Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Tuesday:
Lihue, Kauai – 85
Honolulu airport, Oahu – 87 (record for Tuesday – 91 in 1995)
Kaneohe, Oahu – 81
Molokai airport – 83
Kahului airport, Maui – 86
Kona airport 82
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 Tuesday evening:
Barking Sands, Kauai – 86
Kaneohe, Oahu – 79
Haleakala Crater – 54 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – 45 (over 13,500 feet on the Big Island)
Here are the 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands as of Tuesday evening:
0.61 Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.93 Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
0.01 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.33 West Wailuaiki, Maui
0.56 South Point, Big Island
Marine Winds – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing high pressure systems to the northwest and northeast of our islands. Our local trade winds will remain active, blowing generally in the moderately strong category Wednesday…becoming stronger and gusty into Thursday.
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. 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 web cam on the summit of near 13,500 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 web cams are available during the daylight hours here in the islands…and when there’s a big moon shining down during the night at times. Plus, during the nights you will be able to see stars, and the sunrise and sunset 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. A satellite image, which shows the entire ocean area between Hawaii and the Mexican coast…can be found here. Here's a tropical cyclone tracking map for the eastern and central Pacific.
Aloha Paragraphs
Trade wind weather pattern…Rising south swell
High Surf Advisory south shores
The trade winds will continue blowing, generally in the moderately strong category…gradually increasing Wednesday into Thursday onwards. Glancing at this weather map, we find our primary high pressure systems located far to our northwest through northeast Tuesday night. The location of these areas of high pressure, and their associated connecting ridge, will keep our trade winds blowing…becoming stronger Wednesday into the weekend.
Our trade winds will remain active…the following numbers represent the strongest gusts (mph), along with directions Tuesday evening:
28 Port Allen, Kauai – NE
20 Kahuku, Oahu – NE
25 Molokai – NE
27 Kahoolawe – ESE
32 Kahului, Maui – NE
00 Lanai
27 Upolu Point, Big Island – NE
We can use the following links to see what’s going on in our area of the north central Pacific Ocean Tuesday night. Looking at this NOAA satellite picture we find patches of lower level cumulus clouds…arranged in most directions, especially upstream to the northeast. At the time of this writing, most of the state was clear however. As usual however, showers will sneak in along the windward sides after dark into Wednesday morning. We can use this looping satellite image to see low clouds being carried towards our windward sides by the trade winds. We see a counterclockwise rotating upper level low pressure system, far to the northwest of Hawaii. We can also see an area of high and middle level clouds approaching the state from the southwest direction. Checking out this looping radar image we see showers being carried along in the northeast to easterly trade wind flow…moving into the windward sides locally.
Sunset Commentary: As is often the case here in the tropics, we’re at one of those junctures, when either the trade winds are getting somewhat lighter or stronger. In this case, we’re going towards the stronger side of the wind spectrum. We have no small craft wind advisories anywhere in the state at this point, although as the winds gradually strengthen, we will see advisories going up over those windiest areas around Maui County and the Big Island. Speaking of advisories, we may see the winds picking up atop the higher mountains on Maui and the Big Island too, which could trigger a wind advisory up there at some point over the next few days. As the winds boot up, they will remain active through the rest of this week…right on into next week.
The other thing that we often see is a downward, or upward trend in rainfall. This time it seems like we’ll find a flat line for the most part, with just the usual passing showers along our windward coasts and slopes. At night especially, as the air temperature falls and the humidity levels rise, is when we often find the most generous precipitation. The leeward sides may pick up a few showers, as they get carried over there on the strengthening trade winds. The Kona slopes may see some afternoon/early evening showers breaking out too, prompted by the daytime sea breezes bringing moisture inland from over the ocean. We may find our next somewhat more substantial rainfall arriving this weekend, when the cold air aloft, associated with an upper level trough of low pressure, enhances whatever showers that around then…especially along the windward sides as usual, with the trade winds blowing.
