UH scientists among first humans to view Cook seamount

The Pacific Ocean has by far the largest number of seamounts, distinct features of volcanic origin that rise off the seafloor but do not break the surface, of any ocean on the planet. Earlier this month, the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa’s (UHM) Hawai‘i Undersea Research Laboratory (HURL) teamed up with the non-profit group Conservation International (CI) to dive on seamounts near Hawai‘i—two of which have never been explored by human-occupied submersibles. Cook and McCall seamounts—part of the Geologists Seamounts, located 100 miles southwest of the Big Island of Hawai‘i—and Lo’ihi were the destinations for this three-day series of dives using the Pisces IV and Pisces V, HURL’s two submersibles.

Prior to the recent expedition, limited surveys on Cook using remotely operated vehicles showed tall fan corals, a variety of deep sea hard corals, and other invertebrates. Very little was known about McCall.

To examine geological features and the rich variety of marine life, the team conducted video surveys and collected sediment, rock and water samples on each dive. They also used bait stations to draw close fish and especially deep sea sharks. Among the impressive volcanic formations, the team spotted such wonders as a rare Dumbo octopus with large fins that look like Dumbo’s ears at Cook Seamount, and a potentially new species of violet-hued coral they dubbed Purple Haze. At McCall Seamount, which is home to a large number of small deep-sea sharks, the team saw a purple chimaera.

During the last dive of the three-day expedition, HURL’s submersibles went into Lōʻihi’s pit crater for the first time since 2011. The submersible crews were able to survey familiar territory and make an updated assessment of the ever changing conditions in the bottom of the pit. They saw incredible basalt formations, rugged terrain and a very active vent system. The bait station set in the pit crater lured out a large, elusive Pacific sleeper shark.

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VIDEOS

Dumbo octopus https://youtu.be/MbAQYBsxGm8 (Cook)
A dumbo octopus (Grimpoteuthis sp.) swims on the Cook Seamount (filmed from UH HURL’s submersible). Credit: CI and HURL.

Purple chimaera https://youtu.be/4zUgq4FA6-k (McCall)
A purple chimaera swims near McCall Seamount (filmed from UH HURL’s submersible). Credit: CI and HURL.

Pacific sleeper shark https://youtu.be/j8uNFOZFP4g (Loihi)
A Pacific sleeper shark swims near Loihi Seamount (filmed from UH HURL’s submersible). Credit: CI and HURL.

Read more about it and watch the video in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser and the US News and World Report; read more about it in The Guardian, the Daily Mail, Chicago Tribune and UH News.

America’s first wave-produced power goes online in Hawai’i

The Hawai‘i Wave Energy Test Site (WETS), the United States’ first grid-connected test site of this kind, was completed by the US Navy in mid-2015. The Hawai‘i Natural Energy Institute (HNEI) is providing key research support to this national effort in the form of environmental monitoring, independent wave energy conversion device power performance and durability analysis, and critical marine logistical support.

Recently, the Navy conducted a blessing and dedication ceremony wherein representatives from the federal and state governments were in attendance, as well as key Department of Defense (DOD) figures.

“There was a high level of enthusiasm for the program to develop this challenging, but potentially extremely rewarding, source of renewable energy,” said Pat Cross, research specialist at HNEI and program manager for WETS.

Located offshore the Marine Corps Base Hawai‘i (MCBH) on the windward side of O‘ahu, a buoy generates electricity with from rise and fall of passing waves. Wave energy has enormous potential to address global renewable energy goals, yet it poses daunting challenges related to commercializing technologies that must produce cost-competitive electricity while surviving the energetic and corrosive marine environment. The nascent commercial wave energy sector is thus critically dependent on available test infrastructure to address these issues.

Through a cooperative effort between the Navy and the US Department of Energy (DOE), WETS will host companies seeking to test their pre-commercial WEC devices in an operational setting, enabling them to advance their device technology readiness level. Initial funding opportunities by Navy and DOE have resulted in a set of five devices to be tested through 2018.

