Upcoming seminar: Tues., May 28, 7:30 p.m. in POST 544: Karen Meech (Astronomer, UH Institute for Astronomy/UH NASA Astrobiology Institute) "The Red Planet: Mission to Mars" [Hawai'i Space Lecture Series] HIGP Supported Entities
• Center for the Study of Active Volcanoes
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 [Links open in new windows.]
May 8, 2013
HIGP Researcher Jeff Taylor and Astrobiology Post-Doctoral Fellow Lydia Hallis are co-authors on a paper "Element Abundances, Patterns, and Mobility in Nakhlite Miller Range 03346 and Implications for Aqueous Alteration published in the online early view of Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, volume 112. Lead author Julie Stopar (Arizona State University) is a former SOEST graduate student and earned her M.S. degree with Jeff Taylor. They report on chemical alteration in the Martian meteorite, and their ability to distinguish between weathering that occured on Mars and weathering that happened after the rock landed in Antarctica. Also on the paper are Michael Velbel (Michigan State University), Marc Norman (Australian National University), and Edward Vicenzi (Smithsonian Institution). Image courtesy of Julie D. Stopar et al; click on it to see the full version.
SOEST Young Investigator and HIGP Assistant Researcher Peter Isaacson is co-author on a paper "Large Mineralogically Distinct Impact Melt Feature at Copernicus Crater—Evidence for Retention of Compositional Heterogeneity" published in the online early view of Geophysical Research Letters. Using remote sensing data from the Moon Mineralogy Mapper onboard India's Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, the researchers found distinct mineralogical signatures of rocks inside the 96-kilometer-diameter Copernicus crater that stunningly document the inefficient mixing of melt during the cratering process. Lead author Deepak Dhingra, and co-authors Carle M. Pieters, and James W. Head are from Brown University. For more information see the Brown University press release from April 2, 2013 "Pre-existing Mineralogy May Survive Lunar Impacts."
March 25, 2013 New Book: Modeling Volcanic Processes
HIGP Researcher, Sarah Fagents, together with Tracy Gregg (State University of New York at Buffalo) and Rosaly Lopes (NASA-Jet Propulsion Laboratory) are editors of a new book published this month by Cambridge University Press. Modeling Volcanic Processes—The Physics and Mathematics of Volcanism is an advanced-level resource for graduate students and professionals covering the physics of volcanic behavior and the state-of-the-art modeling of volcanic processes. The book contains 431 pages with 167 black and white illustrations, 25 color illustrations, 22 tables, and 35 exercises. For more information please go to Cambridge University Press. Book cover courtesy Cambridge University Press.
March 3, 2013 New Deep Drilling Project for Groundwater Research
Don Thomas (Director of HIGP's Center for the Study of Active Volcanoes) has started a new deep drilling project on the island of Hawai‘i. As principal investigator of the Humu‘ula Groundwater Research Project (HGRP), Thomas is overseeing the drilling of two holes, 6000–6500 feet deep, to assess the groundwater resources available in the saddle region between Mauna Loa, Mauna Kea, and Hualālai, on the grounds of the U.S. Army's Pōhakuloa Training Area. HIGP's Nicole Lautze is principal investigator of a NSF grant with responsibility for overseeing a team that will clean, photograph, describe, and archive the rock core–so that future scientific analyses will be possible. Daily drilling updates of this 24/7 operation are available at the HGRP blog. Photos of the drilling rig and first run of rock core, courtesy Eric Haskins/HGRP.
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
