Talk:Palm Islands

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[edit] Environmental impact

Dubai, although their goals are ambitious and laudable, are hurting the environment.

Coral reefs and oyster beds are being buried under the weight of sand and rocks, while marine life has either been asphyxiated or is staying away. Also the water is becoming polluted and underwater visibility has decreased to a minimum

Dredging and reclamation on a massive scale in shallow waters are bound to fundamentally change coastal ecology. The dredging will impact ecosystems such as seagrass beds, lagoons and coral communities and marine life like fish, turtles, and dolphins.

The well developed equilibrium between living and non-living parts of the coast of Dubai is seriously being compromised. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.114.167.4 (talk • contribs) 2005-11-10 18:56:22

In terms of the coastal sediment processes over the last few thousand years the natural coast definition has developed through long shore sediment drift and deposition. The building of the Palms is at odds with the natural coastal shape. We will see sediment erosion and deposition along various parts of the shoreline and the Palms (this in fact is already happening). Only constant artifical redistribution of sediment can remedy the situation which i suspect will be very costly and ongoing process. If left to natural processes the Palms will disapear over time. Ultimately this project is a very expensive (albiet visually pleasing) folly where developers have ignored scientific principles.


I have been wondering what exactly the developers are doing to conserve the habits they're affecting. If you have any sources you can cite for your comments, I would be happy to work them into the article. —HorsePunchKid→龜 04:53, 11 November 2005 (UTC)
All of the wildlife has improved since the completion of the first palm, apart from a change in ocean currents, everything else has improve, the water visibility has not decreased (obviously, why would it, all the sand thet can kick up will just settle again) the coral has flourished in the breakwater and sunken ships and aeroplanes that were put down there for divers. whereas yes this has changed, but it remains balanced. there has been almost no harm done to the ecosystem. Philc T+C 09:21, 19 April 2006 (UTC)

The documentary (National Geographic Channel: MEGA ASIA: DUBAI'S PALM ISLAND) I just watched on Palm Island said that the costal environment is being improved because the island is creating an establishment for coral reef which in turn is inviting other reef sea life into the area.

[edit] Oil reserves

I thought oil reserves will be finished in 2012, not 2016? CoolGuy 00:31, 17 July 2006 (UTC)

And I've heard 2010 (from the Burj Dubai site, I believe). So, we really should track down a source for that estimate.
—ZorkFox (ষTalk) 01:54, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Small contradiction

"...rock and sand – all of which will be quarried in the UAE." and "...sand dredged from the bottom of the Persian Gulf."

[edit] Unclear

"There are over 7 million tons of rock on The Palm Jumeirah and each was placed individually by a diver, signed off and given a GPS coordinate." Each what? each rock? each ton? in any case, we lack information on how big the rocks were. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.109.79.136 (talk • contribs)

I remember seeing on a National Geographic documentary that each rock was placed individually by the diver. It seems far too unlikely that a diver would place a ton by him/herself. This is what I remember seeing, but if someone could verify this it would be fan-dang-tabulous. -6xB 15:01, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Stupidly Cheap

It says for Palm Jumeirah that each square meter will be sold at around 1 dirham and that the island is 5 * 5 km, that would mean that the whole island would cost about 25,000,000 dirham or 5,000,000 €, that can't be true 80.109.79.136 12:02, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

The estimates you gave are equal to right around US$3 million (2.998something and other numbers that round up). Considering the fact that 1 dirham is about 12 cents here in the US (according to Google conversion), that's pretty cheap for a sq. meter. But one question, what exchange rate did you use? According to Google, the 25,000,000 dirham would only equal about 2.24 million Euro. --6xB 15:01, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Largest island

It says 'The Palm islands in Dubai are the three largest artificial islands in the world.' Are these islands really larger than Flevoland in the Netherlands? Math1985 09:39, 17 February 2007 (UTC)

Perhaps it was worded incorrectly, and it is meant to say the 'largest artificial island project', or something to that effect. Anyone who can clarify would be applauded. -6xB 03:09, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Global warming/rising sea levels

Has climate change been considered in the design? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 210.49.197.7 (talk) 09:12, 5 October 2007 (UTC)

On a television show about the Palm Islands, it said that they studied the effects from global warming and the gulf's geography makes it so no extreme storms resulting from global warming will occur on the Dubai coastline; however, the television show did not mention about the rising sea level--I was wondering thee same thing myself. —Christopher Mann McKaytalk 23:12, 5 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Names

Do "Jumeirah", "Jebel Ali" and "Deira" translate to anything or are they just derived from place names? --Tropylium 14:55, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

All the names of the different Palm Islands do come from place names. The Palm Jumeirah is named after Jumeirah. The Palm Jebel Ali is named after Jebel Ali (Jebel Ali means "Ali's Mountain" in Arabic). The Palm Deira is named after Deira, the historic center of Dubai. --Leitmanp 05:19, 10 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Why So Many Commercial Real Estate Links?

I'm puzzled. Can someone fill me in on why five links of websites that strictly focus on commercial aspect of selling or renting properties in Dubai are listed in external links? These 5 links are in clear violation of wikipedia Links To Be Avoided Policy. MarkMarek 06:01, 13 November 2007 (UTC)

I have deleted them. If people add them again, I will be sure to delete them. --Leitmanp (talk|contributions) 06:21, 13 November 2007 (UTC)
Thanks for swift response. I wanted to bring it up here first, but those were clearly against wiki rules. MarkMarek 08:01, 13 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Island Size

I am somewhat skeptical that Palm Deira is almost as big as Paris. Paris has a superficial area of 86 928 square kilometers, whereas the Palm Deira measures 12.5 km by 7.5 km. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.203.163.51 (talk) 01:37, 27 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Island size - clarification

The source of this statement seems to come from an undated release put out by the developer, Nakheel. In it, the company states: "The Palm Deira will have a surface area of 46.35 million square metres – larger than that of Paris"

Now my knowledge of urban measurements and my math skills aren't up to working out if that's mathematically feasible. Nor have I gone out there and measured Paris. Nontheless, I have visited Paris and I have visited the Palm Deira. And it seems to me that the any reference to the Palm Deira being bigger than Paris in any way is just plain wrong. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.74.169.86 (talk) 14:55, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

Nakheel - the developer - claims the Palm Islands are "one of the world's largest man-made islands, covering 560 hectares of land" —Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.74.169.86 (talk) 16:00, 27 March 2008 (UTC)