HNEI continues to collect acoustic and other environmental data near deployed wave energy devices, independently monitor their power output and survivability, and work aggressively with Sea Engineering to complete the site-dedicated support vessel. The Northwest Energy Innovations Azura and the Fred Olsen Lifesaver devices, in the water now and producing power, will be followed in 2017 by a larger device developed by Ocean Energy, USA. This technology will be HNEI’s first in the category of oscillating water column devices, in which the waves force air in a chamber through a turbine for power generation.

The results achieved at WETS will have far reaching impacts in terms of advancing wave energy as a whole.

Read more in the Associated Press story (re-posted in the San Francisco Chronicle and CBS News); see also the UH News item.

UH and Tohoku University collaborate for disaster sciences

A partnership between the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and Tohoku University, one of Japan’s top research universities is redefining disaster science. The collaboration began shortly after the March 2011 disaster events that struck Japan, including the powerful earthquake that triggered a devastating tsunami. The UH Mānoa College of Social Sciences and the School of Ocean and Earth Science Technology’s Hawaiʻi Sea Grant program have been working with Tohoku ever since.

“This research collaboration has been amazing,” said Denise Eby Konan, dean of the College of Social Sciences. “We’ve been able to take the science but also the human aspect of disasters, elevate our understanding of that to new and higher levels.”

“The partnership that we’ve with the College of Social Sciences and now, of course, with Tohoku University is a really great example of the need to bring together the physical, natural and social sciences to solve these problems,” said Darren Lerner, Hawaiʻi Sea Grant director.

During the September 2016 forum on the Mānoa campus, UH and Tohoku shared the latest disaster science and brought leading national and international experts together. They focused on communicating disaster science and covered the latest research, risk reduction, community preparedness—including changes in the way Hawaiʻi prepares for natural disasters—and the human dimension in responding and recovering.

Read more and watch the video at UH News.

Unexpected changes in high-level equatorial winds surprise scientists

One of the most repeatable, predictable phenomena of atmospheric winds threw scientists for a loop February 2016 by breaking its long-standing routine. However, a study published last week in Science presents a mechanism to explain this unexpected and unprecedented disruption. The international group of atmospheric scientists was led by Scott Osprey of the National Centre for Atmospheric Science at the University of Oxford, and included Kevin Hamilton, recently retired professor of atmospheric sciences, and Chunxi Zhang, atmospheric modeling specialist, both with the International Pacific Research Center (IPRC) at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.

The primary cause of the QBO disruption determined by the study was atmospheric waves transporting momentum from the Northern Hemisphere southward to the equatorial region, thus causing the formation of a westward wind-jet, which disrupted the eastward flow. Analysis of very long term computer climate simulations illustrated that one model spontaneously produced similar disruptions of the QBO, but with a frequency of less than once per century.

“The development of the upper level winds in early 2016 caught all the experts by surprise,” explained Hamilton, “We cannot be completely sure of how the disruption in the QBO will be resolved. It seems mostly likely that there will be a return to typical QBO behavior through the rest of 2016 into 2017, although reversed in polarity: winter of 2016/2017 was expected to be westward dominated and may instead be eastward dominated again.”

For Europe, that means their winter is likely to have more storms and heavy rain.

Can coral reefs survive?

“Over the past eight months almost a quarter of the Great Barrier Reef has died – according to some estimates – because of coral bleaching, which can happen when sea temperatures rise. It’s not the first time coral has bleached. It happened once or twice in the early 20th century after periods of warm weather. But, since the 1980s, coral bleaching has been happening regularly. And this year’s Great Barrier Reef ‘bleaching event’ is the longest in history. Some say it signals the beginning of the end for coral reefs. There are though, rays of hope,” reported Helena Merriman with BBC World Service’s The Inquiry.

BBC World Service’s The Inquiry talked with several scientists, including Ruth Gates, researcher and director at the Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology, who are pioneering some extraordinary ways of trying to help coral withstand warmer seas.

Listen to the complete report from BBC World Service’s The Inquiry (Gates appears at 13:00).

World Conservation Congress addresses effects of climate change

As the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Conservation Congress continued in Honolulu, officials focus on adapting to a changing climate.

