Welcome to the Hawai‘i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology.
HIGP is a multi-disciplinary institute engaging in advanced research, teaching, and service in cutting-edge oceanographic, atmospheric, geophysical, geological, and planetary sciences. We are a part of the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) at the Mānoa (Honolulu) campus of the University of Hawai‘i. Our Institute is home to over 130 faculty, staff, postdoctoral researchers, and graduate students with access to state-of-the-art laboratories and instrumentation. HIGP expertise spans the globe from pole to pole, from the depths of the seas to the tops of volcanoes and extends to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
News and Seminars [Links open in new windows.]
• Two Job Openings
Please see the announcement details posted at Work at UH for our two new full-time, tenure-track faculty positions. Application review began May 7th, 2012, but remains open until both positions are filled.
Upcoming Seminar:
Speaker: Peter Isaacson (SOEST Young Investigator and HIGP Assistant Researcher)
Date: Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Title: Olivine Composition from Visible/Near-Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy
Time: 2:00 p.m.
Location: POST 544 (HIGP Planetary Seminar Series)
May 7, 2012
HIGP Assistant Researcher James Foster, with Associate Researcher Ben Brooks, and colleagues have reported the first shipboard tsunami detection by kinematic GPS. The researchers found the advanced GPS system onboard the University of Hawaii's R/V Kilo Moana recorded sea-surface wave height data during a tsunami event that mirrored the tsunami predictions issued from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The team is interested in working with the commerical shipping fleet to establish a distributed GPS network for a new real-time, rapid tsunami warning system. They hope to launch a demonstration system on at least two commercial ships before the end of the year.
• Foster, J. H., Brooks, B. A., Wang, D., Carter, G. S., and Merrifield, M. A. (2012) Improving Tsunami Warning using Commercial Ships. Geophysical Research Letters, v. 39, L09603, doi:10.1029/2012GL051367 [link to paper].
• News coverage: KITV,
KHON.
April 19, 2012
Congratulations to Sarah Crites, doctoral student with Paul Lucey, for receiving the Outstanding Student Paper Award at the 2011 AGU Fall Meeting in San Francisco, as just announced by the American Geophysical Union's Planetary Sciences Section. Sarah's winning presentation is titled, "In-situ Production of Organic Molecules at the Poles of the Moon."
April 18, 2012 Arjun Aryal, doctoral student with Ben Brooks (HIGP Associate Researcher and Director of the Pacific GPS Facility) is researching surface displacements in landslides with a fluvial dynamics model. His paper in the March 2012 issue of the Journal of Geophysical Research—Earth Surface is an Editor's Highlight. Read more about "Interdisciplinary technique helps model landslides" from the American Geophysical Union.
March 12, 2012
HIGP Professor, Patricia Fryer, is in Guam as a member of James Cameron's DEEPSEA Challenge project. A partnership with National Geographic and Rolex, this is a dive expedition to the deepest ocean regions on Earth. The project's goal is to support Cameron's descent to the Challenger Deep in the Pacific Ocean's Mariana Trench in a new submersible custom-built with multiple cameras and mechanical arm for sampling rocks and animals. Dr. Fryer, whose research involves characterizing the geology of the Mariana Trench region, including seafloor mud volcanoes, is on hand during the sea trials and dives, and will provide analysis of samples and data during the main dive. For more about the expedition, see the National Geographic News. UPDATE: James Cameron completed the record-breaking Mariana Trench Dive on March 25, 2012. Read more, with quotes from Dr. Fryer, at National Geographic News, Solo Sub Dive is Deepest Ever.
Find out what else is happening through the SOEST News and Press Releases.
HIGP Mission Statement
HIGP solves fundamental problems in Earth and Planetary Science by the development and application of state-of-the-art exploration, measurement, and data analysis technologies. HIGP serves society and the State of Hawai‘i by acquiring and disseminating new knowledge about the Earth and other planetary bodies, and developing and introducing leading edge technologies and a highly trained workforce to the State economy.
Hawai‘i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology
School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology
University of Hawai‘i
1680 East-West Road,
Pacific Ocean Science & Technology (POST) Building, Room 602
Honolulu, HI 96822
Office Phone: 808.956.8760
Fax: 808.956.3188 Dr. Peter J. Mouginis-Mark, Director
