2025
November: Deep-sea mining threatens food webs | Monitoring Kīlauea’s hidden processes | Resilience found in Hawaiian fishponds | Ocean engineering student design custom water monitoring tool
October: Public invited to SOEST symposium | Okinawan songs rich with indigenous knowledge | Deep-sea mining risks | Strengthening resilience in Hawai‘i
September: When crowds left, reefs came alive at Hanauma Bay | Windward CC student analyzes sinking Earth | Three species of snailfish discovered | Global ‘Noah’s Ark’ to safeguard corals
August: Rapa Nui’s iconic moai | New AI data assistant | UH hires advance sustainable fisheries | Iron’s role in climate history
July: UH to lead lunar instrument team | Unprecedented acidification ahead for Hawaiian corals | Exploring the Moon at O‘ahu correctional center | The Sand Dance, children’s book
June: Chip Fletcher selected as SOEST dean | Iron from coal, steel impacts ecosystem | Ghost gear vs. hackers | 10 Telly Awards for ‘Voice of the Sea’
May: Congratulations, Class of 2025! | Faculty and Student Awards | 120-million-year-old “super-eruption” | Teachers dive into ocean science
April: Kīlauea ash prompts phytoplankton bloom | Advancing the search for lunar ice | Tsunami Awareness Month | Onizuka Day of Exploration
March: New anglerfish among Top 10 of 2024 | Micronutrient gaps and childhood obesity | ENSO Winter School | UH Giving Day
February: Engaging lawmakers | Mighty marine fungi degrade plastic | Undergrad focuses on healthy Pacific fisheries
January: Hawai‘i’s two most active volcanoes share a magma source | Cherished samples of asteroid analyzed at HIGP | SMART Cable workshop hosts international collaborators
2024
December: Marine educator inducted into Hawaiʻi Waterman Hall of Fame | A century of stress and deformation at Kīlauea | Growth and energy needs during humpback whale migrations
November: Searching Jupiter’s moon for signs of life | Remote control eddies | Outstanding Employee awards | Student studies groundwater in Hawai‘i, Galapagos
October: Titan’s insulating methane-rich crust | Sharks at work | Preparing next generation space explorers | Undergrad merges interests in ʻāina, engineering, biology
August: Storing animal cells on the Moon | Mars rover climbs to crater rim | New initiatives address climate-friendly cooling, clean energy
July: $68.5M to advance climate resilience | MPAs produce more “trophy-sized” fish | Impacts of wildfires on clouds, climate | Making deep-sea wonders visible, accessible
June: Drone tech aids fishpond resilience | Student-built satellite selected for NASA launch | El Niño forecasts 18 months out
May: Congratulations, Class of 2024! | Student and faculty awards
April: SOEST scientists to advise Governor | Students’ robot heads to competition | Bolstering sustainable blue economy | New tsunami preparedness video
March: Successful satellite launch | Behind the scenes of NYAD | Olympic tower construction at Teahupo’o | Mahina Aerospace, Tech Entrepreneur of the Year finalist
February: Students selected for D.C. marine policy fellowships | Changing monitoring of smaller whales | Multifamily buildings will require more cooling | Win prizes by catching tagged pāpio
January: Healani Chang, president elect of SACNAS | Humpback whales move daytime singing offshore | Student’s love of math supports Hawai‘i’s energy goals | In Memoriam: Fred Mackenzie
2023
December: Rat lungworm from slug slime? | Micrometeorites may have delivered building blocks for life on Earth | Software donation advances earthquake, tsunami research
November: Unsung heroes in Hawaiʻi’s rainfall creation | Faulting on icy moons | Climate actions center on Indigenous knowledge | First-generation students share stories
October: Investigating water quality, reef health in Lahaina | Hurricanes arrive earlier with climate change | Sci-Art exhibit opens November 3
September: Join us for SOEST Open House! | Earth’s electrons may be forming Moon’s water | Aquaculture permitting website launched
August: Information on Maui wildfires, ways to help | Cryopreservation breakthrough could save corals | Mayor’s Choice Award for Waikīkī adaptation plan
July: $10.7M for microbiome research | Upcycling nutrients in ocean’s twilight zone | Advancing energy transitions in remote communities | Summer program for HS students celebrates 10 years
June: Marine biology and volcanology summer courses | La Niña came to Eden | Snap the Shore, See the Future | Natural energy students earn awards
May: Hammerhead sharks hold their breath to stay warm | A pathway to geosciences | AI tool monitors global reef health | Earth Sciences student video contest
