April 7-8, 2009 


Air TemperaturesThe following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Tuesday afternoon: 

Lihue, Kauai – 74
Honolulu, Oahu – 81
Kaneohe, Oahu – 75
Kahului, Maui – 75

Hilo, Hawaii – 72
Kailua-kona – 80

Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountains…at 4 p.m. Tuesday afternoon:

Kailua-kona – 79F
Hilo, Hawaii
– 66

Haleakala Crater    – 50  (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea summit – 30  (near 14,000 feet on the Big Island)

Precipitation TotalsThe following numbers represent the largest precipitation totals (inches) during the last 24 hours on each of the major islands, as of
Tuesday afternoon:

1.96 Mount Waialaele, Kauai
1.01 Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
0.00 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.08 Kahoolawe
2.39 Puu Kukui, Maui
0.91 Honokaa, Big Island


Weather Chart – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing a 1031 millibar high pressure system more or less to the north the islands. This high pressure cell will keep our trade winds moderately strong, to locally strong and gusty Wednesday and Thursday…lighter in those more protected places.

Satellite and Radar Images: To view the cloud conditions we have here in Hawaii, please use the following satellite links, starting off with the Infrared Satellite Image of the islands to see all the clouds around the state during the day and night. This next image is one that gives close images of the islands only during the daytime hours, and is referred to as a Close-up visible image. This next image shows a larger view of the Pacific…giving perspective to the wider ranging cloud patterns in the Pacific Ocean. Finally, here’s a looping IR satellite image, making viewable the clouds around the islands 24 hours a day. To help you keep track of where any showers may be around the islands, here’s the latest animated radar image

Hawaii’s Mountains – Here’s a link to the live webcam on the summit of near 14,000 foot Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii. The tallest peak on the island of Maui is the Haleakala Crater, which is near 10,000 feet in elevation. These two webcams are available during the daylight hours here in the islands…and when there’s a big moon rising just after sunset for an hour or two! Plus, during the nights and early mornings you will be able to see stars, and the sunrise too…depending upon weather conditions.

 

 Aloha Paragraphs

 

http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc82/Dalana_Notafji/Gifs/Art/hawaiian-art4.jpg
  Baby…with Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle
   

The trade winds will remain over us through the work week, relaxing some during the weekend…then rebuild again next week. The source of our breezy trade winds Tuesday is a 1033 millibar high pressure system to the north of the Hawaiian Islands Tuesday night…as shown on this weather map. These winds will fluctuate some, in terms of strength and direction, although the NWS forecast office in Honolulu is keeping the small craft wind advisory flags up across all of our marine coastal and channel waters at this time. All the wind, both locally and further away has generated swells, which are bringing breaking waves to all our beaches now. A high surf advisory is in force across the north and west facing shores on Kauai down through Maui.

We’ll find generally windward biased showers for the time being…with a possible increase in tropical showers later Thursday or Friday into the weekend. Clear to partly cloudy skies will persist Tuesday night, with cloudy periods at times. Looking at this satellite image, we’re beginning to see those high clouds approaching from the southwest again. They are still too far away to bring us a colorful sunset Tuesday, but should have moved into range, to provide a nice sunrise on Wednesday. It’s a good bet that our skies will turn more cloudy starting later Wednesday, with at least partly to mostly cloudy skies for several days thereafter. There’s still some chance of an increase in showers Friday into the weekend, but at the same time…there remains some question about that too.

