Hawaiian Islands weather details & Aloha paragraphs / November 13-14, 2010

November 13-14, 2010

Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Saturday afternoon:

Lihue airport, Kauai –  75
Honolulu airport, Oahu –  86
Kaneohe MCAS, Oahu –  82
Molokai airport – 86
Kahului airport, Maui – 88
Ke-ahole airport (Kona) –   84
Hilo airport, Hawaii –   83

Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountain tops…as of 5pm Saturday evening:

Barking Sands, Kauai – 82F
Lihue, Kauai – 75 

Haleakala Crater –    48 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea summit – 34 (near 14,000 feet on the Big Island)

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

0.45 Mount Waialeale, Kauai  
0.42 Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
0.01 Molokai 
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.67 West Wailuaiki, Maui
0.26 Hilo airport, Big Island

Marine Winds – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing a strong 1040 millibar high pressure system far to the northeast of our islands, with a ridge extending southwest…to the north and northwest of Hawaii. Our local winds will remain moderately strong, locally stronger and gusty through Sunday…gradually easing up later Monday.

Satellite and Radar Images: To view the cloud conditions we have here in Hawaii, please use the following satellite links, starting off with this Infrared Satellite Image of the islands to see all the clouds around 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.

Tropical Cyclone activity in the eastern and central Pacific – Here’s the latest weather information coming out of the National Hurricane Center, covering the eastern north Pacific. You can find the latest tropical cyclone information for the central north Pacific (where Hawaii is located) by clicking on this link to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center. Here’s a tracking map covering both the eastern and central Pacific Ocean. A satellite image, which shows the entire ocean area between Hawaii and the Mexican coast…can be found here. Of course, as we know, our hurricane season won't end until November 31st here in the central Pacific.

 Aloha Paragraphs

Generally fair weather Sunday…a few showers

 
 

Winds will be locally gusty through Sunday…although lighter where blocked by the islands.  This weather map shows a strong 1040 millibar high pressure system far northeast of the islands Saturday night. The winds remain strong enough now, that small craft wind advisories remain in place, across those windiest areas around the Big Island. These east to southeast winds will begin to slow down as we move into the new week ahead, and gradually shift more to the southeast. Winds from this direction often bring volcanic haze up over the state…from the Big Island vents. An approaching cold front will keep our winds light, and may shift them to the south to southwest Kona direction…as we move into the second half of the new week, as well as keep our overlying atmosphere warm and humid. At least some of the computer models are showing this cold front passing over Kauai and Oahu, and then dissipating over Maui County Thursday into Friday.

Winds around the state are locally gusty, with the following numbers representing the strongest as of late Saturday afternoon:

24 mph      Port Allen, Kauai
33             Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
31             Molokai
42               Kahoolawe
24             Lipoa, Maui
09             Lanai Airport 
39             South Point, Big Island

Showery clouds will move by to our north and south…clipping the islands of Maui and the Big Island most often. There are patches of moisture being carried along in the east to southeast wind flow, most of which will miss us. Meanwhile, the sun dimming high level cirrus clouds have completely cleared the state. Here's a satellite picture showing the showery clouds over the ocean offshore at the moment. This satellite image shows some rainy clouds to the south of the Big Island, which may influence the southern part of that island at times. We can take a look at this looping radar image, to see where showers are located. An upper level trough of low pressure near the state…may enhance some of these showers at times this weekend, especially near the Big Island and Maui. Looking ahead, a cold front now well northwest of Kauai, as shown on this satellite image, will stall before arriving. It will eventually move into the Aloha state during the state half of the upcoming new week.

