{"id":91234,"date":"2019-02-25T10:54:34","date_gmt":"2019-02-25T20:54:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=91234"},"modified":"2019-02-25T13:59:33","modified_gmt":"2019-02-25T23:59:33","slug":"maunakea-permafrost-shrinking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2019\/02\/25\/maunakea-permafrost-shrinking\/","title":{"rendered":"Maunakea permafrost shrinking according to OMKM<\/abbr> sponsored research"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
\"snow
Snow-capped Maunakea<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Maunakea, Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>\u2019s tallest mountain, is one of the most revered places for many Native Hawaiians and astronomers. It\u2019s also the only place in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> where you can find permafrost, a layer of ice and soil that is always frozen, commonly found in very cold regions of the world.<\/p>\n

But the Maunakea permafrost, which may be over a thousand years old, is shrinking, possibly because of climate change. That\u2019s according to research supported by the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at Hilo\u2019s Office of Maunakea Management<\/a> (OMKM<\/abbr>), which is responsible for the stewardship of the mountain.<\/p>\n

Scientists have been gathering data over a 10-year period to determine how the permafrost formed and persisted in an otherwise warm climate and is now on the decline.<\/p>\n

“It is surprising to find permafrost in such a warm climate,” said Norbert Schörghofer, a planetary scientist and the lead researcher on the project.<\/p>\n

The Maunakea permafrost was first discovered in 1969 by late UH<\/abbr> researcher Alfred Woodcock<\/strong> inside the craters of two cinder cones on the summit—Puʻuwēkiu<\/span> and Puʻuhaukea<\/span>.<\/p>\n

It was an unexpected discovery since temperatures are above freezing most of the time atop Maunakea. Researchers say that when the wind comes to a standstill, pools of cold air form in these craters at night. That cold air trapped between the rocks helps preserve patches of ice and frozen soil in the craters.<\/p>\n

“The bottom of these craters experience the coldest temperatures ever measured in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>,” said Schörghofer, a planetary scientist. “These record temperatures are below zero Fahrenheit, far lower than on the summit itself.”<\/p>\n

Researchers found that there is less permafrost now then when it was first discovered 50 years ago. Back in 1969, the ice at Puʻuwēkiu<\/span> was 11 yards thick and 27 yards long, buried beneath one foot of boulders. Since then, Puʻuwēkiu<\/span> has shrunk significantly and the remaining ice body is expected to disappear soon.<\/p>\n

The other permafrost location in Puʻuhaukea<\/span> is still at least 55 yards wide and about 11 yards thick.<\/p>\n

“This is the last permafrost in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>,” said Schörghofer. “It should be studied before it disappears.”<\/p>\n

\"Puuwekiu
Three people stand inside Puʻuwēkiu<\/span> Crater, marking the bottom and top end of a buried ice body documented in 1974. The shaded areas illustrate the extent then and now.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Scientists have been gathering data over a 10-year period to determine how the permafrost formed and persisted in an otherwise warm climate and is now on the decline.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[252,659,305,14],"class_list":["post-91234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","tag-geology","tag-maunakea","tag-office-of-mauna-kea-management","tag-uh-hilo","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91234"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91234\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":91359,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91234\/revisions\/91359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}