HaleNet

Background

The Haleakalā Climate Network consists of two transects of climate stations along the leeward and windward slopes of Haleakalā Volcano, Maui Island, Hawai‘i. The upper elevation stations are within Haleakalā National Park.

HaleNet was established in 1988-90 on the relatively dry west-northwest facing (leeward) slope. The first stations were established in June 1988 at elevations of 960, 1640, and 2120 m. In 1990, stations were added at 2590 and 2990 m. With at least 24 years of data, these stations now provide an excellent baseline for assessing climate variability and change. We continue to monitor climate along this transect to provide indicators of global warming effects on Hawaii's climate and biota.

HaleNet was expanded in 1992 to include four stations along a windward transect at 1650, 1930, 2260, and 2460 m elevation. The windward sites allow us to document baseline conditions and to observe the effects of El Niño-induced droughts from the heart of montane cloud forest up through the forest line and the trade wind inversion. Windward HaleNet stations are remote, making access extremely difficult without helicopter transportation. The Horseshoe Pu`u station at 1930 m elevation was badly damaged in 1996 by a lightning strike and high winds, after which measurements at that site were discontinued.

In December 2000, a new station was added at Auwahi at approximately 1240 m elevation on the southwest rift of Haleakalā. The Auwahi station monitors conditions in an area undergoing active management to restoration the dry forest ecosystem. Auwahi was one of two sites used in a study of cloud water interception. A new station was installed in the upper Waikamoi watershed in August 2001, as a wet forest complement to the Auwahi station for the purpose of the cloud water interception study. The Waikamoi station was decommissioned in August 2003.

Of the eleven stations that once operated in the HaleNet climate network only eight are still in full operation (blue circles in the firgure above). The Waikamoi station (HN-142) which was only erected on a temporary basis was removed in August of 2003. The Horseshoe Pu`u station (HN-163) at 1960 m elevation was badly damaged in 1996 by lightning and high winds and is no longer recording data. The Pu`u Pahu station (HN-106) at 1650 m elevation was vandalized in 2003 and now only collects rainfall data. The entire Network has a vertical coverage 810 m (1650 – 2460 m) and 2030 m (960 – 2990 m) along the windward and leeward exposures respectively

The complex topography of Haleakalā interacts with atmospheric circulation to produce some of the most spatially complex rainfall patterns in the world. Desert-like precipitation minimum zones and extreme wet conditions can be found within a few tens of kilometers distance

The 11 HaleNet stations still in operation are equipped with instrumentation that monitor: the upward and downward components of short and long wave radiation, net radiation, surface air, surface temperature, soil temperature, wind speed, wind direction, relative humidity, soil moisture and precipitation. These variables can also be used to calculate, soil heat flux, vapor pressure deficit and potential evapotranspiration.

Data Access

HaleNet data are available here. Click on the "Query drop-down menu and select "ENDER Climate: Maui". Choose "Stations", "Variables", and "Datasets". Under the "Download" tab, choose file format and hit the "Download Data" button.

As of 2023, HaleNet data are now incorporated into the Hawai‘i Mesonet. See more information here: https://www.hawaii.edu/climate-data-portal/hawaii-mesonet/

Citing HaleNet Data

Climatology of Haleakala

Longman, R.J., T.W. Giambelluca, M.A. Nullet and L.L. Loope. 2015. Climatology of Haleakalā. Technical Report No. 193. Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit, University of Hawai‘i, Honolulu, Hawai‘i, 126 pp.

HaleNet Contributors

University of Hawai‘i URC Seed Money Grant, USGS-Pacific Islands Ecosystem Research Center, Haleakalā National Park, USGS-Biological Resource Discipline Global Change Research Program, Pacific Islands Climate Change Cooperative, NSF EPSCoR.

