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Hurricanes, Heavy Rains are Critical for Hawai'i's Groundwater Supply

posted by martyb on Wednesday October 14 2020, @08:50AM   
from the plainly dept.

Phoenix666 writes:

Hurricanes, heavy rains are critical for Hawai'i's groundwater supply:

Dores and a team of scientists from SOEST and the Hawai'i Department of Health collected rainfall around the island of Oahu and analyzed the stable isotopes of rainwater, chemical signatures in the water molecules. They compared the chemical signatures in rainwater to those of groundwater to determine the source of water in the aquifers—event-based rainfall or trade wind-related rain.

"Because windward and mauka showers are so common, it is easy to assume that is the main source of our drinking water," said Dores. "Also, large rainfall events such as Kona storms[*] result in significant runoff into the oceans. However, our research found that a lot of the rain from Kona storms makes it into our groundwater aquifers and is an important source of our drinking water."

[*] Kona Storms:

Kona storms (also called Kona lows) are a type of seasonal cyclone in the Hawaiian Islands, usually formed in the winter from winds coming from the westerly "kona" (normally leeward) direction. They are mainly cold core cyclones, which places them in the extratropical cyclone rather than the subtropical cyclone category. Hawaii typically experiences two to three annually, which can affect the state for a week or more. Among their hazards are heavy rain, hailstorms, flash floods and their associated landslides, high elevation snow, high winds which result in large surf and swells, and waterspouts.

In Hawaii, the rain must fall heavily upon the plain.

[Ed Note - For those who don't know, Hawaiʻi is the largest island located in the U.S. state of Hawaii.]

Journal Reference:
Daniel Dores, Craig R. Glenn, Giuseppe Torri, et al. Implications for groundwater recharge from stable isotopic composition of precipitation in Hawai'i during the 2017–2018 La Niña, Hydrological Processes (DOI: 10.1002/hyp.13907)

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Original Submission

• inspirational fiction (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 14 2020, @06:38PM

  by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 14 2020, @06:38PM (#1064569)

  A wonderful story for anyone that doesn't know about it:
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Planted_Trees [wikipedia.org]

  The story begins in the year 1913, when a young man who is the narrator was travelling alone on a hiking trip through Provence, France, and into the Alps, enjoying the relatively unspoiled wilderness. He runs out of water in a treeless, desolate valley where only wild lavender grows and there is no trace of civilization except old, empty crumbling buildings. He finds only a dried-up well, but is saved by a middle-aged shepherd who takes him to a spring he knows of.

  Curious about this man and why he has chosen such a lonely life, the narrator stays with him for a time. The shepherd, Elzéard Bouffier, after being widowed, decided to restore the ruined landscape of the isolated and largely abandoned valley by single-handedly cultivating a forest, by planting acorns. He makes holes in the ground with his straight iron staff and drops into them acorns that collected from miles away. He is also growing beech and birch saplings for planting.

  The narrator leaves the shepherd, returns home, and later fights in the First World War. In 1920, shell-shocked and depressed after the war, the man returns. He is surprised to see young saplings of all forms taking root in the valley, and new streams running through it, where the shepherd has made dams higher up in the mountains. The narrator makes a full recovery in the peace and beauty of the regrowing valley, and continues to visit the region and M. Bouffier every year. He finds on one visit that Bouffier is no longer a shepherd, because of the sheep eating his young trees, and has become a bee keeper instead.

  The valley receives official protection after the First World War, with the French authorities mistakenly believing that the rapid growth of the new forest is a bizarre natural phenomenon, as they are unaware of Bouffier's selfless deeds. Over four decades, Bouffier continues to plant trees, and the valley is turned into a kind of Garden of Eden. By the end of the story, the valley is vibrant with life and is peacefully settled, with more than 10,000 people living there, not knowing they owe their happiness to Bouffier. The narrator tells one of his friends, a government forester, the truth about the new forest, and the friend also helps to protect it.

  In 1945, the narrator visits the now very old Bouffier one last time. In 1947, in a hospice in Banon, the man who planted trees peacefully passes away.

  The wiki article ends with a note from the author who eventually 'fessed up and admitted that the story was fiction.

  Parent

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