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Old 27-01-2019, 14:01   #1
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This Remote Hawaiian Island Just Vanished

Hurricane Walaka, one of the most powerful Pacific storms ever recorded, has erased an ecologically important remote northwestern island (East Island) from the Hawaiian archipelago.
Randy Kosaki, the monument’s* deputy superintendent for research and field operations for NOAA, said French Frigate Shoals now appears to have lost two islands over the past two months.

The difference is that scientists forecast the demise of nearby Trig over the course of years, whereas East Island disappeared virtually overnight.
Whale-Skate Island, which slowly eroded until the late 1990s when it became submerged, has not made a return.


More ➥ https://www.civilbeat.org/2018/10/th...just-vanished/
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Old 27-01-2019, 15:15   #2
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Re: This Remote Hawaiian Island Just Vanished

Hi, Gord,

The sand would have been washed back into the lagoon, off it's coral base. It will be interesting to see how long it takes to come back, and if the birds, turtles, and seals are able to find other sheltered breeding grounds.

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Old 28-01-2019, 06:49   #3
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Re: This Remote Hawaiian Island Just Vanished

now we get to watch how nature restores herself. our only constant is change.
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Old 28-01-2019, 07:22   #4
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Re: This Remote Hawaiian Island Just Vanished

Quote:
Originally Posted by zeehag View Post
now we get to watch how nature restores herself. our only constant is change.
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Originally Posted by JPA Cate View Post
... It will be interesting to see how long it takes to come back, and if the birds, turtles, and seals are able to find other sheltered breeding grounds.
Ann
Indeed.
Whale-Skate Island suffered a lot of erosion beginning in the 1960s, and by the late 1990s, it was completely washed over, a common occurrence in sand-dominated ecosystems.

I don’t know that the Island has recovered, to date.

Interestingly, in June 1923, during the Tanager Expedition, Whale and Skate were separate islands. Since it took 70 some odd years to infill & join the Isles, perhaps they might take more or less that long reform.

The French Frigate Shoals Web Page was created in 1995. Last update July 23, 2015 ➥ French Frigate Shoals
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Old 28-01-2019, 07:58   #5
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Re: This Remote Hawaiian Island Just Vanished

Interesting article and a good read. Thanks for posting.
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Old 28-01-2019, 10:18   #6
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Re: This Remote Hawaiian Island Just Vanished

It was reduced in size during a storm October last year. so are you reporting that it has completely disappeared?
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Old 28-01-2019, 12:56   #7
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Re: This Remote Hawaiian Island Just Vanished

DAM I just bought 5 acres of property there, so much for retirement!
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Old 28-01-2019, 13:19   #8
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Re: This Remote Hawaiian Island Just Vanished

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It was reduced in size during a storm October last year. so are you reporting that it has completely disappeared?
Not exactly.
Walaka quietly made the remote East Island of Hawaii almost disappear from satellite imagery.
Before and after photos show the island in May, then after the hurricane in October.
Only tiny stretches of sand can still be seen; the rest is underwater. I don’t know what’s happened since (Oct 2018).
Satellite images show East Island in May and in October, after Hurricane Walaka.

Drag the slider to see it before and after.
https://www.civilbeat.org/2018/10/th...just-vanished/
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Old 28-01-2019, 20:25   #9
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Re: This Remote Hawaiian Island Just Vanished

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now we get to watch how nature restores herself. our only constant is change.
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Old 28-01-2019, 21:53   #10
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Re: This Remote Hawaiian Island Just Vanished

If you didn't know it, all but the Big Island of Hawaii are sinking. The farther west you go in the chain which stretches a thousand miles or so all the way to Midway Island the more they've sunk. The islands weere/are created by a hot spot slightly to the east of Hawaii. With the movement of the earth's crust, the islands are making a westward migration. The farther west they are away from the hot spot the moretime their weight has caused them to sink into the crust. Some of the islands are keeping up with the sinking via coral growth, some aren't. Their is a new island that should break the water's surface in a few 10's of thousands of years east of Hawaii by the way.
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Old 28-01-2019, 22:23   #11
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Re: This Remote Hawaiian Island Just Vanished

Natural progression.

If you look at a map of the seafloor, you will see the remains of hundreds, if not thousands, of former Hawaiian islands stretching 2500 miles west from the big island. (there is actually a string of undersea mounts that goes from there north all the way to Russia but I'm not sure if those are directly related to the Hawaiian hot spot).

In a few million years, the big island will likely face a similar fate.
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Old 29-01-2019, 01:53   #12
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Re: This Remote Hawaiian Island Just Vanished

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Natural progression.

If you look at a map of the seafloor, you will see the remains of hundreds, if not thousands, of former Hawaiian islands stretching 2500 miles west from the big island. (there is actually a string of undersea mounts that goes from there north all the way to Russia but I'm not sure if those are directly related to the Hawaiian hot spot).

In a few million years, the big island will likely face a similar fate.
You are correct, the Emperor Seamounts that run NNW from Midway Island are part of the same hotspot mountain chain and mark a shift in the direction of travel of the Pacific Plate over the Hawaii hot spot.

Big Island is slipping off the hotspot and as such the eastern side of the island is actually weakening, as can be observed by the growth of massive crevasses in the lava fields. This presents a worrying proposition for the Pacific coasts. If it collapses it would create a massive mega-tsunami that could wipe out coastal regions all around the ocean, and particularly the western shores of North and South America. This is similar to the danger presented by one of the Canary Islands in the Atlantic but a different process is involved.

The one constant in Geology is change. When you deal with a 4500 million year time scale nothing stays the same. Look at Surtsey in Iceland that appeared out of the sea in a matter of hours thanks to a vigorous volcanic eruption or the recent volcanic tsunami due to the eruption of Anak Krakatoa in Indonesia, the island is rebuilding at a startling rate.
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Old 29-01-2019, 12:38   #13
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Re: This Remote Hawaiian Island Just Vanished

Facinating
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Old 29-01-2019, 20:22   #14
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Re: This Remote Hawaiian Island Just Vanished

The underlying rock and dead coral remain. The sand always shift around and it will be back at some point. This kind of panic reporting is typical of the rabid eco freaks.
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Old 29-01-2019, 20:50   #15
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Re: This Remote Hawaiian Island Just Vanished

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The underlying rock and dead coral remain. The sand always shift around and it will be back at some point. This kind of panic reporting is typical of the rabid eco freaks.
Did i miss some panic reporting somewhere? There were a bunch of scientists worried that it wiped out a huge amount of nesting grounds, but I'm not sure that's what you'd call 'rabid eco freaks'
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