Coastal Services Center

Due to the lack of a comprehensive coastal erosion database and the resultant difficulties in making sound coastal land use decisions, this project between the University of Hawaii at Manoa and the NOAA Coastal Services Center was to demonstrate how to build a broader coastal dynamics knowledge-base within Hawaii’s coastal regulatory community so that permitting and planning agencies can make informed, factually–based land use decisions. The project established a high–quality, high–density database of shoreline change histories for Kihei and Kaanapali, Maui and Kailua Bay, Oahu, Hawaii designed to help improve management efforts. Historical shoreline change and sand budget processes were investigated using a similar methodology at each site, for comparative purposes. Decadal to century scale sediment dynamics were studied using soft-copy photogrammetric techniques and historical shoreline positions from all available survey quality aerial photographs and NOAA topographic survey charts (T-sheets). Two dimensional shoreline movements have been converted to volumetric units of change using area specific models developed from 5 years of seasonal beach profile data. Monthly beach profiling at the Kaanapali and Kailua Bay sites were also used to gain an understanding of seasonal sediment dynamics. The historical shoreline change database will be utilized by regional coastal managers and has been made available to the commercial sector through state and county GIS service agencies. Additionally, the study improved the understanding of why shoreline change happens, where future changes are likely to have societal impact, and how past and present coastal land use may be related to ongoing shoreline change. The final report is on-line.

NOAA Coastal Services Center's Role

This was a grant project and NOAA did not have substantial involvement with the work.

Grantee Overview

The University of Hawaii at Manoa is a premier research university with more than $300 million in sponsored research 2002-2003. Manoa is the flagship of the University of Hawai‘i System, the state's sole public university system governed by a 12-member Board of Regents. A land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant institution, Manoa creates, refines, disseminates, and perpetuates human knowledge; offers a comprehensive array of undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees through the doctoral level; carries out advanced research; and extends services to the community. Located in Manoa Valley on the island of O‘ahu, the university was founded in 1907 under the auspices of the Morrill Act as a land-grant college of agriculture and mechanic arts. With the addition of a College of Arts and Sciences in 1920, the college became the University of Hawaii, and in 1972, it became the University of Hawaii at Manoa to distinguish it from the other units in the growing University of Hawaii system. Today more than 19,800 students are enrolled in Manoa courses, on campus or via distance delivery. Classified as a Carnegie Doctoral/Research University-Extensive institution, Manoa offers 87 bachelor's degrees, 87 master's degrees, and 53 doctorates. Manoa also offers professional degrees in law, medicine, and architecture. Approximately 65 percent of Manoa students are undergraduates, 57 percent are of Asian or Pacific Islander ancestry, and 56 percent are women.

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