UH collaborates to expand access to crucial climate data to Guam and American Sāmoa

UH researchers with a mesonet station

Ryan Longman presents the HCDP at the Hawaii Legistature

Change HI researchers at the 2024 AGU Meeting

In a significant development for climate research and management, the Hawai’i Climate Data Portal (HCDP) is expanding  its reach to additional Pacific islands to provide more data to help decision makers across the region. Launched in 2022, the free online portal developed by researchers from the University of Hawai’i and the East-West Center is already catalyzing new research initiatives and informing policy decisions to mitigate climate risks and safeguard natural and human systems.

A major enhancement to the HCDP is the integration of data from the Hawaiʻi Mesonet, which plans to establish 100 new climate stations across the state over the next two years. Similar efforts are underway in American Samoa, and funding is being sought for a mesonet in Guam. 

“The Hawaiʻi Mesonet is filling critical gaps in our understanding of climate in Hawaiʻi. Improving monitoring across the Pacific is a goal we are working towards, one station at a time,” said Tom Giambelluca, UH Water Resource Research Center director.

The HCDP's recent inclusion in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society underscores its importance in streamlining access to climate information. The HCDP team plans to leverage decades of work developing the portal and expand its utility and function to serve other regions in the Pacific. 

User friendly, comprehensive datasets

The user-friendly interface and comprehensive datasets make the HCDP an invaluable resource for improving awareness and facilitating collaboration across sectors. Recent updates feature new gridded surfaces, bi-monthly vegetation cover and daily rainfall and humidity maps. 

“Accessing high-quality climate data for Hawaiʻi has never been easier,” said Ryan Longman, lead author and East-West Center Oceania researcher. “This means greater opportunities for research, community outreach, and developing decision support tools to aid resource managers.”

Federal agencies are increasingly leveraging HCDP data for various applications:

• The U.S. Department of Agriculture Risk Management Agency uses the data for an insurance product for ranchers in Hawaiʻi. 
• The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration produces a monthly state-of-climate report.
• The U.S. Geological Survey develops models to track avian malaria using HCDP's gridded products. 

Since its launch on March 3, 2022, more than 45,000 unique users have accessed more than 20 million HCDP files. Upcoming developments include mapping hourly wind speed and solar radiation and creating tools for wildfire risk assessment and drought forecasting. The team is also developing daily rainfall maps for American Samoa and Guam. These maps will be made available in the HCDP for both visualization and download in the near future.