Hulhumale, Maldives

The Maldives nation, in the Indian Ocean, faces an environmental threat from sea level rise, as 80% of its islands are less than 1 m above seal level. To counter this threat, the country is creating a new artificial island, Hulhumale. The capital city of Male, southwest of the new island and the airport, houses 130,000 people in 2.5 sq km. By 2019, more than 50,000 people had moved to Hulhumale, with plans to host 240,000 of the nation's people by the mid-2020s (BBC.com, December 31, 2020). The ASTER image was acquired December 22, 2018, the Landsat-5 image (Figure 1) was acquired February 3, 1999. The images cover an area of 9.2 by 11.3 km, and are located at 4.2 degrees north, 73.5 degrees east. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA24381