By the end of the century, rising sea levels could push powerful seasonal waves into Easter Island’s 15 iconic moai statues, according to a new study published in the Journal of Cultural Heritage. About 50 other cultural sites in the area are also at risk from flooding.
“Sea level rise is real,” said Noah Paoa, lead author of the study and a doctoral student at the University of Hawaii at Manoa’s School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology. “It’s not a distant threat.”
Paoa, who is from Easter Island — known to its Indigenous people as Rapa Nui — and his colleagues built a high-resolution “digital twin” of the island’s eastern coastline and ran computer models to simulate future wave impacts under various sea level rise scenarios. They then overlaid the results with maps of cultural sites to pinpoint which places could be inundated in the coming decades.
The findings show waves could reach Ahu Tongariki, the largest ceremonial platform on the island, as early as 2080. The site, home to the 15 towering moai, draws tens of thousands of visitors each year and is a cornerstone of the island’s tourism economy.
Beyond its economic value, the ahu is deeply woven into Rapa Nui’s cultural identity. It lies within Rapa Nui National Park, which encompasses much of the island and is recognized …