It's Saturday evening as I begin writing this last section of today's narrative update. As pointed out above, we have an abnormally strong high pressure system far to our northeast. This high is being rated at 1041 millibars, which is quite unusual. At the same time, an area of low pressure with a cold front is evident to our northwest. The alignment of these weather features, is veering our local winds southeast. This puts some of the state in a wind shadow, as the winds hit the Big Island…splitting them around the smaller islands. Those areas that are in the more direct wind flow will have gusty winds, while those in the shadow will find lighter breezes. In terms of showers, there will be some, the most generous of which may end up on the Big Island, although the other islands will collect some localized rainfall at times too. The main thing about the new work week ahead, will be the lighter winds, and the possible haze…with some isolated showers too.

~~~ Here in Kula, Maui, it was 69.3F degrees at 415pm, under partly to mostly cloudy skies…along with some volcanic haze already starting to collect between here and the West Maui Mountains. Looking over towards the windward coasts, and the leeward coasts for that matter too…I see sunny skies. I could imagine one or two sprinkles falling before sunset, although it may remain totally dry too. I started the day by taking an early morning walk in Keokea, which was beautiful and inspiring as usual. I came back home and had breakfast, before driving down to Paia for my haircut. I hadn't cut it for over two months, as I was on vacation for some of that, so it was getting pretty long. It's short now, always going between short and kind of long. Not long long, like the old days, before I began working in the corporate world in Kihei. At any rate, the truth is that I look forward to the day when I can grow my hair down to the middle of my back again! I may come back online later this evening, if I get to watching youtube music videos. Otherwise, I'll catch up with you again Sunday morning, with your next new weather narrative. I hope you have a great Saturday night until then! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Interesting: Cleaning up oil spills is a time consuming, difficult process. But a novel approach developed at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) uses a new kind of vacuum cleaner that blows bark or other absorbent material onto oil spills, and then sucks the material up again. The vacuum cleaner is four times more efficient in cleaning up after oil accidents than conventional techniques. It started with a simple assignment for master's students in NTNU's Department of Product Design: make something useful that employs air and electronics.

Silje Rabben and three of her fellow students decided it was time to take oil cleanups out of the Stone Age, and developed the new kind of vacuum cleaner that speeds up oil spill cleanups. The design has been so successful that the students founded a company, Kaliber Industrial Design, and are now looking for investors to help market their invention, the MOSE — or "Mechanical Oil spill Sanitation Equipment."

The invention has already won a number of prestigeous Scandinavian innovation awards, including DnB NOR's Innovation Award for Mid-Norway, 2010; Tekna's Innovation Award 2010; second place in the 2010 Venture Cup National Finals; and the best student idea in the 2010 Venture Cup competition. No more hand scrubbing Today's oil spill cleanup technology usually involves the use of an absorbent material, such as bark or peat moss, to soak up the oil. Workers then have to remove the wet, heavy absorbent material, and the remaining oil residue may have to be scrubbed off the rocks.

"The oil vacuum cleaner automates what we currently do manually," says Rabben. "It is common to use bark to absorb the oil. So we have also used it. But it is also possible to use peat moss or chemical absorbents." The vacuum cleaner currently weighs about 10 kilos, but the engineers are working to cut its weight to 5 kilos. The equipment will also be changed so that it can be folded up to be more compact. But the secret of the design is all in the vacuum cleaner's head.

The machine first sprays bark or other absorbent material onto the spill. Rotating brushes in the head work the oil and the absorbent material together. When the oil and absorbent material are thoroughly mixed, the direction of the rotating brushes is reversed, enabling the bark to be sucked up into the equipment while the rocks are simultaneously scrubbed.

Small spills no problem Leif Gunnar Smistad, a fire engineer and oil spill manager at Trondheim's Fire and Rescue Service, says the advantage of the vacuum cleaner is that it is portable. Smistad helped develop the idea. "Every day we spread bark on small oil spills from overfilled oil tanks or from car accidents. Then we use a broom, a shovel and a bucket to clean up. We're very interested in mobile solutions that make these cleanups more effective," Smistad says.

The American Dream Company representatives participated in the recent Clean Gulf Training Event and Exhibition in Tampa, Florida, and then went to New Orleans to meet with authorities and companies who have been involved with the cleanup after the Macondo Deepwater Horizon accident. "Naturally, there is a lot of focus on oil spills and cleanup work in the Gulf of Mexico after the Macondo accident," Rabben says. "We just have to jump in."

