Physical aspects of urban flooding (built and natural environment), Social aspects of urban flooding (people and institutions), Data and informational aspects of urban flooding (forecasts, maps, demographics), and Actions and decision-making aspects of urban flooding. The relative severity of the flooding and erosion impacts amongst the islands and atolls included does not appear to be simply linked to the local values of TWL or breaking wave heights (Hb): e.g., maximum TWLs and Hb heights were significantly smaller (approximately 1.5 m and 30 cm smaller, respectively) in the southern Gilbert Islands (Kiribati) than in Tuvalu (Table 1 and Figure 6), but reported impacts in the affected Gilbert Islands appear to be nearly as bad, perhaps worse in some cases. -Overcrowding due to the huge inter migration to the main 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. This definitely contributed to the overall severity of the event, particularly in Tuvalu. Here in Tuvalu we don't need to refer to reports because we see the evidence with our own eyes every day.". Multiple reports were collated (Table 1) and then a combination of astronomical tidal predictions and numerical wind-wave and sea level hindcasts, spanning from 1979 to the present, were combined using a total water level (TWL) approach (e.g., similar to Dodet et al., 2019), to estimate the climatological conditions and factors contributing to recorded impacts. I feel like this is a part of who I am and I shouldnt just run away from it, even though its disappearing. The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2020.539646/full#supplementary-material, Albrecht, F., Pizarro, O., Montecinos, A., and Zhang, X. Given emissions of greenhouse gases up to 1995, a 5.12 cm rise in sea-level is inevitable. -The citizens are Tuvalu are being evacuation to either WHERE. 1. Sustain. Planet. Ongoing efforts by regional organizations to provide downscaling of these global wave forecast products for Kiribati and Tuvalu could significantly contribute to the generation of island community scale actionable warning information; however, bias correction between forecast products and hindcast/historical products is necessary, and better overall skill assessment of both are needed. doi: 10.1007/s10712-019-09549-5. "Climate Tragedy: If We Drown Tuvalu, We Drown the Entire World" But I understand other countries do what is best for their people. Annual exceedance probability (AEP) plots for selected islands listed in Table 1. These highly elevated values (above the threshold) are noticeably absent for Funafuti, where no impacts were reported during the period; however, Nukufetau and Niulakita also did not report impacts, but experienced highly elevated TWL and Hb, similar to highly impacted neighboring Tuvaluan islands/atolls (Table 1 and Figure 3). The Frank family spend around AU$200 (105) a fortnight on groceries, a bill that keeps rising as the fruit on the trees that ring their modest home breadfruit, bananas and pandanus fail to ripen, and fall to the sandy ground, inedible and rotten. 9, 18. Mother Jones, Time, The Smithsonian, National Geographic, and Science are just some of the magazines that have given it space between their covers. Tuvalu Case Study Continued Now, it is cloudy all the time, and the coral is dead. Peak wave direction (Dp) for each event is indicated by red arrow on the Hb AEPs, respectively. In addition to the TWL and Hb event AEP levels of indicated in Figure 6, wave direction (Dp) associated with each event is also indicated by an arrow indicating the direction waves are traveling at the time of peak Hb. The city encounters a mean everyday temperature of 27.4 C which increments to 30 C in the storm season. The Tuvalu Coastal Adaptation Project is a seven-year project implemented by UNDP in close collaboration with the Government of Tuvalu and funding from the Green Climate Fund. coral bleaching. Isolation from markets. Sci. PDF Case Study: Tuvalu Many say they have nightmares that the sea will soon gobble them up for good, and not just as a distant fear in their slumber but by the next generation. Copyright Get Revising 2023 all rights reserved. Within each subplot the event closest to March 15, 2015 (i.e., associated with TC Pam) is highlighted with a red circle. It is associated with the largest Hb and TWL at many of the southern Tuvalu islands in our analysis; severe flooding and destruction of homes were reported on Nanumea, Nanumaga, Niutao, Nui, and Vaitupu6. In addition, more frequent floods could cause more waterborne disease such as dysentery. covering the runway, this hampers materials from being imported into Tuvalu, -Groundwater will become undrinkable as the sea water Scenes of Funafuti: a typical home, and freshly caught fish. Change 62, 7796. Central Intelligence Agency. Evacuating the islands is the last resort, says Tuvalus prime minister, Enele Sopoaga, despite frequent talk from Pacific neighbours that Tuvaluans will become the worlds first climate-change refugees. (2002). CgE, rather than