AbstractMicro‐erosion meter sites, installed on Aldabra Atoll, Indian Ocean in 1969 to measure erosion rates in coastal and subaerial sites, were remeasured in 1971 and again in 1982. The orders of magnitude of calculated erosion rates are comparable but the precise figures and patterns differ. For subaerial sites the short term (1969–71) range of 0·11–0·58 mm a−1compares with a long term (1971–82) range of 0·06–0·75 mm a−1; for coastal sites short term ranges of 0·002–7·5 mm a−1compare with long term rates of 0·09–2·7 mm a−1. Interpretation and extrapolation of short term data sho