Continuing on with this rising and falling set of weather elements, the surf along our leeward beaches will be on the rise now too. The NWS has issued a high surf advisory for our south shores, which means that wave action will be locally dangerous. We can expect waves to reach 3-4 feet at some of our beaches, which means that wave faces (the front of the wave as it approaches shore) will be in the 6-8 foot range! The first part of this new swell, which was generated about a week ago down in the southern hemisphere, is arriving now. A second aspect of this swell will arrive later on Thursday, so that our rough waves will continue on into the upcoming weekend. I highly recommend using great care when going into the ocean along these affected shores! If you want to go to the beach, you'll have a much better chance of a nice swim, if you head over to the north and east facing beaches…rather than many of our south and west facing shores.
Here in Kihei, Maui at 530pm HST Tuesday evening, skies were clear to partly cloudy. The trade winds are blowing rather briskly, and have been all afternoon. While I was down near the beach at lunch, the ocean surface was definitely white capped due to the windy weather. As noted above, our weather will be breezy, although there won't be too many showers, although they will fall locally along our windward sides tonight into Wednesday morning. The main thing over the next several days will be the rough surf along our leeward beaches, be careful! I'm almost ready to head back upcountry to Kula, after a good day at work. As soon as I arrive home, I'll be back on the road for my early evening walk, which helps to keep me healthy. I'll then have dinner, do some reading, and hit the hay. The reason for such an early bed time of course, is that I'll be up at 420am Wednesday morning to meditate, and then at 5am to begin preparing your next new weather narrative, which should be ready around 530am HST. I hope you have a great Tuesday night until then! Aloha for now…Glenn.
Interesting: Kelp has a high rate of growth and its decay is quite efficient in yielding methane, as well as sugars that can be converted to ethanol. It has been proposed that large open-ocean kelp farms could serve as a source of renewable energy. Unlike some biofuels such as corn ethanol, kelp energy avoids "food vs fuel" issues and does not require irrigation. Seaweed may prove a viable future biofuel especially if harvested in summer.
However the suitability of its chemical composition varies on a seasonal basis. Harvesting the kelp in July when carbohydrate levels are at their highest would ensure optimal sugar release for biofuel production. Kelps grow in underwater "forests" (kelp forests) in shallow oceans. The organisms require nutrient-rich water with temperatures between 6 to 14 degree celsius.
They are known for their high growth rate — the genera Macrocystis and Nereocystis can grow as fast as half a meter a day, ultimately reaching 30 to 80 meters. Giant kelp can be harvested fairly easily because of its surface canopy and growth habit of staying in deeper water. Bongo kelp ash is rich in iodine and alkali. In great amount, kelp ash can be used in soap and glass production.
Until the Leblanc process was commercialized in the early 19th century, burning of kelp in Scotland was one of the principal industrial sources of soda ash (predominantly sodium carbonate). "The storage carbohydrate and soluble sugars get converted into ethanol in the fermentation process, so we need as much as possible," explains Dr. Jessica Adams, a lead researcher at Aberystwyth University.
"Metals can inhibit the yeast too so we also want these to be as low as possible." Collecting monthly samples of kelp from the Welsh coast researchers used chemical analysis to assess the seasonal variability. Their results, which will be presented at the Society for Experimental Biology Annual Conference in Glasgow on the 4th of July, showed that the best month for biofuel harvest was in July when the kelp contained the highest proportions of carbohydrate and the lowest metal content.
Kelp can be converted to biofuels in different ways including fermentation or anaerobic digestion producing ethanol and methane or pyrolysis, (a method of heating the fuel without oxygen) which produces bio-oil. The chemical composition of the seaweed is important to both of these processes. Research into biofuels has focused on terrestrial plants; however these have the serious drawback of the conflict between using land to grow food or fuel.
Marine ecosystems are an untapped resource that account for over 50% of global biomass and seaweeds themselves are capable of producing more biomass per square meter than fast growing terrestrial plants such as sugar cane. "Seaweed biofuel could be very important in future energy production," says Dr. Adams.
