A collaboration between marine scientists at the University of Hawai‘i (UH) at Mānoa and local artists has resulted in a beautiful and inspiring laboratory space at UH Mānoa’s Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB).

Elizabeth Madin and Josh Madin joined the UH Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) as HIMB research professors in May 2018.  In their shared lab space, they conduct quite different yet complementary research. One of the main areas of overlap: coral reefs and ocean conservation.

When the researchers first saw the un-renovated version of what is now their lab space, E. Madin imagined a lively, underwater mural. She shared her passion for creating art with Beth Lentz, HIMB graduate student who conceived of and directed the SymbioSEAS science-art collaboration, and eventually connected with local artists Nicole Makaʻāhinaʻālohilohi Jack, Kūpono Duncan and Cory Kamehanaokala Taum.

Jack, Duncan, E. Madin and J. Madin discussed the lab’s research interests and themes and the Madins shared satellite and drone imagery, and large, three-dimensional reconstructions of reefs from their field expeditions.

“We sent a slew of reef-related images and artistic photos to show the aesthetic we were looking for—something more subtle and abstract than literal, and with a palette of colours like one would see when looking at reefs from underwater or from the air or space,” said E. Madin. “After that, the artists sent sketches of what they were envisioning. It fit with our vision remarkably well!”

The HIMB Facilities team and Director were engaged in the process and over the subsequent six months, with Jack and Duncan leading the effort, the team of three artists created the mural.

“Working with Nicole, Kūpono and Cory was such a pleasure and they were incredibly professional,” said E. Madin. “They were also really welcoming in terms of having us help with the painting itself, and we even ended up getting our children involved!”

E. Madin is hoping to get funding to do more of this type of work with school groups around Oahu.

“The goal,” she said, “is to raise awareness through public murals of the many threats coral reefs in Hawai‘i are facing and what we as a larger community can do to help.”

About the artists

Nicole Makaʻāhinaʻālohilohi Jack is a Native Hawaiian multimedia artist based in Honolulu. She has contributed to the design and execution of collaborative murals state wide, both as an independently commissioned artist and in her previous position as the Program Coordinator for The Estria Foundation/ Mele Murals. Currently she is working in the field of Environmental Conservation and finds the natural world to be a primary influence in much of her art. Nicole also draws heavily on her collegiate background in Pacific Island Studies and finds profound inspiration in the industrious genius of her ancestors.

Kūpono Duncan is a Native Hawaiian artist from Kailua, Oʻahu. His artwork primarily attempts to bridge motifs of the past with experiences in the present, using contemporary mediums. Kūpono has numerous years of experience as a muralist, contributing to pieces on display at the Hawaiʻi Convention Center, Bishop Museum, Sheraton Waikiki, Mokulēʻia, The Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology on Moku o Loʻe, and various buildings around Honolulu. He strives continuously to perpetuate his culture through multimedia art.

For more photos of the project, visit the Elizabeth Madin Lab.

Last week, twelve University of Hawaii students and recent graduates attended the Geological Society of America (GSA) national meeting in Phoenix, Arizona from Sept 22-25, 2019. Six represented the UH Hilo departments of Geology, Marine Science and Hawaiian studies; the other six were from UH Manoa’s Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology (HIGP), Earth Sciences, and Global Environmental Sciences.  Many of the students presented their research as posters or talks.  One student, Earth Sciences doctoral candidate Trista McKenzie, even gave an invited talk.

Each student received full funding to attend the meeting, through a partnership between GSA’s On To the Future (OTF) program and an NSF Geopaths grant awarded to Barbara Bruno, specialist at HIGP. “Our overarching goal is to diversify the geoscience field.  Attending the GSA meeting is a great way to learn about the latest research, explore careers and graduate schools, and expand your scientific network.  We hope to continue to offer this program in future years and include community college students.”

Around the globe, communities are concerned with rain and storms. An area known as the “Maritime Continent,” which includes major islands such as Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Papua New Guinea, along with a galaxy of smaller islands, experiences significant rainfall including periodic monsoonal rain, and flash flooding.

