tuvalu flooding case study

(2020), all of which focused at least primarily on events triggered by distance-source swell waves generated by mid-latitude (temperate) cyclones in the western Pacific (primarily the Federated States of Micronesia, Papua New Guinea, and Solomon Islands), the Maldives, Majuro Atoll (Marshall Islands) and Fiji, respectively, the events in Tuvalu and Kiribati described here are associated with the passage of tropical cyclone (TC) Pam. coral bleaching. The BBC and Radio Australia have also offered consistent coverage. I believe we still have time to make this island very attractive, very beautiful, and continue to be inhabited by generations of Tuvaluans to come.. Lett. In this new study, researchers looked at daily satellite imagery to estimate both the extent of flooding and the number of people exposed to over 900 large flood events between 2000 and 2018 . Sea level rise will have effects around the globe, from large countries such as the USA to many smaller island nations. This resulting proxy for flooding severity was compared to the recorded flooding and erosion impacts; the relative contribution of waves, tides and background sea level to TWL were assessed, as was event duration and wave direction. "What can we do? Get Revising is one of the trading names of The Student Room Group Ltd. Register Number: 04666380 (England and Wales), VAT No. A-Level Geography - Human - Urban Waste. Geophys. Surv. She has been involved in producing various geography modules, such as Environment: Sharing a dynamic planet (DST206), Environment and Society (DD213) and the new module Log into OpenLearn to leave reviews and join in the conversation. The computation of TWLs and associated extreme value analysis (see next) requires an uninterrupted time span of non-tidal sea-level data that corresponds to the wave hindcast (years 19792019) and the astronomical tides calculated in section Astronomical Tides. Within each subplot the event closest to March 15, 2015 (i.e., associated with TC Pam) is highlighted with a red circle. He is raising money to build a new settlement on the Fijian island of Kioa. Social Impacts: Am. 32 & 30 & 35 & 33 & 31 \\ Suva: Pacific Community (SPC). Their homeland is a low-lying country at risk from coastal flooding and therefore vulnerable to climate change. What are the documented case studies about specific Tuvalu people? In the afternoons, people snooze in hammocks for hours, and light campfires on the beaches to fry fish and keep the mosquitoes away. Need a personal essay writer? The mid-range scenario projected 0.5-1.2m of SLR based on different representative concentration pathways (RCP) defined by the IPCC. Kennedy no longer lives in Tuvalu, deciding to make a new home for his family in New Zealand. I am very worried about this very self-defeatist approach to suggest that people from low-lying, at-risk countries could be relocated. Climate-related illnesses that have increased on par with the changing weather include influenza, fungal diseases, conjunctivitis, and dengue fever, according to the hospitals research. ", Storms used to be the most frightening times on the small coral atolls, but now a nice day can also bring disaster for no apparent reason. Patterns of island change and persistence offer alternate adaptation pathways for atoll nations. Tropical Cyclone (TC) Pams track (black line), with maximum hindcast significant wave height (Hs) during the TCs passage (March 617, 2015) indicated in color shading. In a recent essay, former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd suggested Tuvalus citizens could be offered full citizenship in exchange for their countrys maritime and fisheries rights; a proposal rejected by Sopoaga as imperial thinking. It also makes sense from a coastal engineering perspective (coastal defenses are typically designed using wave and/or water level exceedance probabilities); and also with respect to traditional island settlement patterns, although inconsistent coastal management and contemporary changes in settlement patterns may cloud this picture somewhat (Duvat, 2013; Kench et al., 2018). Encroachment from the sea has claimed at least one percent of the 10 square miles of land that make up the archipelago. Overall, TWL and Hb were the highest in the hindcast period, with a calculated empirical AEP of 40 years (the highest possible for the time duration of the hindcasts used in this study) for all islands in Kiribati with recorded impacts (Table 1 and Figure 6). To establish a timeline, choose a