Interesting2: In ecology class, students are taught the effects of keystone species, the dominant species in the ecosystem. They are the top dogs, the big fish. The keystone species have a disproportionate effect on their environment and can determine the types and numbers of species in their ecosystem, not just their prey. A recent study published in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment shows that this keystone species effect is similar for both terrestrial and ocean-based predators.

The study was recently conducted by Aaron Wirsing of the University of Washington and William Ripple of Oregon State University (OSU). They analyzed the behavioral effects on prey from both the wolf and the shark, two keystone species from much different ecosystems. The wolves were observed at Yellowstone National Park, and the sharks at Australia’s Shark Bay.

In both cases, the predators altered the behavior of the prey. In Yellowstone, the wolf's main prey, the elk, shifted to new, less-sensitive grazing areas when wolves were present. This had a ripple down effect on the streamside shrubs and aspen trees which the elks normally eat. These species could then re-grow and in turn support many other species. In Shark Bay, the tiger shark's main prey, the dugong altered its behavior similar to the elk.

It would avoid shallow waters when the sharks were present. This allowed the sea grass meadows to re-grow and in turn support other marine species. "For too long we've looked at ecosystem functions on land and in the oceans as if they were completely separate," said William Ripple, a professor in the Department of Forest Ecosystems at OSU. "We're now finding that there are many more similarities between marine and terrestrial ecosystems than we’ve realized.

We need to better understand these commonalities, and from them learn how interactions on land may be a predictor of what we will see in the oceans, and vice versa." In both marine and terrestrial environments, the prey not only shifted to new areas when the predators were around, they also radically shifted their behavior.

They displayed increased vigilance, always looking and listening for a silent stalker. They strove to leave room for escape if necessary, such as moving to areas where they would not feel boxed in, and keeping a safe distance from an approaching predator. The end result is less over-consumption of flora, leading to an overall healthier ecosystem.

Interesting3: A new study in Science has found that the incredible biodiversity of the Amazon rainforest goes back much further than expected, perhaps upending old ideas about how the Amazon basin became arguably the world's most bio-diverse ecosystem. According to the study, the origin of rich biodiversity in the Amazon likely goes back more than 20 million years when the Andean mountains were rising.

"The Andean mountain building profoundly affected the diversity and evolution of the Amazonian biota. It would be difficult to name any major group of Amazonian plants or animals whose fate had not been touched in some way by the formation of the vast Andean mountain chain," William Laurance, a conservation biologist at James Cook University who has spent decades working in the tropics, told mongabay.com.

Laurance was not involved with the study. By comparing biodiversity patterns today with geological and molecular datasets, researchers found that the highest diversity of species were in a region spanning over a million square kilometers which originated with the rising Andes. Given this, the authors believe they have found a strict the connection between the rich diversity Amazon rainforests and the rise of the Andes over 20 million years ago.

The researchers also note that as Andes rose they created a vast wetland appeared in the Amazonian region. This wetland also played a role. Around 10 million years ago when the Amazon River was formed, the wetland dried up, making way for the colonization of new plants and animals.

Interesting4: Chocolate was once the drink of Mayan and Aztec kings. Now a cocoa shortage may make chocolate an exclusive luxury again. Chocolate could become as rare as caviar, said John Mason of the Ghana-based Nature Conservation Research Council. Which means chocolate treats may become unaffordable for the average person.

The price of cocoa, the raw ingredient for chocolate, has been skyrocketing in international markets. Demand for chocolate, especially for dark chocolate which uses more cocoa, has helped fuel price increases.

But unfair trade and environmental problems have resulted in supply not keeping pace with demand. West Africa leads the world in cocoa production. But the profits don't come back to many of the farmers there, and that is one of the main causes of the shortage.

In the Ivory Coast, cocoa farmers often earn less than $1 a day, and in many cases the land they farm has lost its fertility, said Tony Lass, chairman of the Cocoa Research Association in the UK Independent. Ivory Coast farmers are leaving behind unprofitable, failing cocoa orchards for the cities.