Options for healthier Puakō reef spelled out

The cost to build private aerobic wastewater processing systems would run about $6 million for Puakō residents on Hawai‘i Island, and a sewage plant would be $9 million, according to an engineer’s study completed last month. The report by Aqua Engineering — which favors the building of a treatment plant — also contained a study of the possibility of a $9 million to $10 million collection system that would link Puakō homes with the Mauna Lani treatment facility.

A 2014 study by the Nature Conservancy found a link between poor coral health and groundwater being discharged into the reef along the bay. The study found high levels of Enterococcus bacteria in shoreline waters, either from human sewage or animals. Coral growth anomalies were also highest where nutrients like nitrogen and phosphates from groundwater were elevated, particularly at the Puakō boat ramp and Waialea Bay.

Additionally, researchers with the Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB), found the reefs at Pūako were overgrown with red filamentous algae compared to other areas of the coast. Ongoing microbial source tracking by ecologists from three universities will better trace human sewage hot spots and land-based pollution sources.

Read more about it in West Hawaii Today.

Extreme Pacific sea level events to double in future

Many tropical Pacific island nations are struggling to adapt to gradual sea level rise stemming from warming oceans and melting ice caps. Now they may also see much more frequent extreme interannual sea level swings. The culprit is a projected behavioral change of the El Niño phenomenon and its characteristic Pacific wind response, according to recent computer modeling experiments and tide-gauge analysis by scientists Matthew Widlansky and Axel Timmermann at the International Pacific Research Center (IPRC) and their colleague Wenju Cai at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).

The team of scientists recently asked, how will future greenhouse warming affect the El Niño sea level seesaws? They used state-of-the-art climate models, which accounted for increasing greenhouse gas concentrations, together with simulations of the observed climate and tide-gauge records to verify the model results. They determined that projected climate change will enhance El Niño-related sea level extremes. By the end of this century the experiments show that the intensified wind impacts of strong El Niño and La Niña events are likely to double the frequency of extreme sea level occurrences, especially in the tropical southwestern Pacific.

Read more about it at Discovery News, the Christian Science Monitor, Big Island Now, and EurekAlert!

Three UH marine mammals will continue research role at Sea Life Park

Three marine mammals that have been involved in hearing and underwater noise studies at the Hawai‘i Institute for Marine Biology (HIMB) for more than 20 years have been relocated to Sea Life Park. Kina, a 40-year-old female false killer whale (Pseudorca crassidens), and two bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) — Boris, a 26-year-old male, and BJ, a 29-year-old female — came to UH with Paul Nachtigall in 1993 when he founded the Marine Mammal Research Program at Coconut Island in Kāneʻohe Bay.

“It was challenging for the university to pay all needed expenses for Kina, Boris and BJ, so Sea Life Park agreed to take excellent care of them,” said Nachtigall. “One should only keep marine mammals if one can afford outstanding veterinary care, the best possible food fish and pay superb trainers to care for them. Because the life span of these marine mammals is about 50 years, we wanted to ensure that this arrangement is a win-win situation for both our animals and marine research.”

Read more about it in the Pacific Business News and the UH System News.

Bond gene in fruit flies controls fertility of rival males

Insects use a tremendous diversity of pheromone chemical signals to guide their behaviors but little is known about how pheromone diversity evolves.

“Our work reveals that one way new pheromones are produced is by hijacking genes which are used for other biological processes—in this case, male fertility,” said Joanne Yew, assistant professor at the Pacific Biosciences Research Center (PBRC) and lead author of the study published today in Nature Communications. “The findings reveal a molecular mechanism by which novel traits evolve, a long-standing problem in evolutionary biology.”

The gene, named “bond,” was found using genetic screening which identified genes in Drosophila that are involved in pheromone synthesis. The researchers used the technique to knockout the function of candidate genes, one by one, within the male reproductive organs. In assessing the pheromone profile of the mutated flies, the scientists noted that the male flies in which bond expression was silenced were missing one of the major sex pheromones.

Read more about it in the UH System News and the UHM press release.

Windows on the Deep

Entering the Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory hangar is akin to stepping onto the set of a Spielberg film. The dull metal shell, perched on the Makai pier along the Windward Coast of Oahu, is nondescript, but the inside bristles with Zodiac boats and a dizzying assortment of hoists and tools, and the walls are festooned with 30 years of snapshots. At the center of it all, two 20-foot-long Pisces submarines sit atop skids like alien spacecraft, their robotic arms outstretched, beckoning for another mission.

The laboratory, part of the University of Hawaii and better known as HURL, has been the sole submersible-based United States deep-sea research outpost in the mid-Pacific since the 1980s. At its helm is Terry Kerby, perhaps the most experienced submersible pilot alive. With a crew of five, Mr. Kerby and the Pisces subs have discovered more than 140 wrecks and artifacts, recovered tens of millions of dollars in lost scientific equipment, and surveyed atolls and seamounts whose hydrothermal vents and volcanoes were unknown.

Read more about it in the New York Times.

Scientists expect Hawai‘i’s worst coral bleaching ever

Warmer-than-normal ocean temperatures around Hawai‘i this year will likely lead to the worst coral bleaching the islands have ever seen, scientists said recently. Many corals are only just recovering from last year’s bleaching, which occurs when warm waters prompt coral to expel the algae they rely on for food, said Ruth Gates, the director of the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB). The phenomenon is called bleaching because coral lose their color when they push out algae.