Hs, is chosen as a primary diagnostic variable for the analysis, since (as a measure of power, rather than energy), it tends to scale more linearly with nearshore processes such as wave runup and setup. The Dp (peak wave direction) associated with the event is taken as that occurring at the time of the peak (maximum) CgE. Several months of the year planes have difficulty landing because the airport's runway is partly underwater. https%3A%2F%2Fearth.org%2Fdata_visualization%2Fsea-level-rise-by-2100-tuvalu%2F. What are the global impacts of climate change? South Florida got some crazy, record-breaking rain and flooding last week. which now host half of Tuvalus population. hampers trade, business and tourism, - Access to the island becomes limited due to the seawater Nausaleta Setani, Franks aunt, sleeps beside the lagoon at night in the wooden shack, using a float buoy as a pillow. They constructed thirty-five scenarios to help them understand the intricacies and possibilities involved in the many factors affecting global average sea level changes. It consists of five coral atolls and four reef islands but none are more than 15 feet (5 meters) above sea level. Funafuti is its capital. (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. Added to this is the additional problem of sea temperature rise, leading to coral bleaching and impacts on marine life. 'One day we'll disappear': Tuvalu's sinking islands | Global While in extreme cases like China and the Netherlands it could experience 5-10m of extreme sea levels. a group of nine small islands in the South Pacific. A., and White, N. J. This precludes using sea surface heights measured by satellite altimetry, which only start around 1992. Geography Coasts Case Studies. ORAS5 clearly outperforms the other two sea surface height products in comparison to the (observed) Tarawa and Funafuti tide gauge residuals. The high-frequency (remainder) residual variance at both sites is 0.001 m, i.e., 510 times less than that of the monthly variance; which is fairly typical of low-latitude Pacific locations where sea level variability is dominated by seasonal and interannual (e.g., ENSO) dynamics (Merrifield et al., 1999; Church et al., 2006; Zhang and Church, 2012). Young Tuvaluans are already being sent away to safer environs where they can get better educations and have more choices for the future. Case Study: Tuvalu What: A case study to explore differing views surrounding the management of climate change at the local, national and international scale When: 2014 Where: It is south of the equator in the Pacific Ocean (midway between Hawaii and Australia). Modest declines in annual precipitation in the Pacific Ocean region are also expected along with heavier rainfall intensity. When you consider the flooding, the erosion, gigantic freaky waves, and high tides, perhaps it is not surprising that many more of Tuvalu's people are considering leaving. We promise, no spam! Here, we focus on the remote impacts to Tuvalu and Kiribati, which were poorly forecast or otherwise anticipated (Taupo and Noy, 2017). This makes sense from a geomorphology perspective, since local storm ridges and other reef island features are highly dependent on local wave climate (e.g., Woodroffe, 2008; Vila-Concejo and Kench, 2017). In 1975, the Ellice Islands separated from the Gilbert Islands due to hostilities between the Micronesian Gilbertese and the Polynesian Tuvaluans. It is expected that there will be more unpredictable and severe weather events including more frequent and powerful tropical storms; more extreme heatwaves and lasting droughts. Ponds of seawater can appear anywhere and do. But as climate change batters the seashore, a trickle of young Tuvaluans are returning, even if coming home can feel claustrophobic after the freedoms of life beyond the islands. Wadey, M., Brown, S., Nicholls, R. J., and Haigh, I. Phys. Kenneth's Geography Blog: Sea Level Rise Case Study: Tuvalu Coastal environments are by their nature ever-changing. Thank you very detailed, will be useful in my AS geography exam tomorrow :). By donating us $100, $50 or subscribe to Boosting $10/month we can get this article and others in front of tens of thousands of specially targeted readers. 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. Comput. Beside the runway, golden sand spills on to the concrete, and scraggly green grass struggles to survive. Sea Level Rise | Smithsonian Ocean "Geography and History of Tuvalu." Farmlands may experience droughts, while deserts could become vast stretches of oases. Enna Sione, next to the ocean that frequently floods her home. Why or why However, astronomical tides were not abnormally high (mostly roughly between spring and neap, Figure 3) during the event at any of the impacted islands. Both of these approaches show promise for much more accurate estimation of local wave transformations over reefs (as relevant to island flooding) compared to the extremely simple approach taken in this study. Researchers, from left, Tony Whipple, Dr. Katherine