Andrian (Adi) Gajigan, oceanography graduate student at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST), has been awarded an Early Career Grant from the National Geographic Society to examine microbial and viral drivers of red tide in Bolinao, Philippines as a 2021 National Geographic Explorer.

National Geographic Early Career Grants identify emerging leaders, build their capacity through professional development, and provide funding for a one-year project.

Gajigan, a biochemist and oceanographer, will use the award to investigate the role of microbes and viruses in red tides, a phenomenon that occurs when certain algae are so numerous that coastal water can be colored red. The algal blooms can deplete oxygen in the water and release toxins that are dangerous to humans and other animals, causing some areas to enforce shellfish bans to protect communities. This project will be done in collaboration with his colleagues both in Hawai‘i and the Philippines.

As a doctoral candidate in SOEST professor Grieg Steward’s laboratory, Gajigan focuses on phytoplankton viruses. His scientific endeavors span from the molecular level to ocean-scale processes.

While earning his Bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and Master’s degree in marine science at the University of the Philippines, Gajigan participated in open-ocean research near the Philippines and around the world, assessing microbial community diversity and structure as well as assisting with a project to develop an early predictive system for harmful algal blooms.

“I’ve been fascinated with science since I was a kid,” said Gajigan. “However, growing up in a developing country like the Philippines, I didn’t think of science as a career. My life has always been at the intersection of the sociopolitical turmoil in my home country that affects the resources we have, and what dreams I can pursue.”

“There is still work to be done in advocating and moving towards the inclusion of marginalized and minoritized people so that we have the chance to work in and contribute to STEM fields,” he continued.

Beyond his research, Gajigan is also active in community organizing around justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) professions; youth, migrant and worker’s rights; and genuine freedom for the Filipino people.

“My career goal is to become a multifaceted scientist spearheading projects at the national level in the Philippines and at a regional scale across the Asia-Pacific region,” he said. “I intend to be connected to my roots, establish a research program in my home country, and train the next generation of oceanographers and explorers.”

Read also on UH News.

Heavy rains are part of the winter wet season in Hawaiian Islands. But the downpours triggering flooding that destroyed homes and bridges and set off mass evacuations on multiple islands recently are also an example of the more intense rainstorms officials and climate scientists say are occurring more frequently as the planet warms.

Two key ingredients came together in Hawaii in recent days to deliver the rain: an upper-level disturbance and extra moisture in the lower layers of the atmosphere. The downpours first affected Maui, moved northward up the island chain to Oahu and Kauai, then circled around and hit the southernmost part of the Big Island.

Pao-Shin Chu, a professor of Atmospheric Sciences at SOEST and the state climatologist, described for the Associated Press how climate change might affect Hawaii weather events.

He said theoretical studies suggest that for every one-degree Celsius increase in sea surface temperatures, there is likely to be a 7% increase in atmospheric moisture.

The frequency of intense rains like that one and this week’s are an indication people should be prepared for such events more often, Chu said.

Read the full story on Associated Press.

Chip Fletcher, SOEST associate dean for academic affairs, detailed for Hawaii News Now the limitations of Honolulu’s current infrastructure in the face of climate change.

“And one of the factors that plays into the damage is that our engineering systems designed to drain runoff out of our communities are under scaled for this intense level of precipitation,” said Fletcher.

Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi said the city has created an interdepartmental “One Water” panel to address climate adaptation.

Read more on Hawaii News Now.

When people think of sea level rise, they usually think of coastal erosion. However, recent computer modeling studies indicate that coastal wastewater infrastructure, which includes sewer lines and cesspools, is likely to flood with groundwater as sea-level rises.

A new study, published by SOEST earth scientists, is the first to provide direct evidence that tidally-driven groundwater inundation of wastewater infrastructure is occurring today in urban Honolulu, Hawai‘i. The study shows that higher ocean water levels are leading to wastewater entering storm drains and the coastal ocean—creating negative impacts to coastal water quality and ecological health.

The study was led by postdoctoral researcher Trista McKenzie and co-authored by UH Sea Grant coastal geologist Shellie Habel and Henrietta Dulai, advisor and associate professor in Earth Sciences. The team assessed coastal ocean water and storm drain water in low-lying areas during spring tides, which serve as an approximation of future sea levels.