It’s early Tuesday evening as I begin writing this last paragraph of today’s weather narrative.
As noted in the two paragraphs above, our trade winds will continue, and we’ll be getting cloudier over the next few days. The computer models definitely show lots of tropical moisture riding northward over our islands over the next few days. Here’s a looping satellite image which will show us that high level cirrus cloudiness streaming towards our islands. ~~~ The chance of some increase in rainfall still seems reasonable, especially over the mountains during the afternoon hours by Friday, that is if the trade winds become light enough. Otherwise, if the trade winds remain active, and strong enough, most of the showers, if they do increase, would end up falling along the windward sides of the islands. If you hear some uncertainty around this prospect, you are exactly correct. I’d like to take another day, say by Wednesday morning’s new narrative, before I make any claims on knowing what will happen in this regard. ~~~ I’m just about ready to leave Kihei, at about 530pm, so let me look out the window and see what’s going on out there. There’s a lot of blue skies, and a lot of gray clouds too…along with some breezy trade winds blowing. Speaking of which, the strongest gust at this time, was being observed on the small island of Lanai, where a gust of 37 mph was blowing. Ok, that’s it on this Maui weatherman for the moment, but you can count on my being back with your next new narrative from paradise early Wednesday morning. I hope you have a good night, and that you will come back and visit again then! ~~~ One more thing, I just got back from my walk, and then sat out on the weather deck to watch the sunset, and could just see, far off in the distance to the south, those approaching cirrus clouds. It’s such a great experience to see them on the satellite, and then see them way down on the horizon coming this way! ~~~ Gosh, and now one more final thing, just as I was walking up the stairs to my weather tower, where I not only do my website updates, but also sleep, I noticed an almost full moon beaming down…which will be at its fullest extent very soon. Aloha for now…Glenn.

Interesting:  Scientists are finding evidence of widespread malnutrition in commercial and recreational fish, marine mammals, and seabirds because of the global depletion of the small fish they need to survive, according to Oceana’s new report, "Hungry Oceans: What Happens When the Prey is Gone?" These "prey fish" underpin marine food webs and are being steadily exhausted by heavy fishing, increasing demand for aquaculture feed, and climate change.

"We have caught all the big fish and now we are going after their food," said Margot Stiles, marine scientist at Oceana. "Until recently it has been widely believed that prey fish are impossible to overexploit because their populations grow so quickly. We are now proving that untrue as the demands of commercial fisheries and aquaculture out pace the ocean’s ability to provide food for us and itself."

Hungry Oceans finds that 7 of the top 10 fisheries in the world target prey fish. These fisheries have emerged as populations of bigger fish have become overexploited and depleted. The report concludes that the impacts of fishing activity over the past decades has been so great that the nearly all prey fisheries now cannot withstand increased fishing pressure.

Hungry Oceans also finds that aquaculture is increasingly the driver behind overfishing of prey fish, as salmon, tuna and other carnivorous farmed fish become the fastest growing seafood products in the world. Changing ocean temperatures and currents caused by climate change also make prey fish populations more vulnerable.

Hungry Oceans coincides with the release today of the biennial State of the World Fisheries and Aquaculture report by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The FAO concludes that 80% of all marine fish stocks are currently fully exploited, overexploited, depleted, or recovering from depletion; including stocks of the 7 largest prey fisheries.

Very few marine fish populations remain with the potential to sustain production increases, and more have now reached their limit than ever before. The future of valuable commercial and recreational fisheries is threatened by the loss of prey fish, especially those that are currently rebuilding from historic depletion. Hungry Oceans identifies bluefin tuna, striped bass, Pacific salmon, and Pacific halibut as key species dependent on prey fish.

"We’re constantly making life difficult for endangered species from seabirds to whales, and going hungry is not going to help. Valuable fish like bluefin tuna are struggling, and we can’t expect the fishery to recover when we are stealing their food supply.

By taking food from the tuna we could end up hungry ourselves" said Stiles. Marine mammals and seabirds also depend on access to prey fish for their daily survival and for their young, including blue whales, humpback whales, penguins, and terns. Even species protected under national and international laws are experiencing food shortages.

Interesting2:  Until recently, the federal government wasn’t what we would consider a friend of the environment. Fortunately, some cities have spent the last few years (or decades!) looking forward, and have worked hard to implement sustainable practices and policies. All of the cities discussed below have wide-reaching programs for improving their impact on the environment, including transportation, energy use, and water conservation. Here’s what a few of the forward-thinking cities in this great country of ours have been up to.

