on wot happens when climate scientists share learning
No earth shattering science was on the agenda, which may explain why the Hawaii media ignored the gathering on climate change yesterday at Manoa’s East-West Center.
Well, KGMB did do a 1-minute clip on “Hawaii’s coral reef in jeapordy” featuring Ken Caldeira of Stanford’s Carnegie Institution.
Still, I’m glad I decided to spew some carbon to fly over for the day. Why? About 100 of us got to hear the latest scientific findings by the wizards who are doing the research.
My favorite? Kevin Hamilton, and not just because he’s wrapped tightly around the art of climate modeling.
Hamilton showed some fascinating results from his recent research focused on Hawaii-specific climate change…as opposed to climate change in the mid-Pacific, generally.
This is tough stuff to tease out of the enormously complex regional climate models, and Hamilton is hard at work to remedy this with new links between global and local research.
Perhaps its not surprising that KGMB’s Tim Sakahara chose to focus on Caldeira and his urgent heads-up regarding the fate of our coral reefs. Caldeira is a mega-star in this star-studded field, and Hawaii cares deeply about its reefs.
Caldeira presented stunning evidence for the prospective demise of our reefs by focusing on the chemistry of ocean acidification and its effect on coral shells.
Turns out, a very little bit more carbon in the ocean could make the shells dissolve. Yikes!
Yet, the true hero of the hour is ecologist Steve Miller of the US Fish and Wildlife Service, who first rocked the world with his presentation at last Summer’s HCA conference, and then worked hard to pull together the talent for this confab. Bravo! (Click here for the day’s agenda.)
[BTW, Miller's July 2007 HCA presentation is now available on Google video here.]
Turns out, there is still so much we don’t know about Hawaii’s climate prospects, and the least we can expect is that all the disparate research teams are communicating. Mission accomplished, thanks to Miller.
Here were 10 of the top scientists in their respective fields from top research institutions. Plus, they didn’t just show up to give a presentation and then go back to their think tanks.
Instead, Miller fashioned a 3-day intensive that included an open forum today for the public (and grad students) to question the researchers, and a top-level strategy session tomorrow with reps from all related local and national groups.
Can’t wait to hear wot emerges from that strategy session. But I will, and you too can find out at the HCA conference here in late July.
I’ll parse more of the marvelous learning that emerges from this gathering in the days ahead, including a shocking new simulation from UH’s Chip Fletcher on what sea level rise could do to Hawaii’s shorelines.
Film @ 11.
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