UHM Dept. of Earth Sciences banner, sunset
over Diamond Head, (c) Ken H Rubin

News and Announcements

(generally the most up-to-date)
TGIF Seminar

TGIF Seminars

Interested in learning about a wide range of earth sciences relevant topics and socializing with colleagues in our department community? Join us each Friday at 11:30 am for the ERTH Department TGIF Seminar!

HyTi Satellite

Congratulations HyTi Team!

Congrats to our HIGP colleagues on a successful launch of the Hyperspectral Thermal Imager (HyTI) satellite on March 21, aboard the SpaceX commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS)!

Department of Earth Sciences Logo

EARTH Dept. receives top national rankings from National Science Foundation

UHM Earth Sciences ranks in the top 4% (No. 15 out of 396) of research institutions in the U.S., according to the latest National Science Foundation (NSF) Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) Data, which measures research and development federal expenditures across a variety of disciplines.

M5.7 HVO Earthquake

EARTH responds to M5.7 Mauna Loa earthquake

A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck Hawaiʻi's Big Island on February 9th, centered on Mauna Loa's southern flank, 1.3 miles southwest of Pahala. EARTH Professor Dr. Helen Janiszewski , a seismologist that studies earthquake swarms on the Big Island, was interviewed by Hawaiʻi's Star Advertiser.

Earth Newsletter 2023

2022-2023 Earth Sciences Department Newsletter

Its here ! Congrats to all on an inspirational 2022 and 2023.

Haunani Kane and Chip Fletcher

Haunani Kane and Chip Fletcher honored with Climate Adaptation Leadership Award

Haunani Kane, Earth Sciences Assistant Professor, and Chip Fletcher, Professor and SOEST Interim Dean, were recognized in the “Distinguished Leader” category for demonstrating exemplary leadership in reducing climate-related threats and promoting adaptation of the nation’s natural resources.

Allison Yamakawa

2023 NOAA Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship Recipient: Allison Yamakawa

Congrats to ERTH B.S. major Allison Yamakawa for receiving a 2023 NOAA Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship, which provides for 2 years of full-time study and a paid internship at a NOAA facility. Allison has workied with NOAA to create material showcasing the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.

Liliane Burkhard

EPS graduate, Liliane Burkhard awarded Outstanding Student Paper at the Fall 2022 AGU Meeting

View Dr. Burkhard's presentation "Earthquake cycle stress accumulation disparities of the San Andreas Fault System in the Cajon Pass region, Southern California" at doi:10.22541/essoar.167642237.71480070/v1.

ERTH103 Field Photo

ERTH103 Field Trip

ERTH103 - Geology of the Hawaiian Islands had a great field trip a couple weekends ago. Mahalos to the curious, inquisitive, and motivated 103 students, Natalia and Kelly for helping out, and to our UHF donors for supporting this opportunity.

Jasper Konter

In Memoriam: Jasper Konter

As the EARTH community tries to come to terms with the loss Professor Jasper Konter, we invite you to visit his In Memoriam webpage containing photos and memories of this fine friend, mentor, and colleague. If you would like to share a message or memory, please write Garrett Apuzen-Ito at earth@hawaii.edu.

Tongan Plankton Bloom

Tongan Submarine Volcanism Causes Massive Plankton Bloom

In January 2022, the largest volcanic eruption of this century, which was submarine, led to a dramatic phytoplankton bloom north of the Tongan island of Tongatapu. Three scientists from UHM (CMORE's Benedetto Barone and Dave Karl, and Earth Sciences Prof. Ken Rubin), with a colleague from Oregon State University, recently revealed that the bloom of microscopic marine life covered an area nearly 40 times the size of the island of Oʻahu within 48 hours after the eruption.

Paul Wessel

Leptoukh Award Winner: Paul Wessel

Paul Wessel named American Geophysical Union's (AGU) 2022 Greg Leptoukh Lecture recipient, awarded by the Earth and Space Science Informatics section. They chose Paul because of his pioneering effort in developing widely used open-source software for the Earth science community, such as the globally recognized Generic Mapping Tools (GMT).

Rose Gallo and Liliane Burkhard

EPS Graduate students featured on ThinkTech Hawaii, Science@SOEST

Rose Gallo, "The 2018 Eruption of Kilauea" and Liliane Burkhard, "Tectonics of Icey Worlds"