Global coral bleaching event expected to last through 2016

After the most powerful El Niño on record heated the world’s oceans to never-before-seen levels, huge swaths of once vibrant coral reefs that were teeming with life are now stark white ghost towns disintegrating into the sea. And the world’s top marine scientists are still struggling in the face of global warming and decades of devastating reef destruction to find the political and financial wherewithal to tackle the loss of these globally important ecosystems.

The International Coral Reef Symposium (ICRS13) convened Sunday 19 June 2016 in Honolulu to try to create a more unified conservation plan for coral reefs.

Federal officials said Monday the global coral bleaching event that began in 2014 with a super-charged El Niño is ongoing and is now the longest-lasting and largest such event ever recorded. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) officials said that the event is expected to continue for its third year, lasting at least until the end of 2016.

“What we have to do is to really translate the urgency,” said Ruth Gates, president of the International Society for Reef Studies and director of the Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB). Gates, who helped organize the conference in Honolulu for more than 2,000 international reef scientists, policymakers and others, said the scientific community needs to make it clear how “intimately reef health is intertwined with human health.”

She said researchers have to find a way to implement large scale solutions with the help of governments. Researchers have achieved some success with projects such as creating coral nurseries and growing forms of “super coral” that can withstand harsher conditions. But much of that science is being done on a very small scale with limited funding.

Bob Richmond, director of the Kewalo Marine Laboratory (KML) and convener of the ICRS13 event, said the problems are very clear: “overfishing of reef herbivores and top predators, land-based sources of pollution and sedimentation, and the continued and growing impacts of climate change.”

See also the article and video report at Hawaii News Now.

New analysis reveals large-scale motion around San Andreas Fault System

An array of GPS instruments near the San Andreas Fault System in Southern California detects constant motion of Earth’s crust—sometimes large, sudden motion during an earthquake and often subtle, creeping motion. By carefully analyzing the data recorded by the EarthScope Plate Boundary Observatory’s GPS array researchers from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, University of Washington and Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) discovered nearly 125 mile-wide “lobes” of uplift and subsidence—a few millimeters of motion each year—straddling the fault system. This large scale motion was previously predicted in models but until now had not been documented.

The GPS array records vertical and horizontal motion of Earth’s surface. Vertical motion is affected by many factors including tectonic motion of the crust, pumping of groundwater, local surface geology, and precipitation. The challenge faced by Samuel Howell, doctoral candidate at the UH Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) and lead author of the study, and co-authors was to discern the broad, regional tectonic motion from the shorter-scale, local motion.

To tease out such motions, the team used a comprehensive statistical technique to extract from the GPS data a pattern of large-scale, smoothly varying vertical motions of the local crust.

“While the San Andreas GPS data has been publicly available for more than a decade, the vertical component of the measurements had largely been ignored in tectonic investigations because of difficulties in interpreting the noisy data,” said Howell. “Using this technique, we were able to break down the noisy signals to isolate a simple vertical motion pattern that curiously straddled the San Andreas fault.”

The pattern resulting from their data analysis was similar in magnitude and direction to motions predicted by previously published earthquake cycle model results led by co-authors Bridget Smith-Konter, associate professor at SOEST, and David Sandwell, professor at SIO.

“We were surprised and thrilled when this statistical method produced a coherent velocity field similar to the one predicted by our physical earthquake cycle models,” said Smith-Konter. “The powerful combination of a priori model predictions and a unique analysis of vertical GPS data led us to confirm that the buildup of century-long earthquake cycle forces within the crust are a dominant source of the observed vertical motion signal.”

The new findings, published on June 20 in Nature Geoscience, indicate that researchers can use GPS vertical motion measurements to better understand the structure and behavior of faults, even in times of earthquake quiescence, when no major ruptures have occurred for several decades to centuries. As scientists patiently monitor the San Andreas Fault System for indications of the next big earthquake, these results will help constrain seismic hazard estimates and may allow for a more prudent mapping of the large-scale motion resulting from the next significant rupture of the San Andreas.

