Hawaiian Islands weather details & Aloha paragraphs / December 27-28, 2010

December 27-28, 2010

Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Monday afternoon:

Lihue airport, Kauai –       76
Honolulu airport, Oahu –   79
Kaneohe, Oahu –             80
Molokai airport –              80
Kahului airport, Maui –      80
Kona airport –                   86
Hilo airport, Hawaii –        82

Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountain tops…as of 5pm Monday evening:

Kailua-kona – 81F
Lihue, Kauai – 69

Haleakala Crater –    48 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea summit – 32 (near 14,000 feet on the Big Island)

Precipitation Totals – The following numbers represent the largest precipitation totals (inches) during the last 24 hours on each of the major islands, as of Monday afternoon:

6.80 Mount Waialeale, Kauai  
1.24 Poamoho, Oahu
0.02 Molokai 
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.12 Kahakuloa, Maui
0.30 Pali 2, Big Island

Marine Winds – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing that we have a cold front approaching the islands from the northwest, a high pressure ridge just to the northeast of the islands. The placement of these weather features will keep our winds generally from the south to southeast  Tuesday and Wednesday…gaining some strength, especially around Kauai.

Satellite and Radar Images: To view the cloud conditions we have here in Hawaii, please use the following satellite links, starting off with this Infrared Satellite Image of the islands to see all the clouds around during the day and night. This next image is one that gives close images of the islands only during the daytime hours, and is referred to as a Close-up visible image. This next image shows a larger view of the Pacific…giving perspective to the wider ranging cloud patterns in the Pacific Ocean. Finally, here's a Looping IR satellite image, making viewable the clouds around the islands 24 hours a day. To help you keep track of where any showers may be around the islands, here’s the latest animated radar image.

Hawaii’s Mountains – Here’s a link to the live web cam on the summit of near 14,000 foot Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii. The tallest peak on the island of Maui is the Haleakala Crater, which is near 10,000 feet in elevation. These two web cams are available during the daylight hours here in the islands…and when there’s a big moon rising just after sunset for an hour or two! Plus, during the nights and early mornings you will be able to see stars, and the sunrise too…depending upon weather conditions.

Tropical Cyclone activity in the eastern and central Pacific – Here’s the latest weather information coming out of the National Hurricane Center, covering the eastern north Pacific. You can find the latest tropical cyclone information for the central north Pacific (where Hawaii is located) by clicking on this link to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center. Here’s a tracking map covering both the eastern and central Pacific Ocean. A satellite image, which shows the entire ocean area between Hawaii and the Mexican coast…can be found here. Of course, as we know, our hurricane season won't end until November 31st here in the central Pacific.

 Aloha Paragraphs

Heavy rains near Kauai and Oahu Monday night…hazy over Maui

South to southeast winds continue to blow across the islands, which may pick up some strength…as a cold front approaches into Tuesday. This weather map shows a 1030 millibar high pressure system well to our east-northeast , with a weaker 1019 millibar high pressure system located far to the west-northwest of the islands. At the same time, we also have a cold front to the northwest of Kauai. The placement of these high and low pressure features will keep our winds generally light for the time being, although will likely pick up some steam as we head into Tuesday. The computer models suggest that we’ll see trade winds returning around Thursday…lasting into the New Year’s holiday weekend.

Winds remain generally light, with a few exceptions…the following numbers represent the strongest breezes early Monday evening, along with the directions:

07 mph       Barking Sands, Kauai – SE
21              Waianae, Oahu – SE
07              Molokai – NNE
17              Kahoolawe – NNW
13              Hana, Maui – E
09              Lanai Airport – NNE
23                South Point, Big Island  – NE

