Keck Observatory announces upcoming astronomy talk
Keck’s next virtual Public Astronomy Talk will be held at 5 p.m. Wednesday and will feature a discussion titled “Modern Astronomy on Maunakea: A 60-Year Story: 1960-2020.”
Astronomy on Maunakea originated in community efforts to revive the Hawaii Island economy following the 1960 tsunami that devastated Hilo. It quickly acquired governmental support, especially from then-Gov. John Burns. The University of Hawaii took a leading role, commissioning the UH 2.2-meter Telescope in 1970. During the 1970s, the endeavor became international with the arrival of CFHT and UKIRT. Submillimeter radio astronomy arrived in the 1980s (CSO and JCMT). The four 8-10 meter telescopes (Keck I and Keck II, Subaru, Gemini) were all commissioned during the 1990s followed by SMA, completing the current state of development. The talk will offer a personal perspective on this remarkable story and will conclude with some thoughts about the future.
The talk will be streamed online and can be accessed via Keck’s website at https://keckobservatory.org/media/cosmic-videos.
Funding supports drought predictions in Hawaii, Pacific Islands
To assess factors affecting the intensity and duration of droughts in Hawaii and U.S.-affiliated Pacific Islands (USAPI), researchers from the University of Hawaii at Manoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology’s International Pacific Research Center (IPRC) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) secured more than $500,000 from NOAA’s Modeling, Analysis, Predictions and Projections Program. The funding would also be used to develop seasonal predictions of rainfall, including floods and droughts.
Droughts reduce soil moisture which impacts agriculture and food security; and drought-related heat has caused dry vegetation to ignite grass fires. Historic droughts, for example in 1998 and 2016 in American Samoa, have led to water rationing, emergency shipment of drinking water and health concerns.
The El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) undoubtedly impacts drought conditions, however, during unprecedented persistence of droughts recently, it has become clear there are other factors that require investigation.
During the three years of the award, IPRC senior researcher Hariharasubramanian (Anna) Annamalai, Arun Kumar with the Climate Prediction Center at NOAA, Maryland, and John Marra, director of Climate Services for the Pacific Islands at NOAA, Honolulu, will build on the seasonal predictions of rainfall, floods and droughts in Hawaii and USAPI that they have been working on for more than a decade.
“In consultation with local stakeholders, there is a need in the Insular Pacific to identify precursors to monitor and predict the severity and persistence of droughts,” said Annamalai.