New estimates derived from an international effort that includes International Pacific Research Center researchers predict that many low-lying atoll islands throughout the Pacific and beyond may experience wave flooding by mid-century. The combination of rising sea levels and wave-driven flooding will cause frequent damage to infrastructure and contaminate island freshwater resources by 2030-2060, according to the findings. Previous studies considered only the hazard from the rise in sea level gradually inundating the atolls and estimated that the islands would still be livable until 2100 or later. This study, however, includes the additional effects of waves, which begin to have serious consequences far sooner.

A new art installation depicting ocean life from the surface to the abyssal seafloor opened recently on the sixth floor of the Marine Science Building, home of the Department of Oceanography. Artist and Windward Community College biology instructor Michelle Smith and oceanography professor  Jeff Drazen teamed up to create three large murals showing the major zones of ocean life-the sunlit layer (epipelagic), the dark zone of water below (mesopelagic), and the seafloor (abyssal plain)-and the organisms living there. 

"Art and science might seem different at first but they are very complementary," said Drazen. "We are visual creatures and imagery and art is a wonderful way to quickly convey concepts and ideas."