A conveyor belt of tropical moisture, with heavy rains, and embedded thunderstorms continues to stream through the Kauai Channel, over and near Kauai and Oahu Monday night. This large satellite image shows a very wide belt of clouds just to our west, overlapping the islands from Kauai to the Big Island. Looking at this next satellite picture, shows the eastern edge of this dense cloud cover having pushed over the entire state, and well to the east Monday night. Much of this cloudiness is the cirrus outflow from heavy thunderstorms. Checking out this looping radar image we see the heaviest rainfall moving over Oahu, and at times Kauai. Both of these islands have had moderate to heavy downpours, with Oahu under a flash flood warning at the moment. These heavy torrential rains look like they will end soon however, although could pick up later in the night. The winds are coming up from the south over these two western islands, while both Maui and the Big Island have southeast winds…keeping the heaviest precipitation at bay for the moment on the eastern flank of the island chain.  

The overlying atmosphere remains moist and shower prone…as noted above. The fact that we still have a cold front on our doorstep, to the west and northwest of Kauai, strongly suggests that rainfall will remain in the forecast for another few days. This front will weaken as it journeys into the tropics, before arriving over Maui and the Big Island. Looking a bit further into the week, we’ll actually see the return of trade winds during the second half of this work week. This will move all the incoming rainfall, which has been arriving along our leeward sides, due to the south Kona winds…back over to the windward sides by Thursday onwards. This early winter trade wind flow will continue into the New Years Eve period, helping to ventilate whatever fireworks smoke that tries to accumulate in our atmosphere then. ~~~ Here in Kihei, Maui at around 530pm,skies are partly to mostly cloudy. This cloud cover was almost exclusively high level cirrus, with hardly a drop of rain around. There was also pretty thick volcanic haze in our atmosphere as well. In contrast, Oahu and Kauai remain under the gun, in terms of heavy downpours…at least locally. I'll be back early Tuesday morning with your next new weather narrative, unless something wakes me up during the night, like those major thunderstorms that we had the other day! Aloha for now…Glenn.   


Looping radar image

Interesting: To survive in a tumultuous environment, sea urchins literally eat through stone, using their teeth to carve out nooks where the spiny creatures hide from predators and protect themselves from the crashing surf on the rocky shores and tide pools where they live. The rock-boring behavior is astonishing, scientists agree, but what is truly remarkable is that, despite constant grinding and scraping on stone, urchin teeth never, ever get dull.

The secret of their ever-sharp qualities has puzzled scientists for decades, but now a new report by scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and their colleagues has peeled back the toothy mystery.

Writing in the journal Advanced Functional Materials, a team led by UW-Madison professor of physics Pupa Gilbert describes the self-sharpening mechanism used by the California purple sea urchin to keep a razor-sharp edge on its choppers.

The urchin's self-sharpening trick, notes Gilbert, is something that could be mimicked by humans to make tools that never need honing. "The sea urchin tooth is complicated in its design.

It is one of the very few structures in nature that self-sharpen," says Gilbert, explaining that the sea urchin tooth, which is always growing, is a biomineral mosaic composed of calcite crystals with two forms — plates and fibers — arranged crosswise and cemented together with super-hard calcite nanocement.

Between the crystals are layers of organic materials that are not as sturdy as the calcite crystals. "The organic layers are the weak links in the chain," Gilbert explains.

"There are breaking points at predetermined locations built into the teeth. It is a concept similar to perforated paper in the sense that the material breaks at these predetermined weak spots."

The crystalline nature of sea urchin dentition is, on the surface, different from other crystals found in nature. It lacks the obvious facets characteristic of familiar crystals, but at the very deepest levels the properties of crystals are evident in the orderly arrangement of the atoms that make up the biomineral mosaic teeth of the sea urchin.

To delve into the fundamental nature of the crystals that form sea urchin teeth, Gilbert and her colleagues used a variety of techniques from the materials scientist's toolbox.

These include microscopy methods that depend on X-rays to illuminate how nanocrystals are arranged in teeth to make the sea urchins capable of grinding rock. Gilbert and her colleagues used these techniques to deduce how the crystals are organized and melded into a tough and durable biomineral.

