Department of Geography, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
Department of Environmental Management, Southern Institute of Technology, Invercargill, New Zealand.
Nat Commun. 2023 Jan 31;14(1):508. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-36171-2.
Global environmental change is identified as a driver of physical transformation of coral reef islands over the past half-century, and next 100 years, posing major adaptation challenges to island nations. Here we resolve whether these recent documented changes in islands are unprecedented compared with the pre-industrial era. We utilise radiometric dating, geological, and remote sensing techniques to document the dynamics of a Maldivian reef island at millennial to decadal timescales. Results show the magnitude of island change over the past half-century (±40 m movement) is not unprecedented compared with paleo-dynamic evidence that reveals large-scale changes in island dimension, shape, beach levels, as well as positional changes of ±200 m since island formation ~1,500 years ago. Results highlight the value of a multi-temporal methodological approach to gain a deeper understanding of the dynamic trajectories of reef islands, to support development of adaptation strategies at timeframes relevant to human security.
全球环境变化被确定为过去半个世纪和未来 100 年珊瑚礁岛屿物理形态变化的驱动因素，给岛国带来了重大的适应挑战。在这里，我们将确定这些最近记录的岛屿变化与工业化前时代相比是否前所未有。我们利用放射性测年、地质和遥感技术，记录了马尔代夫一个珊瑚礁岛屿在千年到十年时间尺度上的动态。结果表明，过去半个世纪以来（±40 米的移动）岛屿的变化幅度与古动力证据相比并非前所未有，古动力证据表明，自岛屿形成以来约 1500 年前，岛屿的维度、形状、海滩的高度以及位置发生了±200 米的大规模变化。结果突出了采用多时相方法的价值，以便更深入地了解珊瑚礁岛屿的动态轨迹，支持在与人类安全相关的时间框架内制定适应战略。
