Latest Hawaiian Islands Stories

April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online It has happened almost imperceptibly, but rainfall over the Hawaiian Islands has been in decline since 1978. According to a team of scientists at the University of Hawaii, Manoa (UHM) and the University of Colorado, Boulder, this trend is likely to continue with global warming through the end of this century. Though the findings of this study, published in the early online issue of the Journal of Geophysical Research, supports prior UHM...

April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online University of Hawaii at Manoa (UHM) researchers have noticed an increased frequency of the eastern trade winds and a decrease in frequency of the north east trade winds over the last 40 years. The study, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research, analyzed 37 years of wind speed and direction, and sea level pressure data from land-based weather stations, buoys and reanalysis data. For example, the northeast trade winds occurred...

redOrbit Meteorologist Joshua Kelly Big Story Weather from July 12: Yesterday was a busy day from the severe weather standpoint, with places in Eastern Texas getting some of the heaviest rainfall ever in 24hrs. Houston Texas received over 10 inches in 24hrs, and that alone is a more than they get in an entire month. Heavy rain also fell throughout Western Louisiana. One lone tornado was reported in Central Florida along with many hail reports from the Dakota’s along with minor wind...

redOrbit Meteorologist Joshua Kelly Big Story Weather from July 11: Wind damage reports from both Kentucky and South Carolina. Also, another area of storms developed along a frontal boundary that moved through the Dakota’s extending back into Wyoming. There was flooding that spread through the Ohio River valley with strong afternoon storms which extended towards the Mid-Atlantic. Also it is important to point out that thunderstorms can be dangerous from the ground and also from the air,...

Lava fingerprinting reveals differences between Hawaii's twin volcanoes Hawaii's main volcano chains--the Loa and Kea trends--have distinct sources of magma and unique plumbing systems connecting them to the Earth’s deep mantle, according to UBC research published this week in Nature Geoscience, in conjunction with researchers at the universities of Hawaii and Massachusetts. This study is the first to conclusively relate geochemical differences in surface lava rocks from both chains...

Boulders deposited by an ancient glacier that once covered the summit of Mauna Kea on the island of Hawaii have provided more evidence of the extraordinary power and reach of global  change, particularly the slowdown of a North Atlantic Ocean current system that could happen again and continues to be a concern to climate scientists.A new study has found geochemical clues near the summit of Mauna Kea that tell a story of ancient glacier formation, the influence of the most recent ice age,...

Underwater canyons have long been considered important habitats for marine life, but until recently, only canyons on continental margins had been intensively studied. Researchers from Hawaii Pacific University (HPU) and the University of Hawaii at Manoa (UHM) have now conducted the first extensive study of canyons in the oceanic Hawaiian Archipelago and found that these submarine canyons support especially abundant and unique communities of megafauna (large animals such as fish, shrimp,...

Tropical Storm Hilda is hanging on to tropical storm force winds, and continues to track south of the Hawaiian Islands. NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite noticed some moderate rainfall in Hilda's center earlier today, but the storm is staying far enough south of Hawaii to not cause trouble for travelers and vacationers.Satellite imagery indicates she's a small storm, so forecasters have noted that any impacts to the Hawaiian Islands, which lay far to the north of her...

Tropical Storm Felicia is closing in on the Hawaiian Island chain and its center is now expected to pass just north of the big island before moving through the islands Tuesday and Wednesday. Two NASA satellites captured the height and temperatures of Felicia's clouds to assist meteorologists in their forecasts as she approaches Hawaii. She's already stirring up the surf.A Tropical Storm Watch Remains in effect for Oahu, the Big Island of Hawaii and for all of Maui County, which includes the...

By Roger Dobson It was the first and most extreme ecological disaster. Easter Island, in the south Pacific, once lush with subtropical broadleaf forest, was left barren and vast seabird colonies were destroyed after the arrival of man. But now there is new evidence that human beings may not have been responsible for the destruction after all. Although Easter Island has long been held to be the most important example of a traditional society destroying itself, it appears that the real...