Read more on Los Angeles Times, UPI, Daily Mail, UH News, SF Gate, and Science Newsline; listen to the interview with Howell at Hawaii Public Radio.

In September 2016, this work received one of Popular Mechanics 2016 Breakthrough Awards. “Not only does it give scientists an idea of the energy available for an earthquake, it helps them understand where those earthquakes might strike,” reported Popular Mechanics.

ALOHA Cabled Observatory uses old cable for new information

60 miles north of Oahu, and 3 miles deep into the ocean is the Aloha Cabled Observatory (ACO), the world deepest unmanned oceanographic science platform at Station Aloha. Brian Chee explained how the older trans-Pacific AT&T cables are being used for oceanographic science.

The ACO collects a stream of constant, real-time data that measures water pressure, oxygen levels, currents, temperature, salinity and more. This wealth of information can shed light on issues ranging from climate change to earthquakes. The ACO even boasts live video and hydrophone capabilities, allowing researchers to record the songs of the migrating humpback whales that spawn in Hawaiian waters every winter.

For more information, watch Hawaii News Now.

Explore world’s deepest ocean trench with live feed from expedition

Starting today, NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer will begin the third of three cruise legs to explore the deepest oceanic trench on the planet, the Marianas Trench in the western Pacific. Leg 3 will take place June 17 – July 10, as the exploration team maps and explores the northern part of the the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument (MTMNM) and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands (CNMI).

Anyone with an internet connection can virtually explore the deep sea with scientists and researchers from their computer or mobile device. Live streaming video is available during each and every dive starting on June 17.

This mission will help identify and better understand new geological phenomena and habitats – such as extreme life living in the deepest oceanic trench on the planet, enormous mud volcanoes, active hydrothermal vents, chemosynthetic communities, and possibly deep-sea coral and sponge habitats – for which the MTMNM was designated.

Patricia Fryer, geology professor in the University of Hawai‘i School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology is on-board for Leg 3. She is a veteran of 46 marine research expeditions, often in the role of chief scientist, and her research has focused on the very deepest parts of the Mariana Trench, including the question of why the Challenger Deep is so deep.

During this expedition, the exploration strategy of the Okeanos Explorer will be employed: seafloor mapping using multibeam sonar; water column exploration using a Conductivity, Temperature and Depth Profiler (CTD); and remotely operated vehicle imaging and video using the ROV Deep Discoverer. Scientists from around the world will be participating in the explorations in real time through telepresence technology as they investigate the biological habitats and geologic history of the region.

Exploration Command Center on UH Mānoa campus

In the Hawaiʻi Institute of Geophysics Building at UH Mānoa, NOAA and UH Mānoa’s School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology established an Exploration Command Center—a location where live video feeds from the ship and ROVs are displayed and scientists on land can communicate with the ship-board team, enabling tele-presence collaboration.

This expedition is part of a major three-year effort to systematically collect information to support science and management needs within and around the U.S. marine national monuments and NOAA’s national marine sanctuaries in the Pacific.

Highlight videos from the first leg of the exploration are available here, including videos of a city of basket sea stars, a dandelion siphonophore, and an unidentified jellyfish.

Read more about the expedition KUAM News and NOAA’s 2016 Deepwater Exploration of the Marianas.

HIMB playing important role in NASA coral study

The Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB) is playing a significant role in NASA’s Coral Reef Airborne Laboratory (CORAL) a 15-million dollar three-year field study of Earth’s coral reef ecosystems announced in June 2016. A sophisticated new NASA airborne instrument called PRISM will fly at 28,000 feet and survey reefs at multiple locations from Hawaiʻi to Australia.

“The traditional way of surveying coral reefs is to put a mask and scuba tank on,” explained Eric J. Hochberg, an associate scientist from Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS) and the principal investigator on the project. “If you wanted to survey Kāneʻohe Bay in detail, complete coverage, it would take you months, a year or more. An airplane with the right instrumentation on it would cover it in five seconds.”

