The 2025 SURF program ended in August after a Final Symposium, wrapping up another successful summer of research, networking, and learning.
Climate prediction / testing
Six students completed projects in climate adaptation science for the 2025 SURF program, investigating ways to protect at-risk corals, conducting case studies in air temperature changes and water resource management solutions, and using high tech tools to catalog ʻopihi and zooplankton under varying conditions.
The new season of our “Slice of PI-CASC” seminar series will be begin in September with a presentation by Dr. Shellie Habel from the Climate Resilience Cooperative, sharing their work on the influence of sea-level rise on Oʻahu’s groundwater and some adaptation applications of their results.
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.
Our April “Slice of PI-CASC” seminar will be presented by Dr. Dean Gesch, USGS, providing a look at his efforts to build local technical capacity in the Republic of the Marshall Islands to conduct critical assessments of exposure to inundation and other coastal hazards.
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
Our March “Slice of PI-CASC” seminar will be presented by a team from the Pacific Islands Ocean Observing System (PacIOOS), led by Director Melissa Iwamoto, giving an overview of their Backyard Buoy program to empower Pacific coastal communities to conduct their own ocean observations.
PI: Peter Sadowski, Associate Professor of Computer Science, UH Mānoa
Co-I: Thomas Giambelluca, Professor of Geography, UH Mānoa
Funded: FY2024
Our January “Slice of PI-CASC” seminar–on the second Tuesday of the month–will be presented by Dr. Ryan Longman, who will share his work with many partners in creating the Hawaiʻi Climate Data Portal and its impressive capabilities, as well as future possibilities.
This interactive web tool provides access to sea-level rise information for decisionmakers and community members to plan for the impacts of rising sea levels in American Samoa.