A Global Atlas of Atolls

Description

Scattered like dots rising from the deep across vast expanses of the world’s tropical and subtropical oceans, atolls with their turquoise lagoons and reefs teeming with colorful marine life have captured the public imagination. They have also been the homeland of millions of people for millennia as various groups of migrants spread across the far reaches if the Pacific, Indian and Western Atlantic regions. Developed from recently available satellite data, A Global Atlas of Atolls presents high-quality details of 476 atolls across the globe, characterizing aspects of the atoll rim, the lagoon, and their coral reef communities in unprecedented detail. In synthesizing and enhancing understanding of these unique seascapes, this volume provides a distinct compendium of descriptions and images, as well as documentation of the environmental conditions of winds, waves, and tides and a summary of the background literature for each atoll area. There is no comparable work. After an introduction that includes a glossary of terms, each atoll is documented in the form of an atlas written for scientists, but accessible to any diver or reader interested in these spectacular reef-island habitats. This book also describes some current challenges and perspectives on their future. It will be useful as a reference work for marine scientists, while providing a minimum of technical jargon for those who are not scientists, but who enjoy reading about exotic places with unusual attributes. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents Preface Acknowledgments Authors 1 A Global Atlas of Atolls 2 Methods 3 The Polynesian Pacific and the Atolls of the Tuamotu Archipelago 4 The Atolls of the Society Islands, French Polynesia 5 The Atolls of the Cook Islands 6 The Atolls of the Southern Central Pacific 7 The Atolls of Tokelau 8 The Atolls of Tuvalu 9 The Atolls of Kiribati 10 The Atolls of Hawai'i and the Pacific Remote Islands of the United States 11 The Micronesian Pacific and the Atolls of the Marshall Islands 12 The Atolls of the Caroline Islands 13 Melanesia and the Atolls of New Guinea 14 The Atolls of the Solomon Islands 15 The Atolls of Fiji 16 The Atolls of the Coral Sea 17 The Atolls of the North West Shelf of Australia 18 The Atolls of Indonesia 19 The Atolls of the South China and Sulu Seas 20 The Atolls of the Central Indian Ocean 21 The Atolls of the Western Indian Ocean and the Red Sea 22 The Atolls of the Western Atlantic 23 A Summary of Atolls and a View into the 21st Century Index