Query: “The most famous of these studies, published in 2010 by Paul Kench and Arthur Webb of the South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission in Fiji, showed that of 27 Pacific islands, 14% lost area.

Relevant passages:
Kiribati <=SEP=> Kiribati ( -LSB- ˌkɪrɪˈbæs -RSB- or -LSB- ˌkɪrɪˈbɑːti -RSB- ) , officially the Republic of Kiribati ( Gilbertese : Ribaberiki Kiribati ) , is an island nation in the central Pacific Ocean . The permanent population is just over 100,000 ( 2011 ) , more than half of whom live on Tarawa Atoll . The nation comprises 33 atolls and reef islands and one raised coral island , Banaba . They have a total land area of 800 km2 and are dispersed over 3.5 million square kilometres ( 1,351,000 square miles ) . Their spread straddles the equator and the 180th meridian , although the International Date Line is indented to bring the Line Islands in the same day as the Kiribati Islands . The International Date Line circumscribes Kiribati by swinging far to the east , almost reaching the 150 ° W meridian . Kiribati 's easternmost islands , the southern Line Islands , south of Hawaii , have the most advanced time on Earth , UTC +14 hours .   Kiribati became independent from the United Kingdom in 1979 . The capital and now most populated area , South Tarawa , consists of a number of islets , connected by a series of causeways . These comprise about half the area of Tarawa Atoll .   Kiribati is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations , the IMF and the World Bank , and became a full member of the United Nations in 1999 .

Geography of Tuvalu <=SEP=> The Western Pacific nation of Tuvalu , formerly known as the Ellice Islands , is situated 4,000 km northeast of Australia and is approximately halfway between Hawaii and Australia . It lies east-northeast of the Santa Cruz Islands ( belonging to the Solomons ) , southeast of Nauru , south of Kiribati , west of Tokelau , northwest of Samoa and Wallis and Futuna and north of Fiji .   Tuvalu consists of three reef islands and six atolls . The three reef islands are actually atolls , although they have a completely closed rim of dry land , with a lagoon that has no connection to the open sea or that may be drying up . For example , Niutao has two lakes , which are brackish to saline ; and are the degraded lagoon as the result of coral debris filling the lagoon .   The islands of Tuvalu have poor soil and a total land area of only about 26 km ² , less than 10 sqmi . The land is very low-lying , with narrow coral atolls . The highest elevation is 4.6 m above sea level on Niulakita .   Tuvalu experiences two distinct seasons , a wet season from November to April and a dry season from May to October . Westerly gales and heavy rain are the predominate weather conditions from October to March , the period that is known as Tau-o-lalo , with tropical temperatures moderated by easterly winds from April to November . In terms of size , it is the second-smallest country in Oceania .

Funamanu <=SEP=> Funamanu is a small narrow island that is part of Funafuti atoll in Tuvalu . It is a motu ( islet ) or very small island and is located 2.6 miles southwestward of the southwest tip of Funafuti . The islet is known to be covered in coconut trees which grow 70 feet high . Te Ava Pua Pua is the passage through the reef , with a least depth of 12.7 metres , between the islets of Funamanu to the north and Fale Fatu to the south , in the southeast of Funafuti atoll .   Funamanu is an example of an isle on an atoll that is mainly composed of coral debris eroded from encircling reefs and pushed up onto the island by winds and waves . Paul Kench at the University of Auckland in New Zealand and Arthur Webb at the South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission in Fiji released a study in 2010 on the dynamic response of reef islands to sea level rise in the central Pacific . Funamanu was mentioned in the study as being one of seven islands on the atolls of Tuvalu that have spread by more than 3 per cent on average since the 1950s . Funamanu gained 0.44 hectares , or nearly 30 per cent of its previous area .   The storm surge resulting from a tropical cyclone can dramatically shift coral debris . In 1972 Funafuti was in the path of Cyclone Bebe . Tropical Cyclone Bebe was a pre-season tropical cyclone that impacted the Gilbert , Ellice Islands , and Fiji island groups . First spotted on October 20 , the system intensified and grew in size through October 22 .

Tuvalu <=SEP=> Tuvalu ( -LSB- tᵿˈvɑːlu -RSB- or -LSB- ˈtuːvəˌluː -RSB- ) , formerly known as the Ellice Islands , is a Polynesian island nation located in the Pacific Ocean , about midway between Hawaii and Australia , lying east-northeast of the Santa Cruz Islands ( belonging to the Solomons ) , southeast of Nauru , south of Kiribati , west of Tokelau , northwest of Samoa and Wallis and Futuna and north of Fiji . It comprises three reef islands and six true atolls spread out between the latitude of 5 ° to 10 ° south and longitude of 176 ° to 180 ° , west of the International Date Line . Tuvalu has a population of 10,640 ( 2012 census ) . The total land area of the islands of Tuvalu is 26 km2 .   The first inhabitants of Tuvalu were Polynesians . The pattern of settlement that is believed to have occurred is that the Polynesians spread out from Samoa and Tonga into the Tuvaluan atolls , with Tuvalu providing a stepping stone to migration into the Polynesian Outlier communities in Melanesia and Micronesia .   In 1568 , Spanish navigator Álvaro de Mendaña was the first European to sail through the archipelago , sighting the island of Nui during his expedition in search of Terra Australis . In 1819 the island of Funafuti was named Ellice 's Island ; the name Ellice was applied to all nine islands after the work of English hydrographer Alexander George Findlay . The islands came under Britain 's sphere of influence in the late 19th century , when each of the Ellice Islands was declared a British Protectorate by Captain Gibson of between 9 and 16 October 1892 . The Ellice Islands were administered as British protectorate by a Resident Commissioner from 1892 to 1916 as part of the British Western Pacific Territories ( BWPT ) , and then as part of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands colony from 1916 to 1974 .   A referendum was held in December 1974 to determine whether the Gilbert Islands and Ellice Islands should each have their own administration . As a consequence of the referendum , the Gilbert and Ellice Islands colony ceased to exist on 1 January 1976 and the separate British colonies of Kiribati and Tuvalu came into existence . Tuvalu became fully independent within the Commonwealth on 1 October 1978 . On 5 September 2000 Tuvalu became the 189th member of the United Nations .