Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2020HI315B

Providing upgraded climate monitoring infrastructure in support of hydrological research in American Samoa

Institute: Hawaii
Year Established: 2020 Start Date: 2020-03-01 End Date: 2021-02-28
Total Federal Funds: $12,487 Total Non-Federal Funds: Not available

Principal Investigators: Kelley Anderson Tagarino

Project Summary: A critically needed weather station network was installed on the Island of Tutuila, American Samoa, using prior WRIPP support. Several of the existing weather stations are beginning to degrade after five years of use. This results in data gaps. Additionally, while the weather station data is applied by a local user base consisting of researchers and agencies from Hawaii and American Samoa, the research value of this ongoing work needs to be disseminated to the scientific community in a more active manner. In addition to weather stations, the monitoring network includes eight stream gauges. While the spatial coverage of these gauges is currently sufficient, the pressure transducers that record stream stage are powered by non-replaceable internal batteries. The life span of the transducers is limited and they periodically need to be replaced. This proposed work will address these needs by (1) upgrading two existing low cost stations on Tutuila with research grade Campbell Scientific weather stations, (2) by providing funding for publication costs associated with the dissemination of information about the network and its application in ongoing hydrogeological modeling efforts taking place at ASPA and UHWRRC, (3) by providing replacement pressure transducers for maintaining streamflow measurement stations, and (4) contracting for translation services to make policy brief about this project accessible for Samoan language speakers.