Thriving with resilience

Atolls like the Maldives, once deemed doomed by rising seas, show surprising resilience by adapting to environmental shifts

- SHOVANLAL CHAKRABORTY

We humans have settled in all sorts of precarious environments: parched deserts, barren tundra, high mountains and whatnot. None are precarious in quite the same way as atolls, the tiny, low-lying islands that dot the tropics. As the planet warms and the oceans rise, atoll nations like the Maldives, the Marshall Islands and Tuvalu have seemed doomed to vanish, like the mythical Atlantis, into watery oblivion.

Of late, though, scientists have begun telling a surprising new story about these islands. By comparing mid-20th-century aerial photos with recent satellite images, they've been able to see how the islands have evolved over time. What they found is startling: Even though sea levels have risen, many islands haven't shrunk. Most, in fact, have been stable. Some have even grown.