UH is serving as the base for ocean operations and is one of 12 research institutions hosting experiments in support of the mission. “In terms of platforming instrumentation, making sure the plane has the right equipment, working with the data when it comes back,” said HIMB director Ruth Gates. “What the Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology does so well is provide the capacity on the ground to support this project.”

Read more about it and watch the video report in the UH System News; read more about it The Guardian, WIRED, ABC News, and Hawaii News Now.

Several common drugs could leach into Oahu groundwater

Of 11 pharmaceuticals commonly found in sewage, former Geology and Geophysics (GG) student Jeffrey Murl has recently determined that seven of them have the potential to leach into O‘ahu’s groundwater, one poses an uncertain risk, and the remaining three — which are perhaps the most likely to impact humans and animals at low doses — are unlikely to leach into O‘ahu aquifers.

Whether or not those “micro-pollutants” pose a threat to human health remains to be seen. Using his research, as well as recent studies conducted by other scientists with the university’s Water Resources Research Center, the state Department of Health is planning to revise its guidelines on wastewater reuse to ensure that any health effects are minimized or avoided altogether. His findings are part of an effort by the Health Department to determine how and where recycled wastewater should be used, given that it is likely laden with contaminants of emerging concern.

Read more in Environment Hawai’i (edited version of the original Environment Hawaii story reprinted in Honolulu Civil Beat).

International collaboration expands knowledge of munitions dumped at sea

A special issue of the academic journal Deep Sea Research II, published recently, is devoted to expanding understanding of the global issue of chemical munitions dumped at sea. The publication was edited by Margo Edwards, interim director of the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa’s (UHM) Hawai‘i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, and Jacek Beldowski, Science for Peace and Security MODUM (“Towards the Monitoring of Dumped Munitions Threat”) project director at the Polish Academy of Sciences—two international leaders in the assessment of sea-dumped military munitions and chemical warfare; and the effects on the ocean environment and those who use it.

“The overarching objective of the special issue of Deep Sea Research II is to collate and compare results from two of the most comprehensive studies of sea dumped chemical munitions to promote data sharing and constrain the factors that influence where and how to mitigate the damage,” said Edwards.

International practice and treaty

Whereas today chemical warfare agents (CWA) are destroyed via chemical neutralization processes or high-temperature incineration, the internationally accepted practice in the early to middle 20^th century was sea disposal of excess, obsolete or unserviceable munitions, including chemical warfare materiel.

In 1970, the U.S. Department of Defense discontinued this practice and in 1972 an international treaty, the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter, was developed to protect the marine environment. By the time this treaty, referred to as the London Convention, was signed by a majority of nations, millions of tons of munitions were known to have been disposed throughout the world’s oceans.

Hawai‘i munitions assessment

Since 2007, the Hawai‘i Undersea Military Munitions Assessment (HUMMA) has been assessing sea-disposed military munitions in a region south of the island of Oahu, Hawai‘i. Scientists at UHM and Environet and members of the U.S. Army collaborated to assess the condition of munitions casings; effects on seafloor ecosystems; and the presence of metals and CWA in sediments and shrimp.

The results of those studies, published in the current issue of Deep Sea Research II, document that the forty munitions examined in detail in the HUMMA field area pose little, if any, risk to human health while simultaneously recognizing that these forty are only a subset of the hundreds of likely chemical munitions in the area.

Illustrative of the mystery of the vast ocean, the HUMMA project enabled discovery of a new species of sea star, Brisingenes margoae nov. sp.—named in honor of Edwards. This unique species and other sea stars were collected using the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology’s Hawai‘i Undersea Research Laboratory submersibles.