Anarde and Dr. Adam Gold set up pole-mounted sensing equipment in Beaufort in December . I think they hate us, says Soseala Tinilau (below), the director of the Environment ministry. The nation's chief export of dried coconut meat is threatened. doi: 10.1007/s11625-013-0205-9, Egbert, G. D., and Erofeeva, S. Y. (2014). Res. The severity of these remote impacts was not anticipated and poorly forecasted. and/or local in situ observations of water levels and waves, which are currently available only in very few locations. (2011). Tuvalus total land area accounts for less than 26 sq km. the entire population of Tuvalu before in sinks into the ocean, the current 1. The ASIS (Alliance for Small Island States) has been arguing that there should be urgent international action to mitigate climate change. Whilst in the dry season (June to September) increasing droughts in are putting the source of fresh water, rainfall, at risk. One place which is in the frontline of present and future sea-level rise is Tuvalu in the South Pacific. Geosci. Table 1. TC Pams track is given in Figure 1. The most widely grown crops in Tuvalu are taro and coconut. 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 . Warmer ocean temperatures are destroying fragile ecosystems e.g. 8521 . 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. What used to be a sandy beach north of the wharf is now stony foreshore below the hotel where a retaining wall has been built to temporarily stave off the inevitable. ThoughtCo, Oct. 10, 2021, thoughtco.com/geography-and-history-of-tuvalu-1435673. Australia and Hawaii. doi: 10.1029/2018JC014828, Barnett, J., and Adger, W. N. (2003). Tuvalu is made up of nine tiny islands in the southwest Pacific, with a total landmass of just 10 square miles and highest point of 4.5 metres above sea level. doi: 10.1016/j.coastaleng.2017.03.005, Duvat, V. (2013). However, given the uncertain future some Tuvalu residents have relocated to other countries and others are planning similar moves. I don't want my children to see this, it's enough." More importantly for this analysis, 99.5th quantiles differences between tide gauge and TPXO predictions at Funafuti and Tarawa were 0.021 and 0.025 m, respectively. Its population density is higher than that of Japan at 379 people per km. 19, 183204. , Help with Geography Alevel question aqa , Environmental threats to our planet (OCR Geography A), GCSE Geography- Unit 1A- The restless Earth, Living World - Thar Desert Case Study (LEDC), flooding is more frequent. . 3. Change 53, 155168. PROTECT - Sea walls have been constructed by they're now themselves suffering from erosion as they are not a long-term option. Tuvalu was granted full independence on September 30, 1978, but is still a part of the British Commonwealth today. Environmental Impacts: Other than the swell generated by it, meteorological phenomena directly associated with TC Pam, e.g., local wind setup and inverse barometer effect, appear to have played little, if any, role. Now the king tides go right up to the houses and they're becoming more frequent every year. EssayBot is an essay writing assistant powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI). Tuvalu case study Flashcards | Quizlet More frequent coastal flooding is a direct impact of sea-level rise. The issue of who should take responsibility is one of ethics and moral fairness. The variables are the same as in Figure 4. Stemming the tide. Emergency Plan of Action Final Report Pacific Region: Tropical Cyclone Pam. A global wave hindcast focussed on the central and south pacific. The normal yearly precipitation saw in the city is 3124.06 mm which is higher than the locale normal of 2932 mm. Nikotemo Iona at the Bureau of Meteorology. Regardless, there is widespread agreement that overall vulnerability to SLR will be heterogeneous due to differences in reef/island morphology and exposure to extreme sea level drivers (viz sea level variability, storm waves, storm surges, and astronomic tides), and that more detailed event-based case studies are needed to understand the role of background sea level (and SLR) compared to these drivers (Woodroffe, 2008; Beetham and Kench, 2018; Idier et al., 2019). I'll plant as long as I live," he says. Mar. gov wants to move the rest 10,000 people . (2018), and Wandres et al. In 2000, then Tuvalu Prime Minister Ionatana Ionatana again focused international attention on this small independent nation when he addressed the United Nations and spoke of global climate change and the impact that globalization has on indigenous cultures, security, and sovereignty. A sleepy, sanguine air permeates day-to-day life, as locals watch the lapping of the waves move ever closer. Initially a non-believer in climate change, like many older people on the island, Setani has slowly become convinced of the science as her daily life becomes tougher with every erratic movement of the sea. Oceans 124, 38493858. Predictions for future sea-level rise vary. Correlation coefficients (R) and RMSD calculated against the