Two U.S. researchers have found that the Earth has 657 more barrier islands than previously thought. The two geologists, Orrin Pilkey and Matthew Stutz, conducted a global survey of barrier islands using satellite images, topographical maps and navigational charts. To their surprise, they found 657 new barrier islands, including islands off the coast of Columbia, Brazil, Siberia, Alaska and Canada's Arctic. A previous survey in 2001 had pegged the number of barrier islands at 1,492. Read more