Areas of Research

Quantification of Cloud Water interception

University of Hawai‘i Ecohydrology Lab: Tom Giambelluca, Dennis Nullet, Mike Nullet, David Penn, John DeLay, Ryan Longman, Ryan Mudd; USGS: Lloyd Loope, Gordon Tribble, Steve Gingerich, Art Medeiros; Field Technicians: Kathy Wakelee, Sabine Jessel, Bill Minyard,Chuck Chimera, Philip Thomas, Paul Kruschelnycky, Stephanie Joe, Forest Starr, Kim Starr; Haleakalā National Park RM: Ron Nagata, Ted Rodrigues, Steve Anderson, Matt Brown, Terry Lind, Timmy Bailey, Clinton Fukushima, Ross Hart, Sean Birney; Haleakalā National Park Cultural Resources: Liz Gordon; Haleakalā National Park Maintenance: Mark Rentz, Peter Kafka; Haleakalā National Park Superintendents: Don Reeser, Sarah Creachbaum, Natalie Gates; Windward Aviation: Don Shearer, Duke Baldwin; Collaborating Scientists: Sara Hotchkiss, Shelley Crausbay, Martha Scholl; Haleakalā Ranch: Scott Meidell, ‘Ulupalakua Ranch: Sumner Erdman. University of Hawai‘i Kula Agricultural Experiment Station: Dave Oka.

Funding

The effects of the trade wind inversion on high elevation climate

Measuring and modeling evapotranspiration

Monitoring ecosystem response to climate variation and change

HaleNet-Related Publications

Journal Articles

Berlin, K.E., Pratt T.K., Simon J.C., Kowalsky J.R., and Hatfield J.S. 2000. Plant Phenology in a Cloud Forest on the Island of Maui, Hawaii. Biotropica 32(1), 90-99.

Buczkowski, G., and Kruskelnycky, P. 2012. The odorous house ant, Tapinoma sessile (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), as a new temperate-origin invader. Myrmecological News 16, 61-66.

Crausbay, S.D., Frazier, A.G., Giambelluca, T.W., Longman R.J. and Hotchkiss, S.C. 2014. Moisture status during a strong El Niño explains a tropical montane cloud forest’s upper elevation limit. Oecologia 175: 273-284, doi:10.1007/s00442-014-2888-8.

Diaz, H.F., Giambelluca T.W., Eischeid J.K. 2011. Changes in the vertical profiles of mean temperature and humidity in the Hawaiian Islands. Global and Planetary Change 77, 21–25.

Giambelluca, T.W. and Nullet D. 1991. Influence of the trade-wind inversion on the climate of a leeward mountain slope in Hawai‘i , Climate Research 1, 207-216

Giambelluca, T. W. and Nullet D. 1992. Evaporation at high elevations in Hawaii. Journal of Hydrology 136(1), 219-235.

Giambelluca, T.W., and Nullet D. 1992. An automated recording atmometer: 2. Evaporation measurement on a high elevation transect in Hawai‘i . Agriculture Forest Meteorology 62, 127-138

Giambelluca, T.W., Diaz H.F., Luke M.S.A. 2008. Secular Temperature Changes in Hawai‘i . Geophysical Research Letters 35, L12702

Giambelluca, T.W., DeLay J.K., Nullet M.A., Scholl M.A. and Gingerich S.B. 2011. Canopy water balance of windward and leeward Hawaiian cloud forests on Haleakalā, Maui, Hawai'i. Hydrological Processes 25(3), 438-447.

Giambelluca, T.W., Chen Q., Frazier A.G., Price J.P., Chen Y.-L., Chu P.-S., Eischeid J.K., and Delparte D.M. 2013. Online Rainfall Atlas of Hawai‘i. Bulletin American Meteorological. Society 94, 313-316

Goldstein, G., Melcher, P., Heraux, J., Drake, D.R., and Giambelluca, T.W. 1996. Photosynthetic gas exchange and temperature-induced damage in seedlings of the tropical alpine species Argyroxiphium sandwicense. Oecologia,106(3), 298-307.