low-pass filtered tide gauge residuals are shown in Table 2. People with children are especially concerned that there will be no future on the islands. The westerly wave direction likely contributed to the severity, as did the locally exceptional storm-swell events long duration; the overall timing and duration of the event was modulated by astronomical tides. Figure 5. Tuvalu is a tiny island country located in Oceania about halfway between the state of Hawaii and the nation of Australia. Tuvalu Flooding Case Study | Top Writers A level Geography revision cards #2. Climate dangers and atoll countries. At Tamana (Kiribati), maximum CgE (and thus estimated wave setup/runup) was by far the highest in the entire hindcast record, on the order of 40% higher than the next highest event in terms of CgE (Figure 4). Its tiny land mass and a narrow resource base are the major constraints that have restricted Tuvalus economy. There has been some debate on the nature and timing of these impacts, however. To this end, an increase in in situ wave observations and monitoring is required, perhaps to at least the level currently provided for sea level monitoring via the tide gauge network. If someone favors the free movement of labor within the United Planet. Islands like Tuvalu's coral atolls. Interannual sea level changes in the tropical pacific associated with ENSO. Try EssayBot which is your professional essay typer. Clim. To just abandon it at such a time as this, when it is hurting I dont feel comfortable. 1. Hazards 89, 131159. it from being damaged by floods. Displacement diagram of model calculation results for both shields crossing the flood control levee: (a) longitudinal section of the right line tunnel; (b) longitudinal section of the left line tunnel; (c . The ninth island is tiny Niulakita. What evidence shows that Tuvalu is a low-lying country? 506 . Geophys. Res. Plate Tectonics 5. Vila-Concejo, A., and Kench, P. (2017). the mainland or to nearby countries such as New Zealand, In general terms, the government is planning to evacuate Paris Agreement 2015 - legally binding global climate deal to limit global warming to below 2oC How the reef ecosystem would survive such a wall has not been explained. (2018). 95% confidence limits are indicated with dotted lines. Distant-source swells cause coastal inundation on Fijis coral coast. Around the world and in a variety of languages, Tuvalu is a topic for discussion. New York Coastal Flood Risk Management Case Study Surv. Tuvalu case study. Available online at: https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/vanuatu_tc_pam_hap.pdf (accessed January 15, 2020). What are the ways (if any) that the people of Tuvalu know the land is flooding? "Last August," Prime Minister Saufatu Sopoanga explains, "on a clear, calm day, a sudden wave surge rolled in from the sea and washed across Funafuti into the lagoon, flooding houses. Muis, S., Verlaan, M., Winsemius, H. C., Aerts, J. C. J. H. & Ward, P. J. Flooding is a significant problem in the Ganges and Brahmaputra river basin. Case Study 1 - Tuvalu - Impacts of Climate Change on DEVELOPING country Location: In the Pacific Ocean, North-East of Australia. "Look at this plant," he says dejectedly, running his finger on the yellowed edge of a leaf. The country has become the poster child for the impact of the greenhouse effect and global warming, and has definitely put a face on climate change and its repercussions. It then moved along a southerly track between Fiji and New Caledonia, generating wind-waves of up to approximately 15 m, before exiting the region around March 15th. That is something new. Subjects. "It's getting dangerous," he said, with the thunder of waves as a backdrop. Received: 02 March 2020; Accepted: 27 October 2020;Published: 22 January 2021. Nat. Explanations. Beachhead erosion, coastal engineering, environmental mismanagement, overpopulation, deforestation, and deteriorating coral reefs are acting together and in conjunction with global warming to affect sea levels and cause damage to Tuvalu's underground water table. In order to better understand how these variables (CgE, Dp, SL, and tide) combine to create extreme sea level events, we follow a total water level (TWL) approach (Dodet et al., 2019), and calculate a further variable (2), defined as the 2% exceedance water level at the shoreline above the still water level, as a function of wave setup and variable swash (runup) due to both wind-waves and infra-gravity/longwave dynamics associated with shoaling and breaking of wave groups at the reef edge. (n.d.) Tuvalu: Flooding, Global Warming, and Media Coverage, http://www.moyak.com/papers/tuvalu-climate-change.html, https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/oct/23/former-tuvalu-pm-says-he-was-stunned-by-scott-morrisons-behaviour-at-pacific-islands-forum Accessed 7th February 2020, https://www.adaptation-undp.org/explore/polynesia/tuvalu. A., Brown, S., Vellinga, P., de Gusmo, D., et al. J. Geophys. King tides have also grown over the last years with the increase of the average atmosphere temperatures; sea water is now bubbling up through the porous coral landscape. Res. Erosion, combined with increased frequency of overwash flooding of island margins 4 is expected to render islands uninhabitable 9,10. . Sites located downstream from large reservoirs or rivers may be subject to flash flooding after relatively short periods of intense rainfall. 