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Erosion and deposition vulnerability of small (<5,000 km2) tropical islands
- Source :
- PLoS ONE, PLoS ONE, Vol 16, Iss 9, p e0253080 (2021)
- Publication Year :
- 2021
- Publisher :
- Public Library of Science, 2021.
-
Abstract
- The tropics are naturally vulnerable to watershed erosion. This region is rapidly growing (projected to be 50% of the global population by 2050) which exacerbates erosional issues by the subsequent land use change. The issue is particularly of interest on the many (~45,000) small tropical (2) islands, and their >115M residents, where ecotourism and sediment intolerant ecosystems such as coral reefs are the main driver of their economies. However, vulnerability to erosion and deposition is poorly quantified in these regions due to the misclassification or exclusion of small islands in coarse global analyses. We use the only vulnerability assessment method that connects watershed erosion and coastal deposition to compare locally sourced, high-resolution datasets (5 x 5 m) to satellite-collected, remotely sensed low-resolution datasets (463 x 463 m). We find that on the island scale (~52 km2) the difference in vulnerability calculated by the two methods is minor. On the watershed scale however, low-resolution datasets fail to accurately demonstrate watershed and coastal deposition vulnerability when compared to high-resolution analysis. Specifically, we find that anthropogenic development (roads and buildings) is poorly constrained at a global scale. Structures and roads are difficult to identify in heavily forested regions using satellite algorithms and the rapid, ongoing rate of development aggravates the issue. We recommend that end-users of this method obtain locally sourced anthropogenic development datasets for the best results while using low resolution datasets for the other variables. Fortunately, anthropogenic development data can be easily collected using community-based research or identified using satellite imagery by any level of user. Using high-resolution results, we identify a development trend across St. John and regions that are both high risk and possible targets for future development. Previously published modeled and measured sedimentation rates demonstrate the method is accurate when using low-resolution or high-resolution data but, anthropogenic development, watershed slope, and earthquake probability datasets should be of the highest resolution depending on the region specified.
- Subjects :
- Satellite Imagery
Topography
Atmospheric Science
Geologic Sediments
Rain
Population Dynamics
Vulnerability
Marine and Aquatic Sciences
Social Sciences
Deposition (geology)
Geographical locations
Land Use
Data Mining
Satellite imagery
Land use, land-use change and forestry
Human Activities
Data Management
Soil Erosion
Islands
Sedimentary Geology
Multidisciplinary
Geography
Geology
Erosion
Corals
Medicine
Algorithms
Research Article
Environmental Monitoring
Computer and Information Sciences
Watershed
Science
Marine Biology
Human Geography
Meteorology
Vulnerability assessment
Virgin Islands
Petrology
Caribbean
Landforms
Tropical Climate
Biology and Life Sciences
Geomorphology
North America
Earth Sciences
Environmental science
Sediment
Physical geography
People and places
Scale (map)
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 19326203
- Volume :
- 16
- Issue :
- 9
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- PLoS ONE
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....26615c4266b4d5b9ddc83b8ee897d4d7