Gotsch S.G., Crausbay S.D., Weintrab A., Giambelluca T.W., Longman R.J., Asbjornesen H., Hotchkiss S. C. and Dawson T. 2014. Water relations and microclimate around the upper limit of cloud forest in Maui, Hawai‘i. Tree Physiology 34 (7), 766-777.

Hartley, S., Krushelnycky P.D. and Lester P.J. 2010. Integrating physiology, population dynamics and climate to make multi‐scale predictions for the spread of an invasive insect: the Argentine ant at Haleakala National Park, Hawaii.Ecography, 33(1), 83-94.

Krushelnycky, P.D., Loope L.L. and Joe S.M. 2004. Limiting spread of a unicolonial invasive insect and characterization of seasonal patterns of range expansion. Biological Invasions, 6(1), 47-57.

Krushelnycky, P.D., Joe S.M., Medeiros A.C., Daehler C.C., and Loope L.L. 2005. The role of abiotic conditions in shaping the long‐term patterns of a high‐elevation Argentine ant invasion. Diversity and Distributions, 11(4), 319-331.

Krushelnycky, P.D., Loope L.L., Giambelluca T.W., Starr F., Starr K., Drake D., Taylor A.D. and Robichaux R.H. 2013. Climate-associated population declines reverse recovery and threaten future of an iconic high-elevation plant. Global Change Biology 19(3), 911-922.

Loope, L.L., and Giambelluca T.W. 1998. Vulnerability of Island Tropical Montane Cloud Forests To Climate change, with Special Reference to East Maui, Hawai‘i Climate Change, 39, 503-517

Longman, R.J., Giambelluca, T. W. and Frazier, A. G., 2012. Modeling clear-sky solar radiation across a range of elevations in Hawai‘i: Comparing the use of input parameters at different temporal resolutions, Journal of Geophysical. Research,117, (D2) D02201

Longman R.J., Giambelluca T.W. and Nullet M.A. 2013. Use of a clear-day solar radiation model to homogenize solar radiation measurements in Hawai‘i, Solar Energy 91,102-110

Longman, R.J., Giambelluca T.W., Allis R.J. and Barnes M. 2014. Temporal Solar Radiation Change at High Elevations in Hawai‘i. 2014. Journal of Geophysical Research 119 (10) 6022-6033.

Scholl M.A, Giambelluca T.W., Gingerich S. B., Nullet M. A. and Loope L.L. 2007. Cloud water in windward and leeward mountain forests: The stable isotope signature of orographic cloud water. Water Resources Research 43, WI2411

Sherrod, D.R., Hagstrum, J. T., McGeehin, J. P., Champion, D. E. and Trusdell, F. A. 2006. Distribution, 14C chronology, and paleomagnetism of latest Pleistocene and Holocene lava flows at Haleakalā volcano, Island of Maui, Hawai ‘i: A revision of lava flow hazard zones. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth (1978–2012), 111(B5).

Book Chapters

DeLay, J.K., and Giambelluca T.W. 2010. History of cloud water interception research in Hawai'i. Tropical Montane Cloud Forests: Science for Conservation and Management, Bruijnzeel LA, Scatena FN, Hamilton LS (eds). Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK; 332-341.

Giambelluca T.W, DeLay JK, Nullet M.A, Scholl M.A, Gingerich SB. 2010. Interpreting canopy water balance and fog screen observations: separating cloud water from wind-blown rainfall at two contrasting forest sites in Hawai‘i. In Tropical Montane Cloud Forests: Science for Conservation and Management, Bruijnzeel LA, Scatena FN, Hamilton LS (eds). Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK; 342–351.

Technical Reports

Giambelluca, T.W., Shuai, X., Barnes, M., Alliss, R.J., Longman, R.J., Miura, T., Chen, Q., Frazier, A.G., and Mudd, R. 2014. Hawaii'I evapotranspiration mapping project final report. Report submitted to the US Army Corps of Engineers-Honolulu District and the Hawai'I Commission on Water Resource Management, Honolulu, HI, USA.

Keener, V.W., Mara J.J., Finucane M.L., Sponