm water, causing low air pressure underneath
it.
Nearby, higher pressure air will then push into the low air pressure, and that new air
becomes warm and rises up.
Nearby air will then come in and take the warm air’s place as it rises.
In the upper atmosphere the warm air cools down and creates clouds.
This becomes a swirling system of hot and cold air being fed by the ocean’s heat and
water evaporation.
In theory more energy is released into the storm when there is a larger temperature between
the warm water and upper atmosphere.
Although climate scientists debate and can’t directly link storms to climate change, they
all agree that warm waters also cause stronger storms.
And let’s face it, the pacific ocean is getting mighty toasty.
It turns out that 2017 was a record-breaking year for ocean waters.
But hurricanes are not just getting severe in some far off distance place in the Pacific,
we can see the intensity from the Atlantic as well.
The recent North Carolina hurricane dropped over 75 cm of water on parts of North Carolina
and many areas were flooded and blocked off.
As for East Island, we’ll see how it fairs.
NOAA will monitor the islands progress to see how the animals respond to their habitat
loss, and what they find will help them manage the species.
Some monk seals can already be seen lifting themselves up on the small patch left behind.
So yes, sea levels are rising, hurricanes are getting worse, and they’re wiping places
off the map.
While we can’t witness what’s going on beyond our backyards..it’s all happening
right now, even if we can’t see it.
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Want updates on the status of your earth, subscribe!
And check out this video to hear what happens if global temperatures get too warm by just
2 degrees celsius.
It’s a doozy.
Also the strongest hurricane ever recorded in history was Hurricane Patricia back in
2015 which reached up to 346 kilometer per hour winds.
Thanks for watching and I’ll see you next time on Seeker