As part of USGS Coral Reef Project studies, the USGS has been heavily involved in efforts to improve the health and resilience of Maui's coral reef system, bringing expertise in mapping, circulation and sediment studies, and seismic surveys.
Overview
Maui is located 15 km (9 mi) east of Molokaʻi and 15 km northwest of Lānaʻi. Known as the Valley Isle, it encompasses 1883 sq km (727 sq mi), making it the second largest of the main eight Hawaiian Islands. A fringing reef surrounds much of the island. However much of the live coral growth can only be found on the leeward west coast where the reef is protected from waves by the surrounding islands. Reef growth is limited on the windward northeast coast due to wave impacts.
Motivation
Over the past two decades, there has been a notable change in seafloor-bottom type along west-central Maui, Hawaiʻi. Once dominated by abundant coral coverage, the area is now characterized by an increased abundance of turf algae and macroalgae. In an effort to improve the health and resilience of the coral reef system, the State of Hawaiʻi established the Kahekili Herbivore Fisheries Management Area. In addition, the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force (USCRTF) Watershed Partnership Initiative selected the Kaʻanapali region of west-central Maui as the site of the second national priority study area on which to focus its research and restoration efforts. The USGS has been involved heavily in these studies, bringing expertise in mapping, circulation and sediment studies, and seismic surveys. Other collaborators include the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), NOAA, University of Hawaiʻi, University of Washington, University of California, Santa Cruz, and The Nature Conservancy.
The Hawaiian island of Maui is just one of the USGS Coral Reef Project's study locations.
Reef Hydrodynamics and Sediment Processes
Role of Reefs in Coastal Protection
Reef Resource Assessments - Planning for the Future
Hydrogeology and Reef Health
Climate Change and Land-use Histories
- Overview
As part of USGS Coral Reef Project studies, the USGS has been heavily involved in efforts to improve the health and resilience of Maui's coral reef system, bringing expertise in mapping, circulation and sediment studies, and seismic surveys.
Overview
Sources/Usage: Public Domain.Landsat image of Maui. Maui is located 15 km (9 mi) east of Molokaʻi and 15 km northwest of Lānaʻi. Known as the Valley Isle, it encompasses 1883 sq km (727 sq mi), making it the second largest of the main eight Hawaiian Islands. A fringing reef surrounds much of the island. However much of the live coral growth can only be found on the leeward west coast where the reef is protected from waves by the surrounding islands. Reef growth is limited on the windward northeast coast due to wave impacts.
Motivation
Sources/Usage: Public Domain.Examining the coral reef along Molokini Crater, Maui. Over the past two decades, there has been a notable change in seafloor-bottom type along west-central Maui, Hawaiʻi. Once dominated by abundant coral coverage, the area is now characterized by an increased abundance of turf algae and macroalgae. In an effort to improve the health and resilience of the coral reef system, the State of Hawaiʻi established the Kahekili Herbivore Fisheries Management Area. In addition, the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force (USCRTF) Watershed Partnership Initiative selected the Kaʻanapali region of west-central Maui as the site of the second national priority study area on which to focus its research and restoration efforts. The USGS has been involved heavily in these studies, bringing expertise in mapping, circulation and sediment studies, and seismic surveys. Other collaborators include the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), NOAA, University of Hawaiʻi, University of Washington, University of California, Santa Cruz, and The Nature Conservancy.
- Science
The Hawaiian island of Maui is just one of the USGS Coral Reef Project's study locations.
Reef Hydrodynamics and Sediment Processes
As part of the USGS Coral Reef Project, the overall objective of this research effort is to better understand how circulation and sediment processes impact coral reefs and their adjacent coastlines.Role of Reefs in Coastal Protection
We are combining ocean, engineering, ecologic, social, and economic modeling to provide a high-resolution, rigorous, spatially-explicit valuation of the coastal flood protection benefits provided by coral reefs and the cost effectiveness of reef restoration for enhancing those benefits.Reef Resource Assessments - Planning for the Future
We are mapping and assessing all of the important geologic and oceanographic factors to identify those coral reefs most at risk and those reefs that are potentially the most resilient and the most likely to recover from natural and human-driven impacts.Hydrogeology and Reef Health
As part of the USGS Coral Reef Project, we are conducting geophysical and geochemical research to address questions about coastal groundwater-to-reef flow and coral reef health, with the goal of informing management decisions related to planning and implementing activities in priority watershed-coral reef systems.Climate Change and Land-use Histories
As part of the USGS Coral Reef Project, we are developing new and unique oceanographic and environmental archives from coral skeleton records to better understand the compounding effects of land-use and environmental change on coral reef health. - Data
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