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The study suggests that the island is built from sediment generated by the surrounding coral reef, such as from crushed up dead coral, weathered shells and dried-up microorganisms. (Dan Polhemus/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service via Flickr under CC BY-NC 2.0)
December 11, 2020
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Across the globe, sea level rise is threatening island communities. But in the Pacific Ocean, some atolls—ring-shaped islands sitting on coral reefs—are actually expanding over time, posing a perplexing paradox: How can drowning islands also be growing? In a new study published last month in the journal Advancing Earth and Space Science, a team of scientists studied Jeh Island, an atoll in the Marshall Islands...They found that the island's area has grown by 13 percent since 1943...

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