Baltic Sea munitions assessment

The Chemical Munitions Search and Assessment (CHEMSEA) was conducted in the Baltic Sea from 2011 until 2014. In combination, the studies from CHEMSEA published in Deep Sea Research II recognize sea-dumped munitions as a point source of pollution in the Baltic Sea, although its contribution appears to be low and limited to deep, anoxic basins. Acute toxicity to humans from CWA (e.g., mustard, Adamsite) is unlikely given recorded concentrations, although adverse effects of chronic exposure on fish populations cannot be excluded.

The collected articles from the CHEMSEA and HUMMA projects projects in the special issue of Deep Sea Research II present a number of techniques that are useful for the complex in-depth investigation of munitions dumpsites. Results show that sea-dumped munitions in both project areas do not represent direct risk for humans except in cases of exposure due to recovery, although in the more confined Baltic Sea with limited water exchange, munitions can have adverse impact on the ecosystem.

Read more on Hawaii Public Radio and UH News.

Geology graduates investigate Fukushima radioactivity in Hawaiʻi

On 11 March 2011, following the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, several reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant suffered damage and released radioactive chemicals into the atmosphere and contaminated wastewater into the nearby Pacific Ocean. Hannah Azouz and Trista McKenzie, two recent graduates from the Bachelor of Science in Geology program, assessed the extent to which the soil of Hawaiʻi and locally purchased fish have been impacted by radioactivity from this event.

The students’ mentor, Henrietta Dulai, associate professor of Geology and Geophysics (G&G), explained the motivation for this work, “My research team has been monitoring Fukushima-derived cesium in the Pacific Ocean since 2011 and we concluded that the Hawaiian Islands were spared from a direct hit of radionuclide plume spread by ocean currents. Yet, fish migrate and so even fish caught locally may accumulate some cesium in waters north of Hawaiʻi. Further, only one week after the disaster, the Department of Health identified Fukushima-derived radionuclides in the air, milk and precipitation over Hawaiʻi Island. We wanted to determine how much cesium was deposited from the atmosphere to the islands.”

Read more about their results in the West Hawaii Today and UH System News.

Top climate experts partner to help vulnerable Pacific communities

The UH Sea Grant College Program has formed its newest center of excellence to assist coastal communities throughout Hawai‘i and the Pacific islands to prepare for the impacts of both natural and human-induced coastal hazards.

Hawai‘i Sea Grant’s Center for Coastal and Climate Science and Resilience brings together world-renowned university scientists and outreach professionals with government and community partners to focus on critical issues relating to increasing coastal hazards impacts with changing climate and sea-level rise. This is particularly important in the Pacific, since most of the development and infrastructure are concentrated on or near low-lying coasts, making island communities highly susceptible to these threats.

Said Mark Merrifield, director of Sea Grant’s Center for Coastal and Climate Science and Resilience and a professor of Oceanography, “I have been working in Hawai‘i and throughout the Pacific islands for decades, and have seen firsthand how the changing climate is directly impacting the economy, the culture, and the health and well-being of people living in these extremely vulnerable island communities. By bringing together experts in many different fields and, together, identifying potential solutions to some of the most pressing issues the islands face, I am confident the new center will bring about lasting and meaningful change where it is needed the most.”

Read more about it in the UH Manoa News and The Garden Island.

Research shows that corals share many of the genes that humans possess

UH Mānoa scientists at the John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM) and the Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB) have published new research showing that corals share many of the genes humans possess, especially those that can sense temperature and acidity, both of which are important to keeping both coral and humans healthy.

The findings, published in the journal eLife, are the result of the world’s most comprehensive analysis of coral genes. The international research team focused on how corals reefs, the most diverse marine ecosystems on Earth, have evolved to allow them to interact with and adapt to their environment.

Led by Rutgers University, the research team included UH scientists Alexander Stokes, assistant professor of Cell and Molecular Biology, and Ruth D. Gates, director of HIMB. Stokes and Gates collaborated with researchers from Australia, Saudi Arabia, Okinawa, Germany, Monaco, and Israel.

Read more about it in the UH System News.