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The satellite images show East Island, Hawaii, in May 2018. Click on the next slide to see what the island looks like after Walaka Hurricane.
The satellite images show East Island, Hawaii, in May 2018. Click on the next slide to see what the island looks like after Walaka Hurricane.
Photo: US Fish and Wildlife Service
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The satellite images show what remains of East Island in October 2018 after Hurricane Walaka.
The satellite images show what remains of East Island in October 2018 after Hurricane Walaka.
Photo: US Fish and Wildlife Service
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The Google Earth satellite imagery shows East Island, Hawaii in 2014. A Category 5 hurricane virtually wiped out the island of satellite imagery in October 2018.
The Google Earth satellite imagery shows East Island, Hawaii in 2014. A Category 5 hurricane virtually wiped out the island of satellite imagery in October 2018.
Photo: Screen Capture / Google Earth
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On Monday, October 1, 2018, a photo provided by the US Coast Guard shows an HC-130 Hercules aircraft approaching Johnston Atoll to evacuate four wildlife shelter workers before Walaka hurricane n & # 39; 39 arrives on the lonely island of the Pacific. The Coast Guard announced Tuesday that one of its planes in Hawaii had boarded workers Monday from the Fish and Wildlife Service at Johnston Atoll. (Petty Officer Michael Griffin / US Coast Guard via AP) less
On Monday, October 1, 2018, a photo provided by the US Coast Guard shows an HC-130 Hercules aircraft approaching Johnston Atoll to evacuate four wildlife shelter workers before Walaka hurricane n & # 39; 39 … is coming … more
Photo: Petty Officer 3rd Class Michael Griffin, AP
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The tiger shark, Galeocerdo cuvier, patrol on the beach where the young chicks of Black-footed Albatross, Phoebastria nigripes, prepare to take their first flight. East Island, French frigate banks, Papahanaumokuakea NM, Hawaii Islands northwest
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The tiger shark, Galeocerdo cuvier, patrol on the beach where the young chicks of Black-footed Albatross, Phoebastria nigripes, prepare to take their first flight. East Island, French frigate benches, Papahanaumokuakea NM,
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Photo: Doug Perrine / Getty Images
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The tiger shark, Galeocerdo Cuvier, strikes the fledgling chick of Black-footed Albatross, Phoebastria nigripes, floating in the water after attempting its first flight, East Island, the French frigate's benches, Papahanaumokuakea, Islands Northwest Hawaii
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The tiger shark, Galeocerdo Cuvier, strikes a young black-footed albatross chick, Phoebastria nigripes, floating in the water after attempting its first flight, East Island, a French frigate,
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Photo: Doug Perrine / Getty Images
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The tiger shark, Galeocerdo Cuvier, strikes the fledgling chick of Black-footed Albatross, Phoebastria nigripes, floating in the water after attempting its first flight, East Island, the French frigate's benches, Papahanaumokuakea, Islands Northwest Hawaii
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The tiger shark, Galeocerdo Cuvier, strikes a young black-footed albatross chick, Phoebastria nigripes, floating in the water after attempting its first flight, East Island, a French frigate,
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Photo: Doug Perrine / Getty Images
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The tiger shark, Galeocerdo Cuvier, strikes a young black-footed albatross chick, Phoebastria nigripes, which is attempting its first flight. East Island, French frigate benches, Papahanaumokuakea National Monument, Hawaii Islands Northwest
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The tiger shark, Galeocerdo Cuvier, strikes a young black-footed albatross chick, Phoebastria nigripes, which is attempting its first flight. East Island, French frigates, Papahanaumokuakea National Monument,
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Photo: Doug Perrine / Getty Images
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This June 2018 photo provided by the US Department of Fisheries and Wildlife shows birds at the Johnston Atoll in the Pacific Islands National Marine Monument. Officials evacuated scientists from the remote Pacific islands near Hawaii in the run – up to Hurricane Walaka, including seven French frigate Shoals' s researchers and four workers from the USSR. Johnston Atoll. (Aaron Ochoa / US Fish and Wildlife Service via AP) less
This June 2018 photo provided by the US Department of Fisheries and Wildlife shows birds at the Johnston Atoll in the Pacific Islands National Marine Monument. Officials evacuated scientists from … more
Photo: Aaron Ochoa, AP
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The snow has fallen to the hottest place in the world – the African Sahara. On Tuesday, Twitter was filled with images like this one on BBC Africa's Twitter page showing a thickening of snow in the Sahara desert. This is the fourth time the region has seen snow for 37 years.