“Climate models are predicting more El Niños in the future and they will be stronger,” said Dr. Chip Fletcher, SOEST Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.

Researchers say we need to re-envision life in the coastal zone.

“If you wage war with water, you will lose, and this tells us that we must yield and elevate,” said Fletcher. “We must give way to this water. There is nothing we can do to stop it at this point.”

Read more and watch the video news stories at KHON2 and Hawaii News Now.

PSAs could promote awareness of effects of climate change

The year 2014 was a record-setting warm year. 2015 beat that by 20 percent, and so far, 2016 is on pace to set yet another new record. The global warming we are witnessing has no historical precedent, and human health and safety are at risk. Without public service announcements to improve awareness, Hawaii communities and ecosystems will be on the losing end of climate change.

What does climate change look like in Hawaii? The short answer is that it looks like the 2015/2016 El Niño.

Research conducted at the University of Hawaii Manoa and partnering institutions that was published in the prestigious journal Nature Climate Change shows that as we move into a warmer world, we are likely to experience more El Niño events – and they will be stronger.

Chip Fletcher, Professor of Geology and Geophysics and Associate Dean of SOEST, outlines the dangerous weather and ocean conditions that accompany El Niño, and that grow worse with continued global warming in Honolulu Civil Beat.

Science meets art in ArtSci 2016 exhibit

Ten scientists from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa partnered with ten members of the Honolulu Printmakers in the ArtSci 2016 Where Art and Science Meet exhibition, September 7–30 at the Honolulu Museum of Art School.

The scientists and artists shared processes and insights into their respective practices to create the pieces for the exhibition. With a variety of printmaking techniques and diverse fields of science each partnership explored the relationship and met the challenge in different ways. The result is the creation of a portfolio of prints using a traditional printmaking process and an explanatory scientific poster designed for the public to accompany the artwork.

The participating scientists are Assistant Researcher Greta Aeby, Assistant Professor Camilo Mora, Associate Professor Sven Vahsen, Assistant Professor Robert Thomson, Professor Celia Smith, Assistant Professor Megan Porter, Professor Niklas Schneider, Professor Sterling Keeley, Professor Mark Hixon and Professor Axel Timmermann.

“The ArtSci project is based on the premise that science alone cannot save the world, but that partnerships with art can bring science to society in new and engaging ways,” said Hixon. “We combined science and art to engage the interest and imagination of the public.”

This show crosses the artificial divide and makes connections between the two disciplines. The participating artists and scientists explored ways to collaborate: listen, share, observe, learn, experiment and discover.

Watch the video at UH News.

Kilauea: Up close and personal with red hot science!

Hawai‘i Island’s Kīlauea volcano has been erupting for over 30 years, making it the longest-flowing volcano on earth. Because of this remarkable activity, it is also currently the most researched. Geology professor Mike Garcia has been leading studies of Kīlauea for a generation, adding to the extensive knowledge base on this volcano.

Geology graduate student Kendra Lynn analyzes olivine–the first mineral to crystalize out of magma–to understand more about the history of the magma and where in the mantle it was generated.

Read more and watch the videos at PBS News Hour and NSF’s Science Nation.

SOEST and Jonathan Merage Foundation partner to improve storm forecasting

The Jonathan Merage Foundation has embarked on a long-term partnership with the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) to explore how long-range lightning data can potentially improve storm forecasting.

“Through the ingest of lightning and storm balloon data, this project aims to increase our ability to map water vapor and heat associated with condensation of water in hurricane storm clouds in the core of the storm,” said Professor Steven Businger, chair of the SOEST Atmospheric Sciences Department and project lead. “In the process, details of the initial storm circulation in the hurricane model will be improved.”

The project began this summer in Colorado with the launch of the first storm balloon. The balloons for this experiment were produced in collaboration with Smith & Williamson, an engineering firm specializing in developing custom prototypes for atmospheric and oceanographic exploration.

“It was a picture perfect first release,” said Businger.

Read more on UH News and Honolulu Star-Advertiser (subscription required).