UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII THE SCHOOL OF OCEAN AND EARTH SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

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Mitigation and Adaptation of Hawaiis Society to
Climate Change

• Research in 2006 indicates
• Doubled melting rate of Greenland ice sheet,
• Net melting of the Antarctic ice sheet,
• Global rise approaching 3.0 mm/yr, twice the rate
  last century,
• Continued heating of atmosphere heating of
  water column, 1 m rise is now expected during
  this century.
• 30C temperature rise suggests 3-6 m sea-level
  rise in a century.

1958 Territorial Law included HIG shall
conduct application of research results relevant
to Territorial problems. To be relevant to the
State, HIGP should provide the geophysical/remote
sensing leadership to help the State of Hawaii
survive the impending crisis due to climate change
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Absolute Sea Level Rise - Kahului
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Geodesy and Measuring Topographic Change
Ben Brooks
Tripod-Lidar for high-resolution topography
Radar interferometry - deformation
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Effects of Ocean Acidification

• Loss of coral reefs will result in
• Decrease in fish supply
• Loss of cultural fishing traditions
• Loss of tourism due to reduction in marine
  attractions
• Greater probability of storm damage along
  coastline

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Assessment of Coral Reef Health

• CRESPO--Coral Reef Spectrophotometric Observatory
• Current status is a collaboration between HIGP,
  HSFL, HIMB and NASA Ames Research Center
• Fly a hyperspectral sensor on HSFL launch 2
• Funding targets
• Castle Foundation (March 1)
• Google (pursuant to Castle outcome)
• NASA SALMON Program (Standalone Missions of
  Opportunity) (July 1)

Paul Lucey
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Roy Wilkens
REMUS AUV sidescan map of Port Allen, S. Kauai
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Projected changes in annual rainfall in 2050

• Change in rainfall patterns will result in
• Greater uncertainty in drinking water supply
• Agriculture put at greater risk
• Higher incidence of fires
• More flash flooding, and resultant rock falls

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Geophysics and Geohydrology
Don Thomas
Lloyd French
Relative distribution of estimated ground-water
recharge during 2000 2004. Red represents
lowest recharge, and violet represents the
highest recharge