Long fascinated by volcanoes, languages and cultures, Kayley Rolph is pursuing their diverse interests, individual identity and community connection at the University of Hawai‘i (UH) at Mānoa. Rolph is nearing completion of an undergraduate degree in Earth sciences in the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST), has completed a certificate in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies focused on queer studies, and will soon begin Khmer language classes.

“Ever since I spent a summer on the Big Island remodeling a house with my family, I planned on returning to Hawai‘i,” said Rolph. “The extensive research opportunities at UH, as well as the beautiful beaches and mountains all drew me here, but it’s the people who I have found community with here that make me want to stay.”

In SOEST, Rolph has been working as a lab assistant with Earth sciences professor Bruce Houghton. In that role, they analyze the density of various rock types, such as scoria and reticulite, from Kīlauea volcano and assist with Caroline Tisdale’s research by doing imaging work on ultraHD video footage of a Kīlauea vent eruption to determine how the velocities of rock fragments changed over time. 

“I’ve enjoyed being in the Earth Sciences department,” said Rolph. “With such a small department, it was easier to develop relationships with faculty members as well as my peers. I am thankful to my advisor Sloan Coats for being very supportive of my interests and patiently helping me troubleshoot registration every semester.”

Passion for languages

Another passion of Rolph’s is learning new languages, a pathway for delving into new cultures, they shared. Growing up in California, Rolph attended a dual immersion elementary school from kindergarten to sixth grade where many classmates and teachers spoke Spanish, often as their first language. Through much travel and living in Spain for three months, Rolph’s curiosity grew and they continued with Spanish language courses in high school and during community college.

“Because of UH’s unique placement between Asia and America, I became very interested in utilizing the multitude of eastern language classes offered here,” Rolph said. “I took two introductory Korean language courses in 2022 and just registered to take Khmer 101 in the fall. My interest in learning Khmer stems from my family, as I am half Cambodian and much of my family speaks Khmer as a first language. I am really excited to be able to talk to my family in Khmer!” 

Understanding identity, relationships, the world

In a new program offered at UH Mānoa, Rolph completed a queer studies certificate that requires students to take courses that apply critical thinking skills to explore topics of sex, sexuality, gender, feminism, and queer theory. 

“As a mixed race, nonbinary, bisexual human, exploring these topics is very important to my understanding of my identity, my relationships, and the world around me,” Rolph shared. “These courses as well as my individual scholarship of Queer theory has provided me with the tools I need to remain critical of systems of oppression, yet be able to imagine a future for myself and my community where our needs are met and our intimate relationships with each other and the Earth are healthy and generative.”

In the fall of 2023, Rolph will be graduating and hopes to find employment as a hydrogeologist or volcanologist at the O’ahu Board of Water Supply or the Hawai‘i Volcano Observatory. 

“I would also be very happy with a job as an environmental consultant or working in conservation doing the important work of preserving our precious natural resources,” they added. “After a couple years working in the field, I hope to get into graduate school and pursue a master’s degree.”

Read also on UH News.

Scalloped hammerhead sharks hold their breath to keep their bodies warm during deep dives into cold water where they hunt prey such as deep sea squids. This discovery, published today in Science by University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa researchers, provides important new insights into the physiology and ecology of a species that serves as an important link between the deep and shallow water habitats. 

“This was a complete surprise!” said Mark Royer, lead author and researcher with the Shark Research Group at the Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB) in the UH Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology. “It was unexpected for sharks to hold their breath to hunt like a diving marine mammal. It is an extraordinary behavior from an incredible animal.”

Shark gills are natural radiators that would rapidly cool the blood, muscles, and organs if scalloped hammerhead sharks did not close their gill slits during deep dives into cold water.  These sharks are warm water animals but feed at depths where seawater temperatures are similar to those found in Kodiak Alaska (around 5ºC/ 40ºF), yet they need to keep their bodies warm in order to hunt effectively.  

“Although it is obvious that air-breathing marine mammals hold their breath while diving, we did not expect to see sharks exhibiting similar behavior,” said Royer. “This previously unobserved behavior reveals that scalloped hammerhead sharks have feeding strategies that are broadly similar to those of some marine mammals, like pilot whales. Both have evolved to exploit deep dwelling prey and do so by holding their breath to access these physically challenging environments for short periods.”

