Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Freshwater lens recovery

By Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center
Computer model outputs showing how a body of fresh groundwater recovers slowly after being inundated for 48 hours by seawater.
Original Thumbnail Medium

Detailed Description

Cross section of an island’s freshwater lens (blue), showing that when seawater (green) floods it, 15 months or longer may pass before the heavier salt water settles to the bottom and eventually mixes out of the system to make it drinkable.

Sources/Usage

Public Domain.

Related

link
Aerial photograph of Wake Island. The deep ocean water around the atoll is dark blue, the shallow lagoon water is light blue.

Low-lying areas of tropical Pacific islands

Sea level is rising faster than projected in the western Pacific, so understanding how wave-driven coastal flooding will affect inhabited, low-lying islands—most notably, the familiar ring-shaped atolls—as well as the low-elevation areas of high islands in the Pacific Ocean, is critical for decision-makers in protecting infrastructure or relocating resources and people.
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center
link

Low-lying areas of tropical Pacific islands

Sea level is rising faster than projected in the western Pacific, so understanding how wave-driven coastal flooding will affect inhabited, low-lying islands—most notably, the familiar ring-shaped atolls—as well as the low-elevation areas of high islands in the Pacific Ocean, is critical for decision-makers in protecting infrastructure or relocating resources and people.
Learn More

Related

link
Aerial photograph of Wake Island. The deep ocean water around the atoll is dark blue, the shallow lagoon water is light blue.

Low-lying areas of tropical Pacific islands

Sea level is rising faster than projected in the western Pacific, so understanding how wave-driven coastal flooding will affect inhabited, low-lying islands—most notably, the familiar ring-shaped atolls—as well as the low-elevation areas of high islands in the Pacific Ocean, is critical for decision-makers in protecting infrastructure or relocating resources and people.
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center
link

Low-lying areas of tropical Pacific islands

Sea level is rising faster than projected in the western Pacific, so understanding how wave-driven coastal flooding will affect inhabited, low-lying islands—most notably, the familiar ring-shaped atolls—as well as the low-elevation areas of high islands in the Pacific Ocean, is critical for decision-makers in protecting infrastructure or relocating resources and people.
Learn More
Was this page helpful?