Interesting2: Smoke belching from Asia's rapidly growing economies is largely responsible for a halt in global warming in the decade after 1998 because of sulphur's cooling effect, even though greenhouse gas emissions soared, a U.S. study said on Monday. The paper raised the prospect of more rapid, pent-up climate change when emerging economies eventually crack down on pollution.
World temperatures did not rise from 1998 to 2008, while man-made emissions of carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuel grew by nearly a third, various data show. The researchers from Boston and Harvard Universities and Finland's University of Turku said pollution, and specifically sulphur emissions, from coal-fueled growth in Asia was responsible for the cooling effect.
Sulphur allows water drops or aerosols to form, creating hazy clouds which reflect sunlight back into space. "Anthropogenic activities that warm and cool the planet largely cancel after 1998, which allows natural variables to play a more significant role," the paper said. Natural cooling effects included a declining solar cycle after 2002, meaning the sun's output fell.
The study said that the halt in warming had fueled doubts about anthropogenic climate change, where scientists say man-made greenhouse gas emissions are heating the Earth. "It has been unclear why global surface temperatures did not rise between 1998 and 2008," said the study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States.
Interesting3: Vast deposits of rare earth minerals, crucial in making high-tech electronics products, have been found on the floor of the Pacific Ocean and can be readily extracted, Japanese scientists said on Monday. "The deposits have a heavy concentration of rare earths. Just one square kilometer (0.4 square mile) of deposits will be able to provide one-fifth of the current global annual consumption," said Yasuhiro Kato, an associate professor of earth science at the University of Tokyo.
The discovery was made by a team led by Kato and including researchers from the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology. They found the minerals in sea mud extracted from depths of 3,500 to 6,000 meters (11,500-20,000 ft) below the ocean surface at 78 locations.
One-third of the sites yielded rich contents of rare earths and the metal yttrium, Kato said in a telephone interview. The deposits are in international waters in an area stretching east and west of Hawaii, as well as east of Tahiti in French Polynesia, he said.
He estimated rare earths contained in the deposits amounted to 80 to 100 billion metric tons, compared to global reserves currently confirmed by the U.S. Geological Survey of just 110 million tonnes that have been found mainly in China, Russia and other former Soviet countries, and the United States. Details of the discovery were published on Monday in the online version of British journal Nature Geoscience.
The level of uranium and thorium — radioactive ingredients that are usually contained in such deposits that can pose environmental hazards — was found to be one-fifth of those in deposits on land, Kato said. A chronic shortage of rare earths, vital for making a range of high-technology electronics, magnets and batteries, has encouraged mining projects for them in recent years.
Interesting4: It turns out that Tanzania will build a road through the Serengeti National Park after all, but it will be an unpaved road and game rangers will control traffic to avoid disturbing the annual migration of wildebeest. "The Serengeti road project has not been abandoned … we have just revised it. I don't know where all this confusion comes from," Natural Resources and Tourism Minister Ezekiel Maige told Reuters in a telephone interview. The U.N. world heritage body UNESCO said this week Tanzania would reconsider the planned road which aims to ease transport problems facing poor communities surrounding the park but has been criticized by conservation bodies.
The initial plan to build an asphalt road has now been dropped. "The project is still there without a shadow of a doubt. But the road will be unpaved, so there will be no tarmac road or highway traversing through the Serengeti National Park," said Maige. Maige said rangers from the state-run Tanzania National Parks Authority (TANAPA) would set up checkpoints and control the flow of traffic through a 53-km section of the road cutting across the wilderness area.
"The road will be closely supervised. TANAPA will put up gates and carry out regular patrols to ensure no harm comes to the wildlife population as a result of vehicles that will be allowed to pass through the road," he said. "The road passing through the Serengeti will remain under the ownership and control of TANAPA. The ownership of the road will not be transferred to the government's highway roads agency." Roads outside the national park will be paved, but roads leading to the park and those inside the wildlife sanctuary will not be.
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