The research team discovered this unexpected phenomenon by equipping deep-diving scalloped hammerhead sharks with devices that simultaneously measured their muscle temperature, depth, body orientation, and activity levels. They saw that their muscles stayed warm throughout their dive into deep cold water but suddenly cooled as the sharks approached the surface toward the end of each dive. Computer modeling suggested that hammerhead sharks must be preventing heat loss from their gills to keep their bodies warm during these deep-dives into cold water.

Additionally, video of a scalloped hammerhead shark swimming along the seabed at a depth of 1,044 meters (more than 3,400 feet) showed its gill slits tightly closed, whereas similar images from surface waters show these sharks swimming with their gill slits wide open. A sudden cooling in muscle temperature as scalloped hammerhead sharks approach the surface at the end of each dive suggests that they opened their gill slits to resume breathing while still in relatively cool water.

“Holding their breath keeps scalloped hammerhead sharks warm but also shuts off their oxygen supply,” said Royer. “So, although these sharks hold their breath for an average of 17 minutes, they only spend an average of four minutes at the bottom of their dives at extreme depths before quickly returning to warmer, well-oxygenated surface waters where breathing resumes.”

“This discovery fundamentally advances our understanding of how scalloped hammerhead sharks are able to dive to great depths and withstand frigid temperatures in order to capture prey,” said Royer. “It also demonstrates the delicate physiological balance that scalloped hammerhead sharks must strike in order to forage successfully.”

Scalloped hammerhead sharks are not listed as threatened in Hawaiʻi but are regionally endangered in other parts of the world due to overfishing, bycatch, and nursery habitat loss. 

“This new and detailed understanding of scalloped hammerhead physiology and ecology enhances our ability to effectively manage and conserve this iconic species by revealing potential vulnerabilities associated with changing ocean conditions or future human exploitation of these deep foraging habitats, such as deep-sea mining or large-scale fishing in the mesopelagic “twilight zone”, both of which might make it harder or more dangerous for these sharks to hunt their natural prey,” said Royer. “This extraordinary physiological feat that allows scalloped hammerhead sharks to expand their ecological niche into the deep sea could very well make them vulnerable to additional human impacts.”

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The University of Hawai‘i Foundation published a student feature on Emma DeBenedictis, a senior from Saint Charles, Illinois, who is majoring in Environmental Earth Science at SOEST. She is the recipient of the Ocean Conservation Award from the Global High Seas Marine Preserve.

“Emma is a delightful, hard-working student, and was one of our first two undergraduate teaching assistants for ERTH 101L,” said Scott Rowland, Earth Sciences undergraduate chair and instructor for the course. “We wish her best of luck in graduate school in Natural Resources and Environmental Management.”

Read the UH Foundation story below.

* * *

I chose UH Mānoa for the people, professors and opportunities. This campus offers opportunities I could find nowhere else in the country. I work with the Hanauma Bay Education Program to promote marine stewardship to thousands of people who visit the bay each day. I am extremely lucky to be part of such a great program.

After college, I plan to pursue graduate school for environmental management and policy. I currently intern for STEMworks, a non-profit organization providing professional development for K-12 students. I hope to pursue a career with more non-profit organizations in the future.

Life and studies in Mānoa Valley

As a college student it is hard to overlook the constant stress of our future, although the Pixar movie Soul does a phenomenal job at depicting the true meaning of one’s life. This movie is my go-to at times of stress, reminding me to take a step back and treasure the little moments life has to offer as well as following your true passions.

If I were to give a college student advice, it would be to prioritize sleep. All-nighters are not worth it and sleep is truly the most important thing for everyone.

UH Mānoa has offered me amazing opportunities, friends, experiences and education. The professors are truly gifted in their studies and it is an honor to be able to learn from the best.

Something that may surprise prospective UH Mānoa students is the unique opportunity to immerse themselves in the rich cultural history of Hawai‘i and the Pacific. Prior to moving 4,000 miles from my home in Illinois, I had little to no knowledge about Hawaiian culture. UH Mānoa has many cultural centers such as the Hawaiian Studies Program and the Center for Pacific Islands Studies. By attending UH Mānoa, you will be certain to experience new perspectives that will impact you positively. 

Savoring the final moments

I believe I have grown tremendously since my freshman year. I am in the last semester of my undergraduate years, and it has been very hectic juggling school, work and my social life. My goal for this semester is to try and savor the last moments with the friends I have been with these past four years.

