Hawaii's majestic coastline has always been molded by the sea, but a new study found a reason to be concerned about our 50th state's pristine beaches.
Scientists at the University of Hawaii's School of Ocean and Earth Sciences and Technology recently released a study that found some of the island state's beaches will be reduced by as much as 20 feet by 2050 and 40 feet by 2100 due to erosion. Their findings were published this week in the journal Natural Hazards.
The scientists came to their conclusions after studying 10 Hawaiian beaches on the islands of Oahu, Maui and Kauai. Of the three islands studied, Maui has the highest rate of erosion, with 85 percent of beaches affected. "Over a century of building along the Hawaiian shoreline, without this sort of detailed knowledge about shoreline change, has led to some development that is located too close to the ocean," said Dr. Charles Fletcher, UH Geology and Geophysics Professor and lead author of the study, in a USGS report." This is especially troubling, the university's Coastal Geology Group said, because building a seawall would actually accelerate the speed of erosion, so it isn't an option for the Hawaiian coastline.
There are multiple reasons why the state's coastline is eroding, and officials must now prepare a response to all of them. First and foremost, erosion can occur naturally; not all sand is replaced at the equal rate it's removed. But there's that other cause of erosion – rising sea levels – that scientists must now factor into their studies. It's one of the reasons why this study has such dire predictions for the future of Hawaiian beaches.
http://www.weather.com/science/environment/news/hawaii-erosion-new-study
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