As part of the Coral Reef Project, the USGS is working closely with other local groups to investigate poor water quality issues in Maunalua Bay on the southeast coast of Oʻahu.
Overview
Oʻahu encompasses 1,546 sq km (597 sq mi) and is the third largest in the Hawaiian Islands chain. Also known as The Gathering Place, Oʻahu draws more visitors than any of the other Hawaiian Islands. The island was formed from joining of the Waiʻanae and Koʻolau volcanoes. Coral reefs surround the island, although active live coral growth is limited to the leeward sides of the island or in sheltered areas on the windward coasts. Reef structures on the north shore help form the waves that draw surfers worldwide.
Motivation
The USGS is working closely with Mālama Maunalua and the Kewalo Marine Laboratory, as part of the Hawaiʻi Local Action Strategy Plan, to investigate poor water quality issues in Maunalua Bay on the southeast coast of Oʻahu. This coral-lined embayment has seen a dramatic decline in ecosystem health, including sedimentation, invasive algae species, and a reduction in reef fish. A major factor in the decline of ecosystem health is human-induced changes on land, mainly from engineering of natural drainage gulches that have become concrete-lined channels. These channels speed up the flow of storm runoff from the uplands, increasing the discharge of freshwater, sediment and other land-based pollutants to the bay. The USGS has been instrumental in measuring water-column properties in Maunalua Bay, including waves, currents, water levels, temperature, salinity, and turbidity, to provide insight into the transport and fate of these contaminants.
We have also assisted the National Park Service (NPS) with documentation of underwater conditions around the USS Arizona Memorial (see World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument) in Pearl Harbor. Of special concern is the fact that the hull of the USS Arizona is deteriorating and has the potential of releasing more than half a million gallons of fuel oil into the environment. By using the same instrumentation packages that we use to monitor oceanographic conditions on coral reefs, such as currents, waves, temperature and salinity, we can help the NPS get a handle on the physical dynamics surrounding the submerged hull.
Other partners working with the USGS on Oʻahu include the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), University of Hawaiʻi, James Cook University, University of California, Santa Cruz, and The Nature Conservancy.
The Hawaiian island of Oʻahu is just one of the USGS Coral Reef Project’s study locations.
Reef Hydrodynamics and Sediment Processes
Reef Resource Assessments - Planning for the Future
Role of Reefs in Coastal Protection
Hydrogeology and Reef Health
Climate Change and Land-use Histories
- Overview
As part of the Coral Reef Project, the USGS is working closely with other local groups to investigate poor water quality issues in Maunalua Bay on the southeast coast of Oʻahu.
Overview
Sources/Usage: Some content may have restrictions. Visit Media to see details.Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) image data of Oʻahu acquired January 13, 2010 Oʻahu encompasses 1,546 sq km (597 sq mi) and is the third largest in the Hawaiian Islands chain. Also known as The Gathering Place, Oʻahu draws more visitors than any of the other Hawaiian Islands. The island was formed from joining of the Waiʻanae and Koʻolau volcanoes. Coral reefs surround the island, although active live coral growth is limited to the leeward sides of the island or in sheltered areas on the windward coasts. Reef structures on the north shore help form the waves that draw surfers worldwide.
Motivation
Sources/Usage: Public Domain.Waikīkī from atop Diamond Head The USGS is working closely with Mālama Maunalua and the Kewalo Marine Laboratory, as part of the Hawaiʻi Local Action Strategy Plan, to investigate poor water quality issues in Maunalua Bay on the southeast coast of Oʻahu. This coral-lined embayment has seen a dramatic decline in ecosystem health, including sedimentation, invasive algae species, and a reduction in reef fish. A major factor in the decline of ecosystem health is human-induced changes on land, mainly from engineering of natural drainage gulches that have become concrete-lined channels. These channels speed up the flow of storm runoff from the uplands, increasing the discharge of freshwater, sediment and other land-based pollutants to the bay. The USGS has been instrumental in measuring water-column properties in Maunalua Bay, including waves, currents, water levels, temperature, salinity, and turbidity, to provide insight into the transport and fate of these contaminants.
We have also assisted the National Park Service (NPS) with documentation of underwater conditions around the USS Arizona Memorial (see World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument) in Pearl Harbor. Of special concern is the fact that the hull of the USS Arizona is deteriorating and has the potential of releasing more than half a million gallons of fuel oil into the environment. By using the same instrumentation packages that we use to monitor oceanographic conditions on coral reefs, such as currents, waves, temperature and salinity, we can help the NPS get a handle on the physical dynamics surrounding the submerged hull.
Other partners working with the USGS on Oʻahu include the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), University of Hawaiʻi, James Cook University, University of California, Santa Cruz, and The Nature Conservancy.
- Science
The Hawaiian island of Oʻahu 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.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.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.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
- Publications
- Partners