Academic growth is a given during college, although my attitude for academics has changed greatly. The first year of college is a time for exploration and adjustments. I was very confused and had no set plans for life after college. I did my assignments, went to class and kind of just went through the motion of school.

As the years continued, I started to really enjoy what I was learning. The classes were getting more interesting, and I was getting more inspired. I got to meet other students who shared the same passions as me. This really made me excited for the future, rather than scared.

Eager to learn more; grateful for assistance

I would like to thank the Global High Seas Marine Preserve for the 2022-2023 Ocean Conservation Award. I truly appreciate the recognition of my work. With this award, I aim to promote marine stewardship to visitors all over the world. This award reassures me of my purpose to protect our natural environment.

I am currently in my last year of undergrad, but I am still eager to learn more about our world’s complex systems. I plan to attend graduate school after college to expand my knowledge. Freshman year Emma did not even consider graduate school. I am very grateful for access to my education and the opportunities it has provided me. 

UH Mānoa has allowed me to explore new ideas and adventures while learning and embracing the Native cultures of the islands. Studying at the university truly changed my perspective after living the first 18 years of my life in an Illinois suburban town. I am grateful to have attended college in a literal paradise filled with rich geologic and cultural history. My college experience will be forever remembered.

Recently implemented management policies at the Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve have improved marine conservation efforts and visitor enjoyment, and drawn more Hawai‘i residents to this popular O‘ahu snorkeling spot, according to a new study published by a University of Hawai‘i (UH) at Mānoa researcher and students. 

Ku‘ulei Rodgers, a researcher at the Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB) in the UH Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST), led a social carrying capacity study upon reopening of Hanauma Bay, following a nine-month COVID-19 closure due to travel restrictions. 

Social carrying capacity is defined as the type and level of visitor use that can be accommodated while sustaining acceptable resources and social conditions that complement the purpose of the park. To assess this, Rodgers and study co-authors distributed surveys to Hanauma Bay visitors that included questions about demographics, recreational activities, crowding perceptions, and educational availability. Additionally, visitor activity photos and counts were evaluated in context with survey responses. 

More Hawai‘i residents, positive experiences

Local resident use of the Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve in the previous social carrying capacity surveys in 2005 reported 3% of visitors were Hawai‘i residents. This latest research established a significant increase–13% of all visitors were local. 

“It was a gratifying revelation that the presence of Hawai‘i residents at Hanauma Bay has increased so substantially,” said Rodgers. “The number of locals visiting the park had been declining for decades since the 1990s when over 4 million visitors per year deterred residents from enjoying the marine park.”

The authors suggest the increase can be partially attributed to early entry hours, an entry fee waiver, and the bypassing of the mandatory viewing of the video when previously viewed. Other recent administrative changes include an online registration and payment system, which has greatly reduced the lines and wait times throughout most of the day.

Further, the survey revealed overwhelmingly positive responses regarding visitor satisfaction. Over 95% of all respondents, residents and tourists, were highly satisfied with their experience and did not perceive crowded conditions.

Conserving ecosystem health

Previous research on the ecological effects of people visiting Hanauma Bay has shown increased visitors can cause shifts in fish and coral distribution, fish density can decrease in areas of high snorkeling activity, and reef trampling can have widespread negative effects on ecosystem health. To address these human impacts on marine life, a mandatory educational video detailing proper reef etiquette was introduced to the Nature Preserve in 2002.

As part of the recent study, perceived visitor contact on the reef from surveys was compared to observed tracks of snorkelers. Reef contact was perceived by the majority of visitors responding to the surveys (74%), while in water observations recorded reef contact 53% of the time. There was an average of one disturbance for every two visitors tracked. However only 3% of interactions were with coral since coral cover is extremely low in high traffic areas.

Balancing economics, marine health, visitor experience

Tourism is the number one contributor to the state’s economy. Over 220,000 local jobs are generated within the tourism industry and over two billion dollars in State of Hawai‘i tax revenues are generated by visitors. 

“Successful management policies that include social carrying capacities should align with biological carrying capacities to balance the health of the ecosystem with a positive experience for visitors,” said Rodgers. “Information derived from this study will assist management in developing adaptive strategies that can incorporate that balance to assure visitor enjoyment and marine conservation.”  

In addition to the extensive biological and social carrying capacity studies that Rodgers and her team have conducted, they are currently incorporating physical carrying studies to understand efficiency and spatial components of Hanauma Bay. They also plan to continue environmental and biological monitoring of marine life, including coral bleaching surveys and changes in fish communities, to inform conservation efforts. 