April: Plastic debris hosts coastal species on high seas | Dogs train for conservation aboard R/V Kilo Moana | Alumna spreads inclusivity in science | SOEST awards faculty excellence
March: Support for cesspool conversion | Hawaiian land snail conservation | Advancing SMART seafloor cables
February: Research showcase at the State Capitol | Boost for innovative place-based graduate education | Irreversible loss of ice sheets imminent | In Memoriam: Eleanor Sterling
January: Yo-Yo Ma, Hōkūleʻa and whale experts team up | Environmental science degree is world’s first accredited | Designing for future Waikīkī earns honors
2022
November: Global conservation requires increased workforce | SOEST entrepreneurs work to bring ideas to market | Mentorship program supports high school girls
October: Historic sea-level rise bill on Kaua‘i | Reef halos may enable coral telehealth checkup | ʻAhi recovery up thanks to no-fishing zones | Bolstering underrepresented faculty in STEM
September: Kewalo Marine Laboratory celebrates 50 years | Evidence of water on Mars | Climate dashboard for Hawai‘i Island farmers | Improving predictions of dangerous storms
August: Rat lungworm transmission–not just slugs, snails | West Maui wave flooding tool | Tap water quality dashboard | Undergraduate, graduate student excellence
July: SOEST ranks among world’s top | Deep-sea mining noise pollution | Summer program supports future geoscientists | National Geographic shark docuseries features HIMB
June: Living coastal-protection | Advancing search for extraterrestrial life | Palau wave buoy improves resilience | High school students dive into marine mammal program
May: Congrats, SOEST Grads! | Mystery of seafloor metamorphosis unlocked | Hawai‘i’s first hydrogen bus | Kapa making workshop | Bacteria make a beeline
April: Critical role microbes play in climate change | First Indigenous person appointed to national ocean board | Hawaiʻi Sea Grant TV series wins six Telly Awards
March: Too many unknowns for deep-sea mining | SOEST entrepreneur Island Innovator of the Year | Student researchers improve coral restoration efforts | In Memoriam: Klaus Keil
February: Predatory phytoplankton | Smartphones record Tonga eruption | Weekly live show, Science @ SOEST | Student helps advance clean energy
January: $50M gift aims to improve Hawaiʻi’s ocean health | Exploring fish flow from fisheries to supper | Earth on trajectory to Sixth Mass Extinction and more
2021
December: Happy Holidays! Boost for global SMART seafloor cables | Improving data access for Indigenous communities | Earthquake depth impacts potential tsunami threat
November: SOEST joins UN COP26 summit | Space dust analysis could solve mysterious origins of Earth’s water | Support students today through Giving Tuesday!
October: UH-led team discovers infant planet | Extinct ground sloth was an omnivore, not vegetarian | Earth’s inner core may contain mushy and hard iron | Science by the SEA seminar series!
September: ʻOpihi growth influenced by intertidal environment | Student-built satellite goes supersonic | Navigating the new Arctic | Preparing students for careers in materials science and engineering
August: $6M for UH wave energy conversion research | Infectious disease found in Hawaiʻi dolphin | SOEST grad sets sights on wildlife conservation
July: HIGP researcher honored with NASA lifetime achievement medal | Fish friends help in a crisis | Surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa churned by small impacts | More EVs could reduce CO2 emissions by 93% in less than 30 years
June: SOEST earns lead for up to $210M NOAA marine, atmospheric research institute | Hawaiian squid from SOEST lab visits space station | High-tide flooding projected for majority of U.S.
May: Congratulations, Graduates! UH team wins ocean observing prize | Indigenous practices could assist endangered waterbird recovery | SOEST faculty recognized with UH
April: First Pacific Islander reaches ocean’s deepest point | Clean-energy tech earns patent | Two new species named for SOEST researchers | Project plans for sea-level rise in urban Honolulu
March: The secrets of world’s best rainbows | Sea-level rise drives wastewater leakage to coast | Student receives premier conservation fellowship
February: Mars rover successfully lands, new chapter in exploration; Disease impacts frog microbiome; Advances in rat lungworm research; Past greening in Saraha Desert
January: Students continue excellence amid challenges | Kilauea eruption prompts quick action | Fleet of robots tracks marine microbes | Climate, carbon cycle trends reconciled
2020
December: Mercury pollution in deepest ocean trenches | Hawaiʻi’s humpback whale population | Giant Alaskan volcano?