location on Tuvalu and find out its elevation. When fish infected with these ciguatera toxins are consumed by humans, it causes an immediate and sometimes severe illness: vomiting, fevers and diarrhoea. Surv. The highest point on any of the islands is only 4.5m above sea level. The variables are the same as in Figure 4. Losi Tuaga, 18, also contemplates and worries about the rising sea levels as tides flood homes, buildings, and parts of the airport, while she stands in ankle deep seawater near her home. Several studies have presented evidence that, despite sea level rise on the order of 20 cm over the last century, atoll islands have not (yet) experienced net erosion and that many may have some capacity to keep up with future SLR (e.g., Webb and Kench, 2010; Beetham et al., 2017; Tuck et al., 2019) through the deposition of reef-derived materials during storm over wash events (e.g., Maragos et al., 1973; Smithers and Hoeke, 2014). (2012). South Florida got some crazy, record-breaking rain and flooding last week. Tuvalus official government policy is to stay on the island come what may. o_lewis15. Formerly known as the Ellice Islands, the nation achieved independence from Great Britain in 1979. (2014), viz: Where Hb is breaking wave height, calculated using a simplified relation to account for wave refraction and shoaling to breaking depth from the (deep water) Hs provided by the wave hindcasts: In Equation 2, the two empirical coefficients b1 and b0 are assumed a value of 0.3 and 0.1, both near the mean value and within the 95% confidence limits for the two study sites examined in Merrifield et al. The island nation consists of four reef islands and five true atolls; it is located halfway between Hawaii and Australia. The nation's chief export of dried coconut meat is threatened. She has previously worked as an Associate Lecturer tutoring on Environment and International Development modules. doi: 10.1029/2018JC014828, Barnett, J., and Adger, W. N. (2003). More frequent coastal flooding is a direct impact of sea-level rise. But now there is evidence of climate change. Surv. 1. RKH was supported in this research by the CSIRO Climate Science Centre and by the Earth Systems and Climate Change (ESCC) Hub, funded through the Australian Governments National Environmental Science Program. (2017), Ford et al. Plans for adapting to climate change include the ongoing and much delayed construction of a sea wall to protect the administrative centre of the capital, funded by the UNDP. Mother Jones, Time, The Smithsonian, National Geographic, and Science are just some of the magazines that have given it space between their covers. It thus neglects any approximations of local wave transformations required to predict sub-island scale extreme water levels and subsequent flooding. We have to wait and see what's happening. In addition, its remote location means tourism and the related service industries are mainly non-existent. Geology 47, 803806. About a of animals and plants on Earth could become extinct. Lett. They are interested in predicting how much the sea will rise over the next century, so that coastal planners and engineers can prepare by implementing measures to enable entire regions to adapt to the effects of changing climate. Article written by Wing Ki Leung and Owen Mulhern. Sci. Oceans 124, 38493858. Fifty metres away, palm trees lie scattered across a rocky, coral strewn beach, turning grey in the hot sun, their twisted, decaying root systems facing skywards. Tuvalu: Tropical Cyclone Pam Situation Report No. Figure 7. At Tuvalus Bureau of Meteorology, situated on the edge of the runway with pig pens to its left and the countrys prison to its right (home to just six inmates) Nikotemo Iona and his small team are working overtime as they crunch the latest rainfall measurements. 32 & 28 & 30 & 31 & 31 \\ Now it's like lakes," said Hilia Vavae, local meteorologist. Whilst in the dry season (June to September) increasing droughts in are putting the source of fresh water, rainfall, at risk. & Strauss, B. H. (2019). All rights reserved. At this time, the islands became known as the Ellice Islands and in 1915-1916, the islands were formally taken over by the British and formed a part of the colony called Gilbert and Ellice Islands. Therefore, the country has no known mineral exports and it is largely unable to produce agricultural exports, making it dependent on imported goods. TCs which were matched with TWL and/or Hb events above the 99.5th quantile threshold (i.e., those plotted in Figures 4, 