Earth scientists from SOEST were recently gifted a set of precious basalt samples collected by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) from the Kīlauea Iki lava lake between 1959 and 1988. Investigating these samples will provide new insights for understanding recent and future volcanic eruptions in Hawai‘i.  

In 1959, a large eruption filled an existing crater at the summit of Kīlauea with a lava lake. Over the next three decades, the USGS drilled into this area to collect cores of cooling lava, noting the date, and the location and temperature of the rocks. 

“This set of lava cores represents a remarkable, 30-year-long magma cooling experiment that enables us to track chemical changes in olivine through time, to see if they behave like faithful ‘crystal clocks’,” said Tom Shea, SOEST assistant professor in the Department of Earth Sciences.

From thin sections to lava cores

Previously, Shea and his team had been analyzing thin slices of these samples, shared by USGS collaborator Rosalind Helz. Olivine, the light green mineral common in basalt, acts as a type of crystal clock. It records progressive smearing of the boundaries between different elemental compositions, a change that occurred over the decades of cooling of the lava lake. Volcanologists typically use the distribution of chemical elements, from core to rim, to infer time since the eruption. 

Nabila Nizam, a doctoral candidate in Earth Sciences, works with Shea on crystal clocks as part of a National Science Foundation-funded CAREER project, investigating how distinct chemical zoning in olivine grains gets progressively smeared with time. In the course of her work on the thin sections, she and Shea discovered that the Hawaiian Volcanoes National Park wanted to find a new home for some Kilauea Iki drill cores. USGS collaborator Frank Trusdell worked hard with them on a drill core rescue mission.

“We set out on several trips to the National Park to characterize what was there, and clean and select some subsamples,” said Nizam. “Every box we opened was like viewing another surprise! Eventually, we shipped two full drill core sets (16 core boxes for each set) by boat to Honolulu earlier this year.” 

These boxes of drill cores will be housed at SOEST and will be a part of research projects and available for appreciation. 

“It’s thrilling to host this treasure trove of samples,” added Shea. “They have beautiful olivine crystals that will provide unmatched constraints on the rate at which different elements move within a mineral with time.”

The cores will allow the researchers to ground truth the theoretical cooling model that earth scientists have been working with. With these samples, they know the exact timing and the temperature the lava lake was when the samples were collected.

“This set of lava core samples is one-of-a-kind. This type of multiple decade-long sampling of a magma body is unlikely to ever be done again in Hawai‘i or elsewhere,” Shea said.

Read also on UH News and Environmental News Network.

More than 120 University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and UH Hilo researchers have been recognized among the world’s top scientists in multiple fields, including environmental science, Earth science, ecology and evolution, and more, according to the 2023 best university rankings by Research.com.

Impressively, two SOEST faculty members, atmospheric scientist Bin Wang and oceanographer David Karl, were named in the top 25 researchers internationally. Based on a meticulous examination of 166,880 scientists on Google Scholar and Microsoft Academic Graph, the rankings report on the impact of research published by scientists in 21 disciplines.

Wang and Karl were ranked among over 11,258 profiles in the Environmental Sciences discipline–placing them in the top 0.2% of researchers worldwide.

“These two world class scientists exemplify not only excellence in research and the search for truth, but also a thoughtful, caring, and nurturing attitude toward their students and colleagues,” said Chip Fletcher, interim dean of the UH Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology. “Bin and Dave are known far and wide as outstanding teachers and mentors who express a genuine kindness, a holistic love for our Earthly home, and a deep concern for the future of humanity. We are indeed blessed to know them as friends and collaborators.”

Bin Wang

Wang, ranked 11 internationally and 5 in the nation, is an emeritus professor who has been with the Department of Atmospheric Sciences (formerly Department of Meteorology) at UH Mānoa  since 1987. He is a leading meteorologist specializing in climate and atmospheric dynamics. Among his research interests are variability and predictability of Asian-Australian monsoons, climate predictions, tropical cyclones and El Niño – Southern Oscillation dynamics. The ranking reported that Wang’s publications have more than 83,000 citations. Active in the science community, he has organized numerous international workshops and conferences and has been serving on scientific advisory committees in his field. Wang is among the most influential scientists in monsoon research worldwide and in development of meteorological sciences and climate predictions in Asian-Pacific region.