To understand the connection between wastewater infrastructure, groundwater and the coastal ocean, the researchers used chemical tracers to detect groundwater discharge and wastewater present at each site. Radon is a naturally occurring gas that reliably indicates the presence of groundwater, while wastewater can be detected by measuring specific organic contaminants from human sources, such as caffeine and certain antibiotics.

“Our results confirm that indeed, both groundwater inundation and wastewater discharge to the coast and storm drains are occurring today and that it is tidally-influenced,” said McKenzie. “While the results were predicted, I was surprised how prevalent the evidence for these processes and the scale of it.”

In low-lying inland areas, storm drains can overflow every spring tide. This study demonstrated that at the same time wastewater from compromised infrastructure also discharges into storm drains. During high tides, storm drains are becoming channels for untreated wastewater to flood streets and sidewalks. In addition to impeding traffic, including access by emergency vehicles, this flooding of contaminated water also poses a risk to human health.

The team also found evidence that many of the human-derived contaminants were in concentrations that pose a high risk to aquatic organisms. This has negative consequences to coastal organisms where the groundwater and storm drains discharge.

“Many people may think of sea-level rise as a future problem, but in fact, we are already seeing the effects today,” said McKenzie. “Further, these threats to human health, ocean ecosystems and the wastewater infrastructure are expected to occur with even greater frequency and magnitude in the future.”

This project demonstrates that actions to mitigate the impact from sea-level rise to coastal wastewater infrastructure in Honolulu are no longer proactive but are instead critical to addressing current issues. Through its multi-partner effort, the Hawai‘i State Climate Commission also raises awareness around the variety of impacts of sea level rise, including those highlighted by this study.  

“Coastal municipalities should pursue mitigation strategies that account for increased connectivity between wastewater infrastructure and recreational and drinking water resources,” said McKenzie. “We need to consider infrastructure that minimizes flooding opportunities and contact with contaminated water; and decreases the number of contaminant sources, such as installation of one-way valves for storm drains, decommissioning cesspools, monitoring defective sewer lines, and construction of raised walkways and streets.”

This study led to McKenzie being awarded the L&O Letters Early Career Publication Honor, given in recognition of the high quality of research conducted by excellent early career scientists. 

Read also on UH News, Eurasia Review, Technology Networks, Science Daily, Eurekalert and Water and Wastes Digest.

Rainbows are some of the most spectacular optical phenomena in the natural world and Hawaiʻi has an abundance of them. In a new publication, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa makes a sound case for Hawaiʻi being the best place on Earth to experience the wonder of rainbows. He begins by highlighting the Hawaiian cultural significance of rainbows, then reviews the science of rainbows and the special combination of circumstances that makes Hawai‘i a haven for rainbows.

“The cultural importance of rainbows is reflected in the Hawaiian language, which has many words and phrases to describe the variety of manifestations in Hawaiʻi,” said author Steven Businger, professor in the UH Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology. “There are words for Earth-clinging rainbows (uakoko), standing rainbow shafts (kāhili), barely visible rainbows (punakea), and moonbows (ānuenue kau pō), among others. In Hawaiian mythology the rainbow is a symbol of transformation and a pathway between Earth and Heaven, as it is in many cultures around the world.”

Why is Hawaiʻi the rainbow capital of the world?

The essential ingredients for rainbows are, of course, rain and sunlight. To see a rainbow on flat ground, the Sun must be within about 40 degrees of the horizon. As the Sun rises to higher angles in the sky, the height of the morning rainbows diminishes until no rainbow is visible above the horizon. The pattern is reversed as the Sun lowers in the afternoon, with rainbows rising in the East and the tallest rainbows just prior to sunset.

Hawaiʻi’s location in the subtropical Pacific means the overall weather pattern is dominated by trade winds, with frequent rain showers and clear skies between the showers. Businger outlines four additional factors that guarantee the prevalence of rainbows throughout the islands;

“At night a warm sea surface heats the atmosphere from below, while radiation to space cools cloud tops, resulting in deeper rain showers in the morning that produce rainbows in time for breakfast,” said Businger.

A second factor in producing frequent rainbows is Hawaiʻi’s mountains, which cause trade-wind flow to be lifted up, forming clouds and producing rain over the mountains and sunshine on the lee side. Without mountains, Hawaiʻi would be a desert with a scant 17 inches of annual rainfall, in contrast to the hundreds of inches of rain that fall in Hawaiʻi’s mountains annually.