5) are plotted in color, indicating along-track maximum sustained winds; other cyclones are plotted in gray. Finally, it should be reiterated that at all locations, background sea levels (SL) were the highest or among the highest on record (+0.1 m) during the TC Pam events. Event duration at Nui (Figure 5) was also among the top three events, and likely contributed to the extensive erosion recorded at many of the locations in Tuvalu, as in Kiribati. Hb and TWL events which occurred during or up to 5 days after TCs which occurred within 5 days of empirical AEP events are labeled as such in Figure 6 and these TCs tracks are plotted in Figure 7. to access more details of Managing coastal environments, to access more details of Plastics in our ocean, BSc (Honours) Geography and Environmental Science. Boxing Day Tsunami Case Study. Vicious storms will become more frequent and hot climates could see a drastic rise in their mean temperatures. Tropical cyclone creates a new land formation on Funafuti atoll. Smithers, S. G., and Hoeke, R. K. (2014). Soil salination is a problem because it is making it difficult to get clean drinking water and is harming crops as they cannot grow with the saltier water. We used the high-end value of each scenario (mild = 1m; extreme = 2.5m). Salvilivili has already been abandoned due to the rapidly rising sea levels In 2000, the country was involved in a climate change controversy. According to local climate data, Iona says the biggest impacts of climate change on Tuvalu have been rising air temperatures, more intense and frequent storm surges and decreasing rainfall, as well as the total inundation of low-lying coastal parts of Funafuti including, sometimes, the countrys lifeline, its runway. Warmer temperatures and changing rainfall will make it harder to produce a reliable source of food to sustain a rising global population. E.g. Around the world and in a variety of languages, Tuvalu is a topic for discussion. (2007). Nightclubs, restaurants and hotels are also being raised. Mitigation of climate change could be achieved by the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions or the enhancement of carbon sinks, where carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere, such as by increasing tree cover. Selection of learning objectives, discussion questions, and activities can be customized based on audience and time allowance. The National Tidal Centre (NTC) claimed that after seven years of measurements, the sea level at Funafuti, the capital of the country, had actually fallen by 86.9 mm since 1993. Impact of climate change. It is in Oceania south of Kiribati and halfway between Australia and Hawaii. One of the smallest islands, called Te Pukasavilivili actually disappeared in 1997. "Geography and History of Tuvalu." What are the ways (if any) that the people of Tuvalu know the land is flooding? Glob. Nature 558, 396400. To assess impacts, three different categories of sea level information were used in this analysis: wind-waves, astronomical tides, and non-tidal sea-level. Island nations/archipelagos in the area are labeled and their exclusive economic zones (Flanders Marine Institute, 2019), indicated with gray lines. Starchy Pacific Island staples such as taro and cassava now have to be imported at great expense, along with most other food. The housewife and mother of five decamps from her airless concrete home to catch the breeze in a simple wooden shack by the waters edge. Region and locations indicated in Table 1. Nausaleta Setani, Franks aunt, sleeps beside the lagoon at night in the wooden shack, using a float buoy as a pillow. Fiji has repeatedly offered land to the Tuvaluan government to relocate their population 1,200km south, an offer the Sopoaga government has not accepted. In addition, copra (the dried flesh of a coconut used in making coconut oil) is a major part of Tuvalu's economy. Its tiny land mass and a narrow resource base are the major constraints that have restricted Tuvalus economy. "There is a change in the sea level," he said. It consists of five coral atolls and four reef islands but none are more than 15 feet (5 meters) above sea level. We cannot just say, Kick these people out. It is too simplistic and defeatist an approach, says Sopoaga. Nat. Location:In the Pacific Ocean, North-East of Australia. Data 6:77. doi: 10.1038/s41597-019-0083-9, Rueda, A., Cagigal, L., Pearson, S., Antolnez, J. Probabilistic 21st and 22nd Century Sea-Level Projections at a Global Network of Tide-Gauge Sites. "It's limp. The fish