November: Freshwater discovery raises hopes | Mystery of glacial lake floods solved | Largest aggregation of fishes in deep sea | RCUH recognizes outstanding employees
October: Water discovered on Moon’s sunlit surface | Wave energy powers desalination | Public can help monitor coral health | Hurricanes critical for Hawai‘i’s groundwater
September: UH satellite to collect neutrons in space | Undergraduate studies food webs in ocean’s deepest trenches | Head-shaving event for childhood cancer research creates buzz
August: Students win national energy competition | Native Hawaiian tiger cowries eat alien invasive species | World-wide “net” of telescopes will catch mysterious fading stars | He‘eia Fishpond restoration continues
July: Mars 2020 rover launched, in search of ancient life | Caution urged with ecological impacts above deep sea mining | Hurricane Lane brought fire and rain to Hawai‘i
June: ‘Infant’ planet discovered around a nearby young star | Four new species of giant single-celled organisms discovered on Pacific seafloor | Study reveals how volcanic eruptions affect El Niño
May: Congratulations, Class of 2020! | Largest and hottest shield volcano on Earth | SOEST research critical in U.S. Supreme Court decision | Lost Cities, interactive coral documentary, wins awards
April: PacIOOS provides critical data for transport of goods | Rare video captures humpback whale nursing behaviors | Alison Nugent honored with UH Board of Regents Teaching Award
March: Investigating water ice, space weathering on the Moon | UH team wins HECO Innovation Impact Challenge to improve reliability of solar power | Nutrient pollution and ocean warming negatively affect early life of corals
February: Peeking at the plumbing of an Aleutian volcano | Tools for studying human disease reveal coral disease risk factors | In memoriam: Pioneer of marine mammal echolocation, Whitlow Au
January: UH oceanographer presents TED talk at National Academy | Venus may have active volcanoes | In death of dinosaurs, it was all about the asteroid | Oceanography Department appoints first female chair
2019
December: Prey-size plastics are invading larval fish nurseries | Study reveals growth rates of deep-sea coral communities | Faculty recognized for scientific and community contributions
October: SOEST Open House hosts 6,000 visitors | Climate warming promises more frequent extreme El Niño events | Groundbreaking video of whale bubble-net feeding
September: Kīlauea lava fuels phytoplankton bloom off Hawai‘i Island | Europe’s oldest lake traces 1.4 million years of Mediterranean climate | Advances in diving, math theory shed light on deep reefs of Micronesia
August: Fishpond sees dramatic turn after removal of invasive plants | Icebergs delay Southern Hemisphere future warming | SOEST well-represented in nominees for RCUH Outstanding Employee
July: SOEST among world’s best in rankings | HNEI focuses on more rooftop PV on Molokaʻi | Sen. Hirono visits Coconut Island | Summer internship students investigate previously unsampled volcanic rift zone
June: Climate modulates ocean fertilization with Asian dust | Leaving microbes out of climate change conversation has major consequences | Student excellence recognized
May: Expedition to world’s deepest ocean | Water formation on Moon demonstrated | UH satellite selected for NASA space missions | PacIOOS deployed ocean acidification and wave buoys
April: Lava is cooking in the UH Mānoa Art Department | Coral reef research: halos, bacterial synchrony, management priorities, and soft tissues | New coastal and marine resource management fellowship program
March: HIGP researchers to study untouched moon rocks | Glowing bacteria affect squid host’s eyes from afar | Connecting science, education, art and society
February: Rare video of newborn humpback whale | Deep-sea microbes hold clues to early life | Largest collection of scientific publications by Native Hawaiians | SOEST advances nuclear nonproliferation
January: $10.4M for environmental microbiomes and human health research | $1.3M advances wave energy | Are Hawaiian corals adjusting to warmer temperatures? | ‘Superdeep’ diamonds