School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology
Univ. of Hawaii at Manoa

SOEST in the News

Photo of wave by Steven Businger Impact of El Niño on O‘ahu surf

Surf forecaster and oceanographer Pat Caldwell of the University of Hawai‘i Sea Level Center (UHSLC) discusses the potential impact of this year’s El Niño event on surf and waves around the island of O‘ahu, including the possible impacts of higher-than-normal waves on nearshore property. (For additional information about wave and shore conditions, visit the Hawai‘i Ocean Observing System’s Swimmers, Surfers, and Beachcombers page.)

Watch the video at KITV4.com. Image courtesy of Steven Businger.

'Domino' graphic One good shake leads to another

Hawai‘i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology (HIGP) associate professor Cecily Wolfe, notes that recent “clustering” of earthquakes magnitude 7 and larger in the western Pacific and Indonesia could be the result of a “triggering” effect. “One idea is that some fault systems are critically stressed and ready to rumble, so that only a very tiny stress change from another earthquake is all it takes to cause a domino effect. … We know that the bigger the earthquake is, the bigger the trigger it has,” she said.

Read more about it in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Image courtesy of Bryant Fukutomi, Honolulu Star-Bulletin.

HNEI logo HNEI to share in $5 million federal smart-grid grant

Hawaiian Electric Co. (HECO) and partners Referentia, the University of Hawai‘i, and the Hawai‘i Natural Energy Institute (HNEI) will receive more than $5 million of the $3.4 billion in federal stimulus money that President Barack Obama said would support 100 projects aimed at modernizing the nation’s power grid.

Read more about it Honolulu Advertiser; image courtesy of HNEI / SOEST.

Photo of flooding street A rising tide

On October 24, Honolulu joins communities in 150 countries around the world for what organizers say is the most geographically diverse day of activism in the history of the world. Building on the work of coastal geologist Chip Fletcher, chair of the Geology & Geophysics department, volunteers around O‘ahu draw a blue line through Honolulu to demonstrate the extent of one meter of sea level rise — the level scientists say oceans are likely to rise by the end of this century as the planet warms.

Read more about it in the Honolulu Weekly and in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Image courtesy of UH Sea Grant; click on it to see the full version.

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