A third factor conducive to rainbow sightings is daytime heating, which drives island-scale circulations. During periods of lighter winds, showers form over the ridge crests and mountain slopes in the afternoon, resulting in prolific rainbows as the Sun sets.

And lastly, due to the remoteness of the Hawaiian Islands, the air is exceptionally clean and free of pollution, continental dust and pollen.  The clean air ensures the appearance bright rainbows with a full spectrum of colors.

Chasing Rainbows with RainbowChase app

As Businger pursued his passion for photographing these beautiful light displays, he began to imagine a smartphone app with access to weather radar and satellite data that could alert users to nearby rainbows.

“After a few false starts, Paul Cynn and I finally connected with Ikayzo, a Hawaiian smartphone app developer. I am very excited to say that RainbowChase, is now available for free to the public,” said Businger.  

RainbowChase is the only app that provides guidance to bring more rainbows into your life.  Users can view radar and satellite images of rain and clouds, along with current and future weather. 

Learn more on Science Friday, Gizmodo, Smithsonian Magazine, Yahoo News (here and here), Hawaii News Now, KHON2, Science Daily, Eurekalert, Big Island Now, Honolulu Star-Advertiser (subscription required) and UH News.

A timely resource for anyone interested in the geosciences and geophysics, Seismoelectric Exploration – Theory, Experiments, and Applications has been edited by Niels Grobbe, affiliate faculty at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Water Resources Research Center and the Hawaiʻi Institute of Geophysics and Planetology. Co-editors are André Revil, Zhenya Zhu, and Evert Slob.

Seismoelectric Exploration – Theory, Experiments, and Applications offers an introduction into the novel seismoelectric geophysical method, suitable for undergraduate and graduate students, postdocs, faculty and other interested members of the scientific community, while simultaneously describing the state-of-the-art of seismoelectrics for experts in the field.

The seismoelectric method is a novel geophysical technique that makes use of the naturally-occurring coupling of seismic (e.g., acoustic sound) waves and electromagnetic fields. As seismic waves propagate, they temporarily deform the medium through which they travel, thereby squeezing the fluids that are present in the rock from one place to another. The fluids in the subsurface interact with the surrounding rock, and contain electrically charged particles (ions). This movement of ions causes small electromagnetic signals that can be measured at the Earth’s surface. These so-called seismoelectric signals can provide important and unique information about the properties of the rock (type of rock, amount of pore space, connectivity of the pores, fracture networks, etc.), the pore-fluids within the rock (oil, water, gas, contaminants, salt water, fresh water, etc.), and the overall geologic structure of the study area.

The methodology offers access to types of information that other existing geophysical methods cannot offer. This crucial information about the subsurface can be used for a wide variety of applications, such as sustainable management and production of fresh-water resources and energy resources, studying the Arctic and Antarctic regions in the context of climate change, and for hazard and risk mitigation.

Seismoelectric Exploration – Theory, Experiments, and Applications is not only of interest to geoscientists; it is an important resource for anyone working on imaging science, such as in medical imaging, geophysical imaging and national security.

Seismoelectric Exploration – Theory, Experiments, and Applications is available for purchase, as hardcopy or e-book, at Wiley and Amazon.

Read also on UH News.

KHON2 News joined Lars Bejder, director of the Mammal Marine Research Program at the Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology, as he and other marine biologists tagged and observed humpback whales off the coast of Maui.

An excerpt of the story is below.

“KHON2 was invited to join scientists to get an exclusive look at the human effort needed learn more about the humpback whales and their behaviors.

They load up and head out every morning at sunrise in a zodiac no bigger than a newborn humpback calve.

The Marine Biologists from the University of Hawai‘i, Stanford and the head of the Alaska Whale Foundation all in search of calves and their nursing mothers.

Each year around this time, the scientists have a two-week window to study the humpback whales which make their annual migration here from the colder waters of Alaska.

“Right now we’re looking for mothers and calves with the idea we can attached one of these suction tags on the small one, the calve,” said Lars Bejder, director of the UH Mammal Marine Research Program at Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology.

Bejder is joined by Andy Szabo conducts similar research as the head of the Alaska Whale Foundation. What they learn on both sides of the Pacific provides a 360-degree look at what the animals experience on their annual pilgrimage.