Long known as a mecca for green — both the leafy kind and the environmental kind — Portland, Oregon reins supreme over many a list of America’s greenest cities Why? Because they do it all. As the first city in the country to adopt a plan to reduce local greenhouse gas emissions, Portland managed to reduce their emissions to 17% below 1990 levels by 2007 (when adjusted for population growth). With results like that, it’s hard to argue the City’s green cred.

But that achievement only fueled Portland’s fire to make further reductions. The City has set a goal for receiving 100% of the power used in municipal operations and facilities from renewable sources, and has retrofitted traffic signals with energy-sipping LEDs, saving 3% of emissions and $265,000 per year.

Portland also uses unique methods for implementing sustainable practices, including getting their citizens involved. For example, to eliminate the use of pesticides in parks, the City enlists volunteers to help staff with weeding. They have also implemented integrated pest management methods.

After a successful three-year trial program at three parks, two additional parks have been added to the program. These simple changes, partnered with a little hard work, provide Portland’s citizens with tons of pesticide-free green space.

Interesting3:  Researchers at North Carolina State University have found that a tiny aquatic plant can be used to clean up animal waste at industrial hog farms and potentially be part of the answer for the global energy crisis. Their research shows that growing duckweed on hog wastewater can produce five to six times more starch per acre than corn, according to researcher Dr. Jay Cheng.

This means that ethanol production using duckweed could be "faster and cheaper than from corn," says fellow researcher Dr. Anne-Marie Stomp. "We can kill two birds — biofuel production and wastewater treatment — with one stone — duckweed," Cheng says. Starch from duckweed can be readily converted into ethanol using the same facilities currently used for corn, Cheng adds.

Corn is currently the primary crop used for ethanol production in the United States. However, its use has come under fire in recent years because of concerns about the amount of energy used to grow corn and commodity price disruptions resulting from competition for corn between ethanol manufacturers and the food and feed industries.

Duckweed presents an attractive, non-food alternative that has the potential to produce significantly more ethanol feedstock per acre than corn; exploit existing corn-based ethanol production processes for faster scale-up; and turn pollutants into a fuel production system.

The duckweed system consists of shallow ponds that can be built on land unsuitable for conventional crops, and is so efficient it generates water clean enough for re-use. The technology can utilize any nutrient-rich wastewater, from livestock production to municipal wastewater.

Interesting4:  Despite the alarming conclusions of the UN’s latest State of the World’s Forests, the mainstream media has devoted surprisingly little attention to the report.
Snowed under by other news developments as it may have been, global deforestation is by no means insignificant. It’s taking place at shocking rates, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)’s bi-annual report reveals.

Despite people’s awareness that forests are key to the survival of the planet and the human race, deforestation rates are ever increasing. The expansion of large palm oil and soy plantations has been the main reason why forests are disappearing and the world’s biodiversity resources are shrinking. "The potential for large-scale commercial production of cellulosic biofuel will have unprecedented impacts on the forest sector," the report indicates.

Illegal logging is also a real headache. Around 20% of the world’s forests are being illegally chopped down, a trend at its worst in Africa. The continent has lost around four million hectares of forests annually between 2000 and 2005, representing one-third of all global deforestation. Given the fact that Africa only hosts 16% of the world’s forests, this is a devastating rate. And growth in Europe’s need for wood (for use as biomass, among others) will likely stimulate the practice.

The numbers for Asia and the Pacific, although seemingly positive, also tell stories of reduced biodiversity resources. The continent’s 2005 total forest size of 734 million hectares was bigger than its 2000 level but the increase was mainly due to China’s reforestation plantations. Natural forests are still being logged, only the practice is invisible! All Latin American countries showed deterioration during 2000-2005 except Uruguay and Chile, because of plantation programs similar to those in China.

