A new report says 70 percent of beaches on Kauai, Oahu and Maui are undergoing long-term erosion.
Scientists from the USGS and the UH School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) studied more than 150 miles of island coastline and found the average rate of coastal change was 0.4 feet of erosion per year from the early 1900s to 2000s.
Of those beaches eroding, scientists say the most extreme case was nearly six feet per year near Kualoa Point in east Oahu.
"The inevitable fate of the Hawaiian Islands millions of years into the future is seen to the northwest in the spires of French Frigate Shoals and the remnants of other once mighty islands, ancestors of today’s Hawaii, but now sunken beneath the sea through the forces of waves, rivers, and the slow subsidence of the seafloor," explained USGS director Marcia McNutt.
Of the three islands, Maui beaches experienced the highest rates and greatest extent of beach erosion with 85% of beaches eroding. Erosion is the dominant trend of coastal change on all three islands with 71% of beaches eroding on Kauai and 60% of beaches eroding on Oahu.
The researchers used historical data sources such as maps and aerial photographs to measure shoreline change at more than 12,000 locations.
See the original article at: KHON2 Developing Stories
