How Dubai Built an Island Out of the Sea (And Why It Hasn't Sunk)

In 2001 this stretch of the Persian Gulf was open water. Five years later, families were moving into beachfront villas there. Palm Jumeirah was built from sand and rock, not concrete, and ever since, people have asked whether it's sinking. Here's how engineers built land in the open sea, the problems they didn't see coming, and what the sinking rumor actually got wrong. Satellite photos: NASA, International Space Station crew (public domain). Diagrams are simplified and not to scale. Some scenes are AI-generated illustrations. Chapters: 0:00 Intro 0:54 A City Running Out of Beach 2:01 A Wall Before the Island 3:11 Rainbowing 4:17 Turning Sand Into Rock 5:17 The Water That Wouldn't Move 5:51 Boom, Bust, and a Rumor 7:49 The Islands That Came After 9:00 What the Palm Proved Sources: Palm Jumeirah, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_Jumeirah Palm Islands, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_Islands The World (archipelago), Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_(a...) The View at The Palm, breakwater history: https://www.theviewpalm.ae/en/museum/break... K. Higgins (2013), Engineering Challenges of Dubai's Palm Jumeirah, Memorial University: https://journals.library.mun.ca/index.php/... AZoBuild, Building the Palm Jumeirah: https://www.azobuild.com/article.aspx?Arti... Arabian Business, Nakheel: Palm Jumeirah is 'not sinking': https://www.arabianbusiness.com/nakheel-pa... NASA image ISS072-E-574768: https://images.nasa.gov/details/iss072e574768 #Dubai #Engineering #Megaprojects