Knowing the secret of the ever-sharp sea urchin tooth, says Gilbert, could one day have practical applications for human toolmakers. "Now that we know how it works, the knowledge could be used to develop methods to fabricate tools that could actually sharpen themselves with use," notes Gilbert.

"The mechanism used by the urchin is the key. By shaping the object appropriately and using the same strategy the urchin employs, a tool with a self-sharpening edge could, in theory, be created."

Interesting2: Walgreens announced the opening of a store in suburban Chicago that uses geothermal heating and cooling. The drugstore chain said it is the first in the industry to use the technology in a retail store.

The location, in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, Ill., is expected to reduce its energy usage by about 46 percent as a result of the geothermal system.

Last year, The Village of Oak Park passed an ordinance requiring any retailer that wants to build a commercial property within its village limits to investigate geothermal energy. Walgreens worked on its Oak Park location with Evanston, Ill.-based Indie Energy, which specializes in designing and installing geothermal systems.

"This store provides online, real-time proof of carbon and cost savings, making it a leading example of sustainability," said Indie Energy CEO Daniel Cheifetz.

he Oak Park Walgreens geothermal system harnesses the earth's heat utilizing a network of four closed-loop boreholes installed to depths of 650 feet, and a heat exchange system with the building that is controlled by Indie Energy EnergyLoop technology.

water-based heat transfer liquid exchanges heating and cooling energy with the earth, which provides a constant temperature of 55 degrees Fahrenheit. Inside the store, the geothermal heat pump and refrigeration systems pull heating energy from the fluid, or reject heat to the fluid to cool.

The EnergyLoop system monitors and optimizes this exchange in real-time to provide the maximum energy efficiency. "This type of system can work anywhere, but makes a lot of sense here in the Midwest," said Walgreens vice president of facilities development Tom Connolly.

"The ability to heat to room-temperature from 55 degrees, rather than from 10 degrees or cool it from 98 degrees will save a lot of energy."

Interesting3: A recent Economist article asks the question of vertical farming, "Does it really stack up?" In theory, it's a win-win-win concept for the environment, feeding growing urban populations locally, and increasing space for agriculture without more land use.

But the reality is that vertical farming is costly energy-wise due to the need for artificial lighting and insufficient space for renewable energy installations on skyscrapers. While many designs exist, no large scale vertical farm has been built yet.

However, Will Allen's Growing Power did receive approval this year from the Milwaukee city planning commission to build a five story greenhouse, perhaps marking a step toward the fruition of the first vertical farm.

A major argument for this concept is that not only will these vertical landscapes curb greenhouse gas emissions by eliminating the need for crop transport, but food spoiling — which comes along with the business-as-usual of hauling food over long distances — will cease to be a problem, as the food is both at the source and right at the hands of the consumer.

Most designs propose that plants be grown hydroponically, cancelling out soil erosion issues and significantly decreasing water usage in comparison with conventional farming techniques. The standardized interior environment also allows for a year-round growing season.

Due to the nature of a vertical farm being indoors, the nutrient content, temperature, humidity, air flow and lighting can all be regulated. In this controlled setting, plants can be grown with little use of herbicides and pesticides, according to Columbia University's Dickson Despommier, the so-called "father of vertical farms" and author of The Vertical Farm.

Artificial light poses a big obstacle for vertical farms becoming an economically viable food source. Although such glass towers would provide some natural light to the plants, there would still be the need for artificial light.

Otherwise crop production would be uneven, with those crops closest to windows receiving more sunlight. Peter Head, global leader of planning and sustainable development at the British engineering firm Arup explains to The Economist, "Light has to be very tightly controlled to get uniform production of very high-quality food."

The price of powering artificial light is costly, weakening the case that vertical farms will be energy savers and curb emissions. Head claims vertical farming proponents will need to figure out how to integrate renewable energy into the design in an affordable way in order for this idea to be feasible on a widespread scale.