The research provides invaluable information to ensure the species continues to thrive but it’s no easy task.”

Watch the full report on KHON2.

Marine protected areas (MPAs) around Oʻahu do not adequately protect populations of herbivorous reef fishes that eat algae on coral reefs. That is the primary conclusion of a study published in Coral Reefs by researchers from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST).

There are over 20 species of herbivorous fishes and ten species of herbivorous urchins commonly observed on Hawaiian reefs. These species eat algae that grows on reefs, a process called herbivory, that contributes to the resilience of coral reefs by preventing algae dominance that can lead to overgrowth of corals.

The team of researchers found that of the four marine protected areas around Oʻahu they assessed in the study, three did not provide biologically significant benefits for herbivorous fish populations compared to reefs outside the areas.

“Marine protected areas are a fishery management tool to limit or prevent fishing to help the recovery and maintenance of fish abundance and biomass inside the MPA,” said senior author Erik Franklin,  Associate Research Professor at the Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology in SOEST. “An effective MPA should lead to a considerably higher abundance and biomass of fishes inside the MPA boundaries that would otherwise be caught by fishers but that wasn’t what our study found.”

Other factors influencing the biomass of herbivorous fishes included habitat complexity and depth, suggesting that environmental characteristics of coral reefs may have had a greater impact on herbivorous fish populations than MPA protection.

Importance for Hawaiʻi

As part of the Sustainable Hawaiʻi Initiative, the State of Hawaiʻi’s Division of Aquatic Resources leads the Marine 30×30 Initiative, which committed to effectively manage Hawaii’s nearshore waters with 30 percent established as marine management areas by 2030. Currently, five percent of waters within state jurisdiction, which is within three nautical miles of shore, have some form of marine management, but no-take MPAs that ban fishing only make up less than one-half of one percent of the nearshore waters. To attain the stated goal of the 30×30 Initiative would require an expansion of marine managed areas to include an additional 25 percent of Hawaiʻi state waters. 

“Our results suggest that prior to an expansion of MPAs in Hawaiian waters, more effort should be directed to effectively manage the existing MPAs to see if they meet the desired management objectives,” said lead author and UH Mānoa’s Marine Biology Graduate Program graduate student Noam Altman-Kurosaki. “The addition of more MPAs throughout the state that have similar performance to the Oʻahu MPAs would just lead to a series of paper parks that don’t provide biologically significant conservation benefits while decreasing fishing opportunities.”

Study details

Franklin said the research resulted in a comparative analysis of herbivorous fish and urchin populations inside and outside of Oʻahu MPAs that demonstrated biologically insignificant differences in fish biomass between the MPAs and reference areas, except for one site, Hanauma Bay. The analyses used statistical methods to assess the effects of protecting population within MPAs and the influence that differences in benthic habitats contributed to the results.

The research team, including Franklin, Altman-Kurosaki, and Professor Celia Smith from the UH Mānoa School of Life Sciences, performed dive surveys, analyzed the data, and identified algae specimens, with assistance from several field assistants.

Read more on The Garden Island, UH News, Mirage News and Science Daily.

The unprecedented cost of the 2018 Kīlauea eruption in Hawai‘i reflects the intersection of distinct physical and social phenomena: infrequent, highly destructive eruptions, and atypically high population growth, according to a new study published in Nature Communications and led by University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa researchers.

It has long been recognized that areas in Puna, Hawai‘i, are at high risk from lava flows. This ensured that land values were lower in Puna—which lies within the three highest risk lava hazard zones 1, 2 and 3—which actively promoted rapid population growth.

“Low prices on beautiful land and a scarcity of recent eruptions led to unavoidable consequences—more people and more development,” said Bruce Houghton, the lead author of the study and Gordan Macdonald Professor of Volcanology in the UH Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST). “Ultimately this drastically increased the value of what was at risk in 2018, relative to earlier eruptions of Kīlauea.”

Kīlauea is one of the most active volcanoes on Earth and has one of the earliest, most comprehensive volcanic monitoring systems. Its recent history has been dominated by activity at the summit caldera and from one of two lines of vents called the Eastern Rift Zone. Between 1967 and 2018, volcanic activity was dominated by eruptions from the upper part of the Eastern Rift Zone. In contrast, no damaging eruptions occurred after 1961 in the more heavily populated Puna district from the vents within the lower portion of the Eastern Rift Zone.

The UH team assessed trends in population growth in Pāhoa-Kalapana, Hilo and Puna using census data, and compared median cost of land and household income in these areas.

Valuable lessons regarding the complex interplay of science, policy, and public behavior emerged from the 2018 disaster.

“Steep population growth occurred during the absence of any locally sourced eruptions between 1961 and 2018, and set the scene for the unprecedented levels of infra-structural damage during the 2018 Lower Eastern Rift Zone eruption,” said Wendy Cockshell, co-author on the paper and technical assistant at the National Disaster Preparedness Training Center (NDPTC) at UH Mānoa.

If population growth resumes in lava hazard zones 1 and 2, there will be increased risk in the most dangerous areas on this exceptionally active volcano translating into high cost of damage in future eruptions.

“Our funded research supports the principle of the initiatives by local and federal government to provide buy-out funding to land owners affected by the 2018 eruption to able them to relocate outside of these hazardous areas,” said Houghton.

The study was funded with support from the National Science Foundation and NDPTC at UH Mānoa.

Read more on Big Island Video News, Environmental News Network, Phys.org, UH News and Hawaii News Now (starting at 15:30)

In an effort to advance research and treatments for rat lungworm disease, the illness caused by a nematode (roundworm) known scientifically as Angiostrongylus cantonensis, researchers from the University of Hawai‘i (UH) at Mānoa formed the Mānoa Angiostrongylus Research Group in 2019. The group, led by Robert Cowie, a research professor in the UH Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST), includes scientists from the John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM), the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (CTAHR) and Cowie’s home research institute, SOEST’s Pacific Biosciences Research Center.

“The purpose of our group is to foster collaboration across Mānoa units and to highlight the significant rat lungworm disease research being conducted here at UH Mānoa,” said Cowie.

Every year in Hawai‘i, rat lungworm disease is responsible for cases of debilitating illness, occasionally resulting in death.

Due to the potential severity of illness and broad community interest in preventing this disease, the research group has been funded by a variety of sources over the years including the George F. Straub Trust through the Hawai‘i Community Foundation, the Hawai‘i Department of Health, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the National Institutes of Health.

In the past two years, the researchers, including experts in environmental ecology, parasitology, zoology and human and animal diseases, have published eight studies—sharing new discoveries and developing guidance for diagnosis and treatment of the disease. The team has compiled a comprehensive catalog of information on multiple species of Angiostrongylus, including other species that cause human and animal diseases; summarized rat lungworm disease and its treatment for veterinary professionals; reported on the first canine infections with the illness in Hawai‘i; provided updated guidelines on the diagnosis and treatment of rat lungworm disease; and is currently involved in a novel project of drug discovery to treat it.

Different species of snails in Hawai‘i host variable amounts of the infectious rat lungworm. The most recently published study, led by Randi Rollins, a UH Mānoa Zoology graduate student working in Cowie’s laboratory, revealed that environmental factors such as rainfall, temperature and the extent of green vegetation, influence rat lungworm infection in snails.

“So the snail’s capacity to transmit rat lungworm depends on the environment and the host species, as human infection mainly occurs after ingestion of infected snails,” said Rollins.

In general, snails from rainy, cool, green sites have higher infection levels than do snails from dry, hot sites with less green vegetation. However, rat lungworm prevalence does not increase at the same rate in conjunction with the environment in all snail species. Some species, such as Veronicella cubensis, large brown slugs commonly seen after rain, have very low infection levels in both hot and dry regions and wet and heavily vegetated areas. On the other hand, rat lungworm is more prevalent in giant African snails from wet, cool areas than in hot and dry regions.

“This interaction between host species and their environment highlights the importance of taking the ecology of species harboring the agents causing zoonotic diseases into account,” said Rollins. “I strive to identify gaps in our knowledge that can create a safer Hawai‘i and a more informed public.”

To support ongoing research, Cowie received funding from the Hawai‘i Community Foundation to assess whether infectious larvae are released in snail and slug slime, and thereby pose a problem if they contaminate produce.

“This is a question we are frequently asked by the public but to which there is no satisfactory answer yet,” said Cowie. “Though what little data there are suggest that few if any larvae are released in the slime. The jury is out on this question until we have some concrete and rigorous results from our research.”