Water Resources

Pilons and interpretive signs border flooded walkways and grassy areas as the surf lies feet away.

HERA: Impact of Sea Level Rise and Storms on Coastal Flooding Hazards

The USGS HERA-Impact of Sea Level Rise and Storms on Coastal Flooding Hazards tool provides important scientific information for decisionmakers throughout the Pacific to plan for future coastal flooding events.

With their tops in the clouds and crossed by a vibrant rainbow, steep, eroded green mountains drop abruptly to a calm ocean coastline

Machine learning for high-resolution downscaling in the Hawaiian Islands

PI: Peter Sadowski, Associate Professor of Computer Science, UH Mānoa
Graduate Scholar: Yusuke Hatanaka Dept of Information and Computer Science, UH Mānoa
Co-I: Thomas Giambelluca, Professor of Geography, UH Mānoa
Funded: FY2024

A wet, muddy road is flanked by downed trees draped across power lines, while road crews work on the trees down the road

Refining precipitation model projections for the Hawaiian Islands using generative machine learning

PI: Peter Sadowski, Associate Professor of Computer Science, UH Mānoa
Co-I: Thomas Giambelluca, Professor of Geography, UH Mānoa
Funded: FY2024

A school of small fish churn the surface waters of a greenish pool of water

Impacts of climate change on water quality and fish recruitment in Native Hawaiian fishponds

PI: Cherie Kauahi, Aquaculture Specialist, Hawaiʻi Sea Grant
Co-Is: Kamala Anthony, Hui Hoʻoleimaluō; Bradley Fox, Hawaiʻi Sea Grant; Darren Okimoto, Hawaiʻi Sea Grant; Anne Rosa, Hawaiʻi Sea Grant
Funded: FY2023

A variety of plants from grasses to tall trees cluster together in an open space

Enhancing social-ecological resilience through restoration of coastal agroforestry systems

PI: Leah Bremer, Assistant Specialist and Conservation Scientist, UH Mānoa
Graduate Scholar: Tressa Hoppe, Botany Department, UH Mānoa
Funded: FY2022

Five SURF students pose in front of a steep vegetated slope

2022 SURF Projects

Five students completed projects in climate adaptation science for the 2022 SURF program, investigating fire-prone invasive grasses, spillover effects of Marine Protected Areas, shifts in estuarine fish biodiversity, optimal regeneration conditions for koa, and effects of marine warming on different phytoplankton strains.

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, Professor of Marine Science, UH Hilo
Graduate Scholar: Walter Boger, TCBES, UH Hilo
Co-PIs: Steven Colbert, Assistant Professor of Marine Science, UH Hilo
Funded: FY2022

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
MCC Graduate Scholar: 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

High, aerial view of coral-fringed vegetated coastline

Coral response to land-to-ocean freshwater flux

PI: John Burns, Assistant Professor of Marine Science, UH Hilo
Funded: FY2021

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.

CLIMATE SCIENCE

WATER RESOURCES