Study: 5 islands have already disappeared due to rising sea levels

Rising sea levels have caused the disappearance of five land masses within the Solomon Islands.

The finding is documented in a recently published study by an Australia-based team which assessed 33 of the area's islands between 1947 and 2014.

Scientific American reports that while these chunks of land were relatively small—less than a square mile each—they had centuries-old vegetation growing on them.

Reuters

In addition to the disappearance of the five reef islands, researchers have determined that "six islands [are] experiencing severe shoreline recession."

Twenty-five families live on one of the shrinking islands, and 11 homes have been reported lost to encroaching waters since 2011.

While the Pacific Ocean has been experiencing around 0.1 to 0.2 inches of sea level rise a year, the Solomon Islands have sustained increases of up to almost 0.4 inches annually since 1993 due to climate conditions.

As such, the hope is to help these communities adapt and to add knowledge about "the future impacts of global sea-level rise."

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