David Karl

Karl, ranked 22 in the world and 13 nationally, is the Victor and Peggy Brandstrom Pavel Professor of Microbial Oceanography and Director of the Daniel K. Inouye Center for Microbial Oceanography: Research and Education (C-MORE). As a microbial oceanographer, he has studied the distribution and metabolic activities of microorganisms at various sites in the global ocean from the equator to both poles and from the surface to the greatest ocean depths. In 1988, he co-founded the Hawaii Ocean Time-series program as a sentinel for observing the effects of climate on the structure and function of microbial communities. He has spent more than 1,000 days conducting research at sea including 23 expeditions to Antarctica. Karl’s research has centered around the ocean’s carbon cycle from photosynthetic production of organic matter to carbon sequestration in the deep sea. A member of the National Academy of Sciences, Karl’s publications continue to advance the field of microbial ecology and collectively have more than 61,000 citations, according to the new ranking report.  

Additionally, numerous current faculty and emeritus professors ranked in the top 10% globally in the following disciplines:

Earth science
Fred T. Mackenzie
Fei-Fei Jin
Alexander N. Krot
Bruce F. Houghton
Michael O. Garcia
Christopher L. Sabine

Ecology and evolution
Brian W. Bowen
Craig R. Smith
Robert J. Toonen

Environmental Sciences
Tim Li
Antony D. Clark
Barry J. Huebert
Brian N. Popp
Yuqing Wang

UH Mānoa as a whole ranked in the nation’s top 30 in three subjects (Earth science No. 11, environmental sciences No. 21 and ecology and evolution No. 30).

The rankings by Research.com were compiled based on citations, publications and the Discipline H-index (D-index), which is a measure that reflects the number of influential documents authored by scientists and only includes publications and citation metrics for an examined discipline. Note: not all subjects are ranked every year.For a listing of additional UH faculty and discipline rankings, visit UH News.

The North Pacific ‘Garbage Patch’ is home to an abundance of floating sea creatures, as well as the plastic waste it has become infamous for, according to a study recently published in PLOS Biology and co-authored by oceanographers in the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology. 

Marine surface-dwelling organisms, such as jellies, snails, barnacles and crustaceans, are a critical ecological link between diverse ecosystems, the study authors wrote, but very little is known about where these organisms are found. Plastic pollution provides a clue: the oceanographic forces that concentrate buoyant man-made waste and pollutants in ‘garbage patches’, may also aggregate floating life. 

There are five main oceanic gyres — vortexes of water where multiple ocean currents meet — of which the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre is the largest. It is also known as the North Pacific “Garbage Patch,” because converging ocean currents have concentrated large amounts of plastic waste there. 

The researchers leveraged an 80-day, long-distance swim by Benoît Lecomte through the gyre in 2019, dubbed The Vortex Swim. To investigate these floating lifeforms, the sailing crew accompanying the expedition collected samples of surface sea creatures and plastic waste. The expedition’s route was planned using computer simulations developed by SOEST oceanographers, Nikolai Maximenko and Jan Hafner, which simulate ocean surface currents to predict areas with high concentrations of marine debris. 

“Surface currents are the most complex part of ocean dynamics,” said Maximenko, who is a senior researcher in the International Pacific Research Center at SOEST. “The model, which had been successfully used previously to simulate trans-Pacific drift of debris generated by the 2011 tsunami in Japan, now helps us to understand the role that ocean currents play in sustaining the pelagic ecosystem.”

The expedition team collected daily samples of floating life and waste in the eastern part of the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, and the researchers found that sea creatures were more abundant inside the gyre than on the periphery. The occurrence of plastic waste was positively correlated with the abundance of three groups of floating sea creatures: by-the-wind sailors (Velella sp), blue buttons (Porpita sp) and violet snails (Janthina sp).

The same ocean currents that concentrate plastic waste in oceanic gyres may be vital to the life cycles of floating marine organisms, by bringing them together to feed and mate, the authors say. However, human activities could negatively impact these high sea meeting grounds and the wildlife that depends on them.

“The ‘garbage patch’ is more than just a garbage patch,” said Rebecca Helm, assistant professor at the Earth Commons Institute at Georgetown University and lead author of the study. “It is an ecosystem, not because of the plastic, but in spite of it.”

Read also on UH News, West Hawai’i Today, and Kaua’i Now