Atolls in the Pacific nations of Marshall Islands and Kiribati, as well as the Maldives archipelago in the Indian Ocean, have grown up to 8 percent in size over the past six decades despite sea level rise
A study of over 700 islands for decades shows that even though seas are rising faster than any time in the last million years, somehow no islands with people on are shrinking. This means there are no climate change refugees from any vanishing island. 1
The data, which covers 30 Pacific and Indian Ocean atolls reveals that no atoll lost land area and that 88.6% of islands were either stable or increased in area, while only 11.4% contracted. 2
As Joanne Nova succinctly noted, “The oceans were supposed to be swallowing up the islands. The models did not predict that the islands would grow in size.” 3
