脆弱天堂 03

During big spring tides, seawater simply bubbles up through the ground.

In 2006, the islanders experienced their highest tides ever.

These islands could soon become uninhabitable.

The seawater is poisoning the soil and groundwater.

Eventually, the islands may have to be evacuated.

This would be an unprecedented move, an entire nation relocated.

So the ocean is threatening its islands, thanks to global warming.

And yet, the Pacific is playing a massive part in slowing down climate change.

The world's oceans have absorbed about half of all the carbon dioxide released so far into the atmosphere by industry,

significantly reducing the greenhouse effect.

But there's a catch.

For the fish, all that extra carbon dioxide in the water can have some，unwanted side effects.

All life in the Pacific is dependent on the tiniest of creatures, the plankton that floats freely in the currents.

One of the most plentiful is the sea butterfly, a tiny marine snail, which uses its enlarged foot to fly through，the water.