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The snow has fallen to the hottest place in the world – the African Sahara. On Tuesday, Twitter was filled with images like this one on BBC Africa's Twitter page showing a thickening of snow in the Sahara desert. This
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Photo: Screenshot of Twitter / BBC Africa
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The stifling temperatures of southern Australia boiled the brains of bats. Extremely hot temperatures of over 100 degrees literally burn the brain of flying foxes. Heat-struck creatures fall from the sky and fall from their perches in the trees. A rescue group near Sydney, Help Save the Wildlife and Bushlands in Campbelltown, follows the situation and helps the bats.
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The stifling temperatures of southern Australia boiled the brains of bats. Extremely hot temperatures well over 100 degrees literally boil the brain of fox bats, and the heat
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Photo: Help save wildlife and bushes in Campbelltown
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In the same heat wave of Australia, people sought refuge and their cars. In Victoria, Australia, police warned motorists to avoid highways melting in the heat.
In the same heat wave of Australia, people sought refuge and their cars. In Victoria, Australia, police warned motorists to avoid highways melting in the heat.
Photo: Peter Park, Getty Images
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People sledged on the beach in South Carolina as the cold weather froze the east coast. In this photo, 7-year-old Finley Bork uses a boogie board, usually used on the beach, to sledge a hill on a golf course in the Isle of Palms, South Carolina, on Wednesday, January 3 2018. A violent southeastern coastal storm with a rare explosion of snow and ice, hitting parts of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina with their heaviest snowfalls for nearly three decades.
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People sledged on the beach in South Carolina as the cold weather froze the east coast. In this picture, 7-year-old Finley Bork uses a boogie board, usually used on the beach, to sledge a
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Photo: Mic Smith, AP
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Typical Florida had icicles and even snow in some areas. Photo: Ice cubes hang from the "Welcome to Hilliard" sign in Hilliard, Florida on Wednesday, January 3, 2018. A severe winter storm dispersed a winter mix of snow, ice pellets and freezing rain on the southwestern coast of New York. Florida, usually calm.
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Typical Florida had icicles and even snow in some areas. Photo: Ice cubes hang from the "Welcome to Hilliard" sign in Hilliard, Florida on Wednesday, January 3, 2018. A violent snowstorm has scattered a winter mix
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Photo: Bob Self / AP
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In late February and early March, a Siberian cold wave brought arctic winds and freezing temperatures to central and western Europe. Dozens of people have died and even Rome has seen the snow. In this photo, palm trees are sprinkled in the snow after a snowfall in front of the Gothic cathedral of Milan, Italy, on Friday 2 March 2018. less
In late February and early March, a Siberian cold wave brought arctic winds and freezing temperatures to central and western Europe. Dozens of people have died and even Rome has seen the snow. In this photo, palm tree … more
Photo: Antonio Calanni, Associated Press
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Four Nordics – the winter storms Riley, Quinn, Skylar and Toby – slammed the east coast in March 2018. In this photo, a family walks along a sidewalk while the first snowflakes of the Nor & # 39; Quinn easter fall in old Greenwich, Conn. Wednesday, March 7, 2018. It is expected that snow will fall to a foot of snow in the region Wednesday. less
Four Normans – the winter storms Riley, Quinn, Skylar and Toby – slammed the east coast in March 2018. In this photo, a family walks along a sidewalk, the first flakes of the … more
Photo: Tyler Sizemore / Hearst Connecticut Media
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Photo: US Fish and Wildlife Service
The satellite images show East Island, Hawaii, in May 2018. Click on the next slide to see what the island looks like after Walaka Hurricane.
The satellite images show East Island, Hawaii, in May 2018. Click on the next slide to see what the island looks like after Walaka Hurricane.
Photo: US Fish and Wildlife Service
Hawaiian island virtually disappears after Hurricane Walaka
Hurricane Walaka, which devastated the Pacific Ocean in early October, was one of the hottest hurricanes ever to hit the region, but the Category 5 storm did not attract much attention from the international community. because it did not affect any major population center. The significant impact of the storm is rather felt on the environment.
Walaka quietly removed satellite imagery from the isolated island of East Hawaii.
Before and after photos show the island in May and then after the hurricane in October. Only tiny patches of sand are still visible; the rest is under water.
"I had a sacred moment thinking" Oh my God, he's gone, "said Chip Fletcher, a climatologist from the University of Hawaii. at the Civil Beat of Honolulu. "This is an additional flaw in the wall of the ecosystem diversity network of this planet that is being dismantled."
ALSO: A new island is forming off Hawaii in the middle of the Kilauea eruption
While the island was not inhabited, its ecological importance was immense. Nearly half of Hawaii's green sea turtles have nested in the east of the island, according to Charles Littnan, conservation scientist of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association.
"There is no doubt that it was the most important island for nesting sea turtles," he said in an interview with Civil Beat.
One of seven Hawaiian monk seals, an endangered species, was born in East Island, Littnan added.
It is too early to determine what impact the disappearance of the island will have on the wildlife that called it home.
Read the latest news from Alix Martichoux and send him tips on [email protected].
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