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. The Types of Flood Events and Their Causes, Official Listing of Countries by World Region, M.A., Geography, California State University - East Bay, B.A., English and Geography, California State University - Sacramento. Scientists from all over the world collaborated and shared their research. If the island nation is not going to be gone by the year 2100, what are the stages they expect to experience, and on what timeline will they happen until 2100? 3. Here, the coastal local flood level is added on top of the projected SLR. Allows choosing the RCP, the greenhouse gas concentration trajectory defined by the IPCC. 5. During COP [climate] negotiations we had to stay up till 7am to ensure we were listened too, says Tinilau. 40, 16031630. Numerical Simulation of Flood Control Levee Deformation by Shield Tunnel Excavation through the Liuyang River: A Case Study. 2. "Salty," he says. This short research overview on Tuvalu looked at the following questions and tried to answer them: Tuvalu is one of the smallest countries in the world, after the Vatican, Monaco, and Nauru. Around ten Tuvaluans present with ciguatera poisoning every week, accounting for about 10% of the weekly case-load of climate-related illnesses. of Vanuatu, 2015). The island nation consists of four reef islands and five true atolls; it is located halfway between Hawaii and Australia. I left in 2010. It is a plan that would cost US$300m (233m), and that so far has no funding. From what I can see a lot is already gone. In 2003, the data from the Funafuti station showed that sea level has risen there an average of 5.6 mm annually over the past decade. One of the most impactful moments of the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (commonly known as COP26) was a filmed speech delivered by Simon Kofe, Tuvalu's Minister for Justice, Communication and Foreign Affairs. Case Study: Tuvalu. The islands are experiencing more extensive tropical storms in the wet season (October to March), causing damage to infrastructure, farming and livelihoods. When did it start? - One of the world's smallest nations. Potential reasons for this discrepancy are discussed later. Suva: Pacific Community (SPC). "Maybe five years ago," he says, referring to the same storm that swamped Tepuka Savilivili, in Funafuti's lagoon. He is also determined to see that the people he left behind have a chance for a new life some place else. How is climate change affecting global weather? These results are more varied in Tuvalu: Hb empiricalAEPs generally ranged between 10 and 20 years, in the northern islands, elevated tide and particularly SL increase TWL empirical AEP values above those of Hb. Severe lowland flooding is regularly seen on Tuvalu. The beaches surrounding the atolls are sinking due to erosion caused by waves and this is exacerbated by rising sea levels. Average rating 0 out of 5, based on 0 rating. Tauala Katea talks of the ten feet of beachfront that have disappeared on the island of Vaitupu over the last ten years. Will they disappear? The main airstrip is flooding more regularly impacting the export and supply of goods. Delivering a Powerful Climate Message to the World | Accenture 7 terms. Ocean doi: 10.1029/2018eo098517, Storlazzi, C. D., Gingerich, S. B., Van Dongeren, A., Cheriton, O. M., Swarzenski, P. W., Quataert, E., et al. While these sites were both in the Marshall Islands, it is arguable that the Tuvalu and Kiribati sites in this study share similar atoll/narrow fringing reef morphology to the Marshall Islands sites, although morphological effects are discussed in more detail in the following sections. The exceptional duration of the event (greater again in the Gilberts than in Tuvalu, Figures 4, 5) undoubtedly also played a role. (2010). Locals say they feel it could be much sooner. Seneviratne, S. I., Nicholls, N., Easterling, D., Goodess, C. M., Kanae, S., Kossin, J., et al. Scatterplot matrix of Tamana (Kiribati) event-based data identified by declustering extreme sea level events with integrated wave energy flux (CgE) above the 99.5 percentile threshold. Education and employment prospects on the island are limited, and the majority of young people whose families can afford it leave to study in Fiji, Australia or New Zealand a brain drain that has been extensively documented. Figure 6. Moving outside of Tuvalu will not solve any climate change issues If you put these people in the middle of industrialised countries it will simply boost their consumptions and increase greenhouse gas emissions, says Sopoaga, a fierce advocate for global cooperation on climate change issues.