The Palm Jumeirah is a manmade archipelago in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, created using land reclamation by Nakheel, which extends into the Persian Gulf. It is part of a larger series of developments called the Palm Islands, including Palm Jebel Ali and Palm Deira, which, when completed, will together increase Dubai's shoreline by a total of 320 miles
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Palm Islands are three artificial islands called Palm Jumeirah, Deira Island and Palm Jebel Ali, all on the coast of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Palm Jumeirah is the site of private residences and hotels. From the air, the archipelago resembles a stylized palm tree within a circle. Palm Jumeirah was built in the early 21st century and was largely financed from Dubai's income from petroleum.
It's a big call, but Dubai's Palm Islands are perhaps one of the country's boldest megaprojects undertaken. Often referred to as the 'eighth wonder of the world,' Dubai's Palm Islands are the largest manmade islands in the world and take their name from their artificially crafted palm tree shape.
These offshore islands were created from reclaimed land and have since become a popular holiday destination thanks to their uniqueness and Dubai's fast-growing tourist trade.
The Dubai Palm Islands' construction has had a significant impact on the surrounding environment, resulting in changes to area wildlife, coastal erosion, alongshore sediment transport, and wave patterns. Sediment stirred up by construction has suffocated and injured local marine fauna and reduced the amount of sunlight that filters down to seashore vegetation.
Variations in alongshore sediment transport have resulted in changes in erosion patterns along the UAE coast, which altered wave patterns have also exacerbated as the waters of the Persian Gulf attempt to move around the new obstruction of the islands.
Dubai's megaprojects have become a favorite cause of environmentalists. Greenpeace has criticized the Palm Islands for lack of sustainability, and Mongabay.com, a non-profit environmental news service, has reported on Dubai's artificial islands, stating that:
There are three islands that makeup Palm Islands Dubai, including Palm Jumeirah, Palm Jebel Ali and Palm Deira; however, the only island open to visitors is the Palm Jumeirah. Home to the popular tourist attraction and famous luxury hotel Burj Al Arab, Palm Jumeirah also features residential property, some of which are home to the likes of celebrities including David Beckham and commercial attractions such as Crescent, The Trunk and 16 Fronds.
All up, Dubai's Palm Islands are home to 5,000 waterfront apartments, 4,000 residential villas, 1,000 water homes and 60 luxury hotels, as well as several marinas, health spas, shopping malls, restaurants, cinemas, sports facilities, and dive sites. However, despite their name and shape, there are no actual palm trees insight on the islands, although, as the world's largest manmade archipelago, they are visible from space.
The Palm Islands were dreamed up by Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum to attract more interest to Dubai as its oil supply dwindled. Teaming up with locally-based developer Nakheel Properties, the Sheik's vision has since been responsible for attracting tourists to the smaller coastline and desert climate of Dubai, a feat that had previously proved difficult. The Palm Islands were completed in only four years, with each island using over 53 million pounds of sand and 12 million pounds of rock to be created.
Unlike other largescale constructions, the islands' foundations were made from millions of tons of blasted rock rather than concrete slabs. This rock was sourced from the nearby Hajar Mountains.
Hundreds of millions of cubic tonnes of sand were also dredged from the seafloor and used to form the upper parts of the new manmade archipelagoes.
So much rock and sand were used in the islands' construction that it has been estimated that it could use it to build a 2-meter wide wall that could encircle the globe three times!
Palm Jumeirah island is protected from the ravages of the sea by an 11-km manmade breakwater that surrounds the island in a crescent-shape. This also helps protect the island from seasonal 'shamal' winds that often blow across the Gulf from Iraq.
"A geotextile membrane, which stops the sand from washing away, was topped by a layer of one-ton rocks, followed by two more layers of rocks weighing up to six tons each.
A 100m-wide opening was added on each side of the crescent to allow water to circulate and prevent it [from] becoming stagnant. A 6m-wide boardwalk stretches the length of the crescent and is a top spot for a sunset stroll."
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