Climate Prediction and Testing

Waves crash over a stone wall and flow across a cemented parking lot, beneath a blue sky

Pacific Islands Sea Level Rise Project Explorer

Sea-level rise impacts are prevalent throughout the Pacific, as is the research to adapt to those impacts. This new interactive tool compiles information about SLR projects in one place to help avoid duplication of efforts and encourage collaborations for future work.
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A sun-dappled, dense understory of ferns mixes with mature ʻōhiʻa trees

Developing a climate-resilient restoration approach combining functional, climate, and geographic data

PI: Rebecca Ostertag, Professor of Biology, UH Hilo
Co-PIs: Konapiliahi Dancil, TCBES, UH Hilo; Jonathan Price Professor of Geography, UH Hilo
Funded: FY2022
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A small historical hut backed by palms sits on a rocky headland with waves in the foreground.

Sea Level Rise AR Visualizer for Puʻuhonua o Honaunau Park

This augmented reality app lets you visualize the future of sea-level rise at Pu’uohonua o Honauanua National Historical Park as if you were cruising over the peninsula in a helicopter!
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A wide, chaotic streambed is flanked by green trees and underlain by irregular pahoehoe lava rocks.

Shifts in carbon exports from a Hawaiian watershed under a changing climate

PI: Tracy Wiegner, Associate Professor of Marine Science, UH Hilo
Co-PIs: Walter Boger, TCBES, UH Hilo; Steven Colbert, Assistant Professor of Marine Science, UH Hilo
Funded: FY2022
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Two students stand recording data at the water’s edge near a black rocky outcropping, while another student walks up the sand.

Predicting sea level rise impacts to coastal wastewater infrastructure and water quality

PI: Tracy Wiegner, Professor of Marine Sciences, UH Hilo
Co-PI: Ihilani Kamau, TCBES, UH Hilo
Co-Is: Steven Colbert, Associate Professor of Marine Sciences, UH Hilo; Ryan Perroy, Professor of Geography, UH Hilo
Funded: FY2022
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A underwater landscape of multicolored corals

Coral resilience mapping in Guam and American Samoa

This tool provides GIS map layers to illustrate the growth and survivability of corals under several future climate scenarios for reefs in Guam and American Samoa.
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Map of the Hawaiian Island chain is colored in bands, illustrating the strong variability of temperatures around and across the islands

Making regional climate model outputs more accessible to diverse user community

PI: Tom Giambelluca, Professor of Geography, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Co-PI: Oliver Elison Timm, Research Assoc. Professor of Atmospheric and Environmental Science, University of Albany
Funded: FY2021
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Six students smile from within zoom boxes

2021 SURF Projects

Six students completed projects in climate adaptation science for the 2021 SURF program, investigating stream flow quality and variability, coastal erosion, fish thermal tolerance, fishpond phytoplankton distribution, and reef microplastics.
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Dry grasses scatter across a brown lava field

Pacific Drought Knowledge Exchange PWW factsheets

The PDKE seeks to address the critical need for scientists to generate locally relevant science products for managers adapting to hotter, drier climates. Explore these factsheets for Puʻu Waʻawaʻa.
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CLIMATE SCIENCE