Research Projects

PI-CASC supports research that generates actionable climate science within several key focus areas defined by regional stakeholder needs.

A student poses against a steeply sloping landscape with blowing mist.

Predicting the effects of climate change: ecosystem drivers in the tropical subalpine shrubland

PI: Don Drake, Professor of Botany, UH Mānoa
Co-PI: Alison Ainsworth, Department of Botany, UH Mānoa
Funded: FY2013

Scenic underwater scene with a coral landscape

Projections of future coral reef communities in DOI-managed coastal areas in the Hawaiian Islands

PI: Erik Franklin, Associate Researcher, HIMB, UH Mānoa
Co-I: Rob Toonen , Researcher, HIMB, UH Mānoa
Funded: FY2013

Understanding the response of native and non‐native forests to climate variability and change

PI: Thomas Giambelluca, Professor of Geography, UH Mānoa
Funded: FY2013

Reconstructing climate variability in Hawaiʻi using tree rings

PI: Patrick Hart, Professor of Biology, UH Hilo
Funded: FY2013

Epiphytes as an indicator of climate change

PI: Jonathan Price, Assoc. Professor of Geography, UH Hilo
Co-PI: Scarlett Kettwich, Department of Geography, UH Hilo
Funded: FY2013

Very fine resolution dynamical downscaling of past and future climates for assessment of climate change impacts on the islands of Oʻahu and Kauaʻi

PI: Yuqing Wang, Professor of Meteorology/IPRC, UH Mānoa
Co-PI: Kevin Hamilton, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences/IPRC, UH Mānoa
Funded: FY2013

Stream water pours down a small fall between fern-covered banks

Developing high-resolution rainfall change scenarios for the Hawaiian Islands using statistical downscaling

PI: Oliver Elison Timm, Research Assoc. Professor of Atmospheric and Environmental Science, SUNY Albany
Co-PIs: Thomas Giambelluca , Professor of Geography, UH Mānoa; Henry Diaz Meteorlogist, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, Univ. of Colorado, Boulder
Funded: FY2012

Houses balance on the very edge of a low bluff above a sandy beach.

Empirical projection of future shoreline position and inundation due to sea level rise

PI: Charles Fletcher , Professor of Earth Sciences, UH Mānoa
Funded: FY2012

A complex of atmospheric instruments sit together on a boom placed in the midst of a shrubby landscape.

Monitoring and analysis of climate variability and change in Hawaiʻi

PI: Thomas Giambelluca, Professor of Geography, UH Mānoa
Co-PI: Ryan Longman, Department of Geography, UH Mānoa
Funded: FY2012

Two students in hardhats smile at the camera while seated on the floor of a cave, with water sampling gear around them.

Reconstruction of West Pacific climate history

PI: John Jenson, Professor of Environmental Geology, WERI, Univ. of Guam
Co-PI: Mark Lander, Asst. Professor of Tropical Meteorology, WERI, Univ. of Guam
Funded: FY2012

Overview of a large Hawaiian valley, looking out to the sea beyond

Modeling climate-driven changes to dominant vegetation in the Hawaiian Islands

PI: Jonathan Price, Assoc. Professor of Geography, UH Hilo
Co-PI: James Jacobi , Biologist, USGS Pacific Island Ecosystems Research Center
Funded: FY2012

A bright red bird with a long, curved beak sits on a yellow flower

Vulnerability of Hawaiian forest birds to climate change

PI: Michael Samuel, Wildlife Ecologist, USGS Wisconsin Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit
Funded: FY2012

A scenic tropical beach in American Samoa

21st century high-resolution climate projections for Guam and American Samoa

PI: Yuqing Wang, Professor of Meteorology/IPRC, UH Mānoa
Funded: FY2012