Ocean and climate research gets $9M boost

The Hawaii Ocean Time-series program based at the University of Hawaii at Manoa has been awarded $9 million in new funding from the National Science Foundation to continue the remarkable program for another five years.

Even more auspicious, this month marks the 30th anniversary of the endeavor that has led to so many discoveries in marine ecology and ocean and climate sciences.

The HOT program was established in 1988 in response to a recognized lack of scientific understanding of the structure, dynamics, and controls on major biogeochemical cycles in the sea, especially the carbon cycle.

David Karl and Roger Lukas, who, at the time were both professors of oceanography in UH’s newly created School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST), established a deep ocean observation station dubbed ALOHA (A Long-term Oligotrophic Habitat Assessment), 60 miles north of Oahu, as the benchmark site for the HOT program.

The first 30 years of the HOT program have provided consistent, long-term observations of physical, biological and chemical properties of the open ocean in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre.

A large and diverse team of researchers have documented variability of ocean water masses and circulation; observed habitat variability; determined relationships between microbial community structure and function, including nutrient dynamics and carbon sequestration; and measured carbon dioxide in upper ocean and changes in the capacity of the ocean to absorb it.

Station ALOHA is one of the best-sampled places in the world’s oceans with a decades-long record of how the ocean responds to climate change. In addition to the ship-based observations, HOT scientists utilize satellite-based remote observations, unattended mooring measurements, autonomous instrumented gliders and floats, and a cabled seafloor observatory.