too, the stuff of life here, have become suspect. (2011). An awareness event about climate change. However, these meta-model and statistical nearshore wave transformation models require detailed spatial data on reef morphology (reef flat widths, shoreline orientations, and slopes, etc.) 2. A., Brown, S., Vellinga, P., de Gusmo, D., et al. 95% confidence limits are indicated with dotted lines. Ocean acidification is reducing fish stocks The Dp (peak wave direction) associated with the event is taken as that occurring at the time of the peak (maximum) CgE. "A big wave came ashore and covered the land. "I'm worried about the islands," said one woman with tears in her eyes. Other studies have suggested that rates of SLR will outstrip reefs accretion rates (Perry et al., 2018), and that in any case, the increased frequency and severity of inundation will make most atoll islands uninhabitable within a few decades (e.g., Storlazzi et al., 2018). The New Zealand government established an immigration program called the Pacific Access Category to help qualifying Tuvaluans start over in a safer environment. 1. Tropical Cyclone Pam: A Report on the Coastal Inundation Assessment Undertaken in Vanuatu Using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). Case Study 1 - Tuvalu - Impacts of Climate Change on DEVELOPING country Location: In the Pacific Ocean, North-East of Australia. Clim. They also want their way of life captured for future generations, before the old ways are gone forever. https://www.thoughtco.com/geography-and-history-of-tuvalu-1435673 (accessed May 1, 2023). Geophys. Some coastal countries are now disappearing such as the Maldives in the Indian Ocean. Washington, DC: USAID. a group of nine small islands in the South Pacific. (2013). A global wave hindcast focussed on the central and south pacific. Even if the locals could plant successfully, there is now not enough rain to keep even simple kitchen gardens alive. Recall that 606060 randomly selected shoppers have rated a new bottle design for a popular soft drink. 14. The horizon is flat, and dominated by sea; sea that presses at you from every side. Get Revising is one of the trading names of The Student Room Group Ltd. Register Number: 04666380 (England and Wales), VAT No. Glasgow 2021 (COP26) - Tauala Katea talks of the ten feet of beachfront that have disappeared on the island of Vaitupu over the last ten years. Amanda Briney, M.A., is a professional geographer. 9 Articles, This article is part of the Research Topic, https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2020.539646, https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2020.539646/full#supplementary-material, https://data.csiro.au/collections/collection/CIcsiro:6616v8, https://www.ecmwf.int/en/research/climate-reanalysis/ocean-reanalysis, https://reliefweb.int/report/tuvalu/tuvalu-cyclone-nina-jan-1993-dha-undro-situation-report-1, https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/vanuatu_tc_pam_hap.pdf, Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). However, in order to determine local sea level rise (SLR), one has to take into account local coastal flood levels which could be 2.8m above Mean Higher-High Water (MHHW) at extreme forecasts. Potential reasons for this discrepancy are discussed later. Why or why Flooding is a significant problem in the Ganges and Brahmaputra river basin. How is climate change affecting water supply? These are detailed in following sub-sections. Warmer temperatures will increase the spread of infectious diseases like malaria. In the southern islands, the aforementioned later onset of elevated Hb, closer to neap tides, lead to lower TWL empirical AEP values relative to that of Hb. "The first wave broke in when I was down the beach feeding my pigs," he said. Unlike the case studies of Hoeke et al. 16. The severity of these remote impacts was not anticipated and poorly forecasted. WHERE. To further investigate the drivers the storm wave events, all regional TCs with maximum sustained winds greater than 48 knots (the lower threshold for category 2 TCs according to the southern hemisphere intensity scale) were queried. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. In more recent years though, the flooding and soil salination have become such a problem in Tuvalu that the government there has made plans to evacuate the entire population to other countries as it is believed that Tuvalu will be completely submerged by the end of the 21st century.

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