The global financial crisis won’t make matters any better either in the short term. The FAO says that forests run the risk to be negatively impacted by the global economic crisis because of reduced demand for wood and wood products which in turn leads to investment in forest-based industries and, by dint of investor rationale, forest management.

"A general concern is that some governments may dilute previously ambitious green goals or defer key policy decisions related to climate change mitigation and adaptation as they focus on reversing the economic downturn," the report reveals.

Interesting5:  Which is a better strategy, specializing in one crop or diversified cropping? Is conventional cropping more profitable than organic farming? Is it less risky? To answer these questions, the University of Wisconsin’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and Michael Fields Agricultural Institute agronomists established the Wisconsin Integrated Cropping Systems Trial (WICST) in 1990. This research is funded by USDA-ARS.

Systems ranging from species-diverse pasture and organic systems to more specialized conventional alfalfa-based forage and corn-based grain systems were compared at two sites in southern Wisconsin from 1993 to 2006. Crop production analysis was published in the 2008 March—April issue of Agronomy Journal while this companion article focuses on the net returns and associated risk exposure of these systems. Full research results from this current study are presented by Chavas et al. in the 2009 March—April issue of Agronomy Journal.

Interesting6:  A review of previously published articles indicates there is little evidence supporting an effective treatment of bites from bed bugs, that these insects do not appear to transmit disease, and control and eradication of bed bugs is challenging, according to a new article. Bed bugs (Cimex lectularius) have been known as a human parasite for thousands of years, but scientific studies of this insect are recent and limited. International travel, immigration, changes in pest control practices and insecticide resistance may have contributed to a recent resurgence of this blood-sucking insect in developed countries.

Bed bug infestations have been reported increasingly in homes, apartments, hotel rooms, hospitals, and dormitories in the United States since 1980, according to background information in the article.Hiding places are usually within about 3 to 6 feet of suitable hosts and include seams in mattresses, crevices in box springs, backsides of headboards, spaces under baseboards or loose wallpaper. Health consequences include biting and skin and systemic reactions. The potential for bed bugs to serve as transmitters of disease and optimal methods for bed bug pest control and eradication are unclear.

Interesting7:  Researchers from the University of Melbourne and Princeton University have shown for the first time that the difference in reflection of light from the Earth’s land masses and oceans can be seen on the dark side of the moon, a phenomenon known as earthshine. The paper is published in this week’s edition of the international journal Astrobiology. Sally Langford from the University of Melbourne’s School of Physics who conducted the study as part of her PhD, says that the brightness of the reflected earthshine varied as the Earth rotated, revealing the difference between the intense mirror-like reflections of the ocean compared to the dimmer land.

“In the future, astronomers hope to find planets like the Earth around other stars. However these planets will be too small to allow an image to be made of their surface,” she said. “We can use earthshine, together with our knowledge of the Earth’s surface to help interpret the physical make up of new planets.”

This is the first study in the world to use the reflection of the Earth to measure the effect of continents and oceans on the apparent brightness of a planet. Other studies have used a color spectrum and infrared sensors to identify vegetation, or for climate monitoring.

The three year study involved taking images of the Moon to measure the earth’s brightness as it rotated, allowing Ms Langford to detect the difference in signal from land and water. Observations of the Moon were made from Mount Macedon in Victoria, for around three days each month when the Moon was rising or setting.

The study was conducted so that in the evening, when the Moon was a waxing crescent, the reflected earthshine originated from Indian Ocean and Africa’s east coast. In the morning, when the Moon was a waning crescent – it originated only from the Pacific Ocean.

“When we observe earthshine from the Moon in the early evening we see the bright reflection from the Indian Ocean, then as the Earth rotates the continent of Africa blocks this reflection, and the Moon becomes darker,” Ms Langford said. “If we find Earth sized planets and watch their brightness as they rotate, we will be able to assess properties like the existence of land and oceans.”