The Palm Islands consist of three artificial archipelagos: Palm Jumeirah, Deira Islands, and Palm Jebel Ali,[1] on the coast of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The Palm Islands were constructed around the same time as The World Islands. Nakheel Properties is the Palm Islands real estate developer.[2] The creation of the islands began in 2001 and ended around 2006/2007. These islands have significantly impacted ocean sediment and wildlife in the surrounding area.[3]
Palm Jumeirah is the site of numerous private residences and hotels. From the air, the archipelago resembles a stylized palm tree within a circle. Construction began in 2001 and was financed mainly by Dubai's income from petroleum. By 2009, 28 hotels had opened on the site. The Atlantis is the largest hotel currently constructed on Palm Jumeirah. The island has a population of over 18,000 people as of 2015.[4]
Palm Jebel Ali is an artificial archipelago that features a palm tree that is 50% larger than the original Palm Jumeirah.[5] The island has a larger crescent shape. Space has been created between the crescent and the tree to build boardwalks that encircle the "fronds" of the "palm" and spell out an Arabic poem written by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Construction on the island began in 2001, but progression was halted due to the Great Recession.
The Deira Islands are four undeveloped artificial islands off the coast of Deira, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. As of 2021, little development has occurred on the islands. At first, the project—which was supposed to be a part of the Palm Islands—was known as Palm Deira. It was intended to be the biggest palm of the three, roughly eight times as big as the Palm Jumeirah.
Dubai built the Palm Tree Islands to increase the coastline for tourists. Dubai is known for its sunny weather and beaches, but more than 72 km (45 miles) of coastline was needed to accommodate the goal of tripling the number of tourists to 15 million annually. The solution was to construct a massive island shaped like a palm tree, which, upon completion in 2006, would add 56 km (35 miles) to the coastline. The island is designed to be a city within itself, featuring shopping centers, restaurants, hotels, and residential properties.[6]
Palm Jumeirah was built entirely from sand and rocks; no concrete or steel was used to build the island. This was done following the order of the Ruler of Dubai, who came up with the idea for Palm Islands and the design.[7]
Installation of utilities and pipelines was complicated and required a lot of labour.[11]
To counteract the waves and constant motion of the sea, breakwaters were built around the island. They are 3 meters high and 160 km in total length. Expanded over a length of about 11.5 km, the base of these breakwaters and the island itself were constantly monitored during the construction process with the help of deep-sea divers. The divers checked the alignment and placement of the rocks beneath the surface to ensure their stability. The shape of the island was monitored using the global positioning system.
The sand on top of the island was sprayed by a technique called rainbowing.[12] The whole island was planned to have no stagnant water between the island and the breakwaters. To achieve this, small structural modifications were made to the breakwaters surrounding the island, allowing the seawater to move through the breakers without causing any damage to the island.[13] To prevent erosion of the sand from the island, maintenance systems spray material along the coast of the island and also along the coast of Dubai.
A vibro-compaction technique was used to prevent the process of liquefaction.[14] This was done to hold the island's base together and to make a strong foundation for further construction.[15]
The construction of the Palm Islands along the coast of Dubai has had a significant impact on the surrounding environment, resulting in changes to area wildlife (especially aquatic life), coastal erosion, alongshore sediment transport, and wave patterns.
The origin of most of the environmental damage stems from disturbed sediment from the construction of the Palm Island. The sediment decreased the amount of sunlight filtering down to the sea vegetation and injured the surrounding marine fauna.[16] Environmental disturbances caused by changes in sediment and coastal erosion have attracted the attention of environmental groups such as Greenpeace, who criticized the Palm Islands for the lack of sustainability.
The non-profit environmental news service Mongabay has reported on Dubai's artificial islands, stating that:
In 2006, the World Wildlife Fund announced, "[The] UAE's human pressure on global ecosystems (its ecological footprint) [is] the highest in the world. The country is supposedly at present five times more unsustainable than any other country" (Samarai, 2007). It also mentioned that the construction from the start-up to date had caused many visible ecological and environmental changes that threatened the future.
According to a study published in the journal Water in 2022, the construction of Palm Jumeirah Island has increased water-soluble materials, changed the water's spectral profile, and increased the water surface temperature around the island.[17]
Variations in alongshore sediment transport have resulted in changes in erosion patterns along the UAE coast, which has also been exacerbated by altered wave patterns as the waters of the Persian Gulf attempt to move around the new obstruction of the islands.[18] The rock walls constructed around the palm islands can result in different wave patterns along the coast of Dubai. Instead of hitting the shores directly, the waves move unusually around the new obstruction. This has led to the weakening of the shores of Dubai.[19]
To properly manage their shorelines and effects, Dubai relies on its coastal monitoring program. Established in 1997, the Dubai Coastal Monitoring program began studying the baseline bathymetric (measurement of the depth of water in oceans or seas) and topographic survey of the Jumeirah (Dubai) coastline.
Additional data was collected with technological improvements, including remote video monitoring of Dubai beaches, sediment sampling and analysis, near-shore directional wave and current recordings, and intensive measurement exercises at selected locations using Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) equipment. Because of this, they can constantly monitor the continuously changing environmental conditions along the coast of Dubai.