In a new study led by SOEST atmospheric scientist Giuseppe Torri, researchers revealed details of the connection between a larger atmospheric phenomenon, termed the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO), and the daily patterns of rainfall in the Maritime Continent.

The MJO circles the globe around the tropics and can affect weather on weekly to monthly time scales, alternately bringing cloudy, rain periods and sunny, drier periods.

Torri and co-authors found that the impact of the MJO on the daily rainfall patterns of Sumatra was quite significant. When the MJO was active near the Maritime Continent, there was more water vapor—and therefore greater potential for significant rain events—and more variations in water vapor throughout the day as compared to the suppressed phase. Also, clouds and rain seemed to move offshore at night faster during the active phase of the MJO.

The team relied on data from a network of GPS stations that were installed on Sumatra and on the neighboring islands by a team of scientists interested in monitoring tectonic activity along the western coast of Sumatra. As it turns out, the GPS signal is distorted by the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere. This distortion is bad news for people interested in location information—which is what the GPS technology was invented for. However, scientists, including UH Mānoa atmospheric sciences professor Steven Businger, realized that the distortion can tell us something about the state of the atmosphere and pioneered its use as a source of data.

With the extensive coverage of the GPS stations on the island of Sumatra, the team had a dataset that provided a highly detailed picture of the daily atmospheric changes.

“Given the existing scientific literature, we had a sense that the MJO had an impact on the local convection in the Maritime Continent,” said Torri. “One thing that was surprising to me was just how well we could see the convection propagate offshore in the late evening. This is thanks to the density of stations of the GPS network we considered.”

The MJO is arguably one of the most important phenomena on the planet, and can influence the weather and the climate of regions that are even thousands of miles away from the Maritime Continent. A better understanding of the MJO, and a good way to simulate it are key to better understanding our current and future climate.

While the current study furthers understanding of the impacts of the MJO on clouds and rain over Sumatra, Torri will team up with SOEST atmospheric scientist Alison Nugent to investigate the causes of these impacts and the mechanisms that control the offshore propagation of rainfall.

Read more on UH News.

James Foster, associate researcher in the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology (HIGP), is continuing his efforts to utilize the international cargo shipping fleet to improve tsunami detection and warning. With high quality global positioning systems (GPS) on ships and regular feedback to the shore, Foster found irregular waves as small as 10 or 20 centimeters high could be detected to boost early warning systems and save tens of thousands of lives.

Today, tsunami warnings are issued when the large earthquakes which can cause tsunamis are detected. Dr. Foster’s idea can help verify if a tsunami was actually generated, and how large it is, if a cargo ship happens to be traveling near where the earthquake happens.

“But there is actually a good chance of that if we are able to equip most of the cargo ships in the world with this sort of system, which tend to be traveling through those sorts of areas all the time,” Foster said. “Otherwise, they will know there is a large earthquake but there is still some uncertainty as to whether it has actually created a dangerous tsunami or not.”

The process works using three dimensional precise positioning, taken as often as possible from the ship out at sea. If an earthquake occurs, the ships near that location can begin sending their position to early warning centers who can measure the height of the waves and look for those very long period 10 centimeter plus waves that signal a tsunami. This process basically happens in real time, Foster said. The only wait is the time it takes the waves take to pass beneath the ship, which can take anywhere between 10 and 30 minutes.

Foster was compiling and analyzing data when Eric Roeder, a United Nations official working on disaster and climate risk reduction came across his work and decided to act. Roeder put together a roundtable, called Maritime Sector Strategies to Augment Tsunami Monitoring with Economic, Safety and Environmental Co-benefits, and gathered private and public sector representatives in late August to discuss it.

That is where Foster met China Navigation Company’s Simon Bennett, the general manager of sustainable development, who did not hesitate before throwing his support behind the idea. This new partnership between China Navigation and Foster will kick-start the next phase of the project to further improve the amount and consistency of data streaming in from cargo vessels.

Read the full story on Samoa Observer.