New Moore Island Vanishes
By Swatilekha, Gaea News NetworkThursday, March 25, 2010
KOLKATA, India (GaeaTimes.com)- The New Moore Island which was situated at the confluence of the Ichhamati river and the Rai Mangal river has disappeared due to escalating sea levels in the Bay of Bengal. It has been confirmed by researchers that the island which was 3.5 kilometers lengthwise and 3 kilometers wide, is not visible any more as it has been submerged under water.
Professor Sugata Hazra, who is associated with the School of Oceanographic Studies at Jadavpur University of Kolkata, has emphasized that after talking to local fishermen and examining the satellite images, he has reached the conclusion that the New Moore Island got submerged under the Bay of Bengal between the years 2000 and 2009. Although otherwise the island is hardly ever visible, portions of it surfaces during low tides for a very short span of time. While talking about the main reasons, which resulted in the submergence of the New Moore Island, the oceanographer has pointed out that global warming as well as erosion were the prime factors which contributed to the phenomenon.
Interestingly, the New Moore Island was known to be a matter of dispute between the neighboring countries of India and Bangladesh with both the nations claiming the island since the 1980’s. Although the Indian navy had planted the national flag in the island way back in the year 1981, any permanent settlement in the island had not been feasible mainly owing to the geographical instability of the island. Supposedly, the New Moore Island was established by a cyclone about 40 years earlier in the Sundarbans mangrove delta. Meanwhile, oceanographers are also not ruling out the possibility of the disappearance of other islands in the region due to global warming.
