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Summit view of Mt. Kaʻala

Honolulu Community College students are getting a rare opportunity to participate in a research project that takes them to the highest, wettest point on Oʻahu as their outdoor classroom. The Ke Ana Waiʻōpua project, led by Honolulu CC Instructor John DeLay, allows students to participate in research and conservation work atop Mount Kaʻala.

In September 2014, students Angelene King, Kevin Lamb and John Allen Kahiau Miranda helped get meteorological equipment deployed and running on top of the mountain that will measure variables necessary to estimate forest canopy water balance. Duane Sula also helped prepare the station to weather Hurricane Ana and download the first data recorded from that system.

The Ke Ana Waiʻōpua Project will provide baseline conditions related to cloud frequency and forest water balance in the summit biological community and will measure the variables necessary to estimate forest canopy water balance atop Mt. Kaʻala.

John DeLay on the Mt. Kaʻala trail

“The tropical mountain cloud forest at the summit of Mt. Kaʻala represents a unique and sensitive haven for Hawaiian plants and animals, and provides important ecosystem services as a watershed,” says DeLay. “Canopy trees intercept water from passing clouds (fog), providing additional moisture available for groundwater recharge.”

Cloud forest ecosystems are threatened by numerous global change factors, including shifts in the height of cloud formation, and temperature changes which may lend competitive advantages to invasive species. But the current canopy water balance conditions of Mt. Kaʻala are poorly understood, in part because it is so remote. That is why the research being led by DeLay and aided by his students is so important.

“When I first volunteered I had very little idea on what we were going to do. I just thought we would go up Mt. Kaʻala and set up some instruments,” said Lamb. “Spending the day assisting them was a wonderful experience, and it gave a whole new insight to climatology. This was a real treat as a student, and also as a concerned human being that I can truly appreciate. It has had a profound and positive impact on me here at Honolulu Community College.”

For more, read the Honolulu CC news release.

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