Bleaching makes coral more susceptible to disease and increases the risk they will die. This is a troubling for fish and other species that spawn and live in coral reefs. It’s also a concern for Hawaii’s tourism-dependent economy because many travelers come to the islands to enjoy marine life. Gates compared dead coral reef to a city laid to rubble. “You go from a vibrant, three-dimensional structure teeming with life, teeming with color, to a flat pavement that’s covered with brown or green algae,” she said. “That is a really doom-and-gloom outcome but that is the reality that we face with extremely severe bleaching events.“

HIMB researcher Courtney Couch spent a month in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands. She says the data she collected is alarming. “Just mass mortality! I’ve never seen something that fast happen at that level. It really is a wake-up call,” said Couch. Many of the reefs were 85 to 100 percent dead. Climate experts say it’s all thanks to warmer water temperatures brought on by El Niño.

Read more about it and watch the video reports at KITV4 (autoplays) and KHON2. Read more about it in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser and US News & World Report.

UH researchers reach North Pole aboard U.S. icebreaker Healy

U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy, home-ported in Seattle, arrived at the North Pole this week, becoming the first US surface ship to do so unaccompanied. This is only the fourth time a US surface vessel has ever reached the North Pole, and the first since 2005.

Healy’s crew and science party, including several scientists and a graduate student from SOEST, departed Dutch Harbor, Alaska on 09 August 2015, in support of GEOTRACES, a historic, international effort to study the geochemistry of the world’s oceans. This National Science Foundation (NSF) funded scientific expedition, with a diverse team from multiple scientific institutions is focused on studying the Arctic Ocean to meet a number of scientific goals, including the creation of a baseline of measurements for future comparisons.

On-board the Healy, Oceanography Professor Chris Measures and research affiliate Mariko Hatta are measuring trace elements such as dissolved iron, aluminum and manganese in seawater samples taken throughout the expedition. This project, jointly funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation, will help scientists understand the geochemical cycling in the Arctic Ocean and its connection to the physical mixing and biological processes in this understudied part of the world’s ocean.

Read more about it in the UH Mānoa News.

Sizzling temperatures during record-setting summer

The soaring temperatures and humidity in Hawai‘i have produced about 50 high temperature records statewide this summer, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). The warm ocean temperatures around the state are contributing to the problem. “What we’re seeing is temperatures of the ocean up 3 to 5 degrees above what we typically see this time of year, so our air temperatures are consequently raised as well several degrees,” explained meteorologist Chris Brenchley of the NWS.

Another factor is the light trade winds. The state climatologist, Atmospheric Sciences (ATMO) professor Pao-Shin Chu, has been tracking the average number of trade wind days annually since 1981. “The northeast trade wind dropped from about 200 days to just a little bit over 150 days, so we do see almost 25% less, fewer trade wind days,” he said.

Watch the video report and read more about it at Hawaii News Now and the Honolulu Star-Advertiser (subscription required).

David Karl wins 2015 Balzan Prize in Oceanography

David Karl, Director of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’ Daniel K. Inouye Center for Microbial Oceanography: Research and Education (C-MORE), was awarded the 2015 Balzan Prize in recognition of his lifetime of impactful research in the field of microbial oceanography. This honor includes a prize of 750,000 Swiss Francs ($770,000). Karl is also the Victor and Peggy Brandstrom Pavel Professor of Ocean and Earth Science.

“The International Balzan Prize Foundation’s aim is to promote culture, the sciences and the most meritorious initiatives in the cause of humanity, peace and fraternity among peoples throughout the world,” according to the foundation.

Discoveries with global impact

During the public announcement in Milan, Italy on Monday, September 7 Karl was selected as a prize winner “for his fundamental contributions to the understanding of the role and immense importance of microorganisms in the ocean, and of how microorganisms and phytoplankton control the oceanic carbon, nitrogen and iron cycles, work that has yielded significant insights into global change.”

“I accept this award on behalf of the excellent work of my students, post-docs, staff and collaborators,” said Karl. “Science is a team sport and I have one of the best teams on the planet.”

Lifetime achievement

The General Prize Committee, composed of 20 eminent European scholars and scientists, selects the winners from among the nominations entered by the world’s most important international cultural institutions—universities, research institutes and academies. The subject areas of the prizes are in the humanities and in the sciences. They vary each year so as to recognize emerging fields and give priority to innovative research.

“It was my honor to nominate David for this award,” said Brian Taylor, dean of the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology and UH Mānoa interim vice chancellor for research. “Winning the Balzan prize is an international testament to the brilliance of David’s lifetime work and achievements during his 37+ year career at UH Mānoa.”

In the more than five-decade history of the Balzan Prize, only one other oceanographer, Roger Revelle, has been selected as a winner.

The International Balzan Foundation was founded in 1957 through the generosity of Lina Balzan to honor her father, Eugenio Balzan. He spent almost his entire working life at Milan’s leading daily newspaper, Corriere della Sera.

Half of the amount received by the winner of each of the four annual prizes must be destined to research work, preferably involving young scholars and researchers.

The prizes will be presented during the award ceremony to be held in Bern, Switzerland on November 13, 2015.

See also the Pacific Business News, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser (subscription required), and the UH System News.

Researcher’s work in bioplastics leads to $1.4 million contract

Jian Yu, a Hawaiʻi Natural Energy Institute (HNEI) researcher, has signed an exclusive global research contract with Bio-On, an Italian intellectual property company, representing a $1.4 million investment.

Yu’s research focuses on new technologies to produce bioplastics from inexpensive feedstocks such as wood chips, agricultural residues and domestic wastes. The bioplastics can be molded and shaped like oil-based plastics, but are completely degraded into benign products (carbon dioxide and water) in the environment. The research will also make the bioplastics more ductile for broader applications such as films and fibers.

Read more about it in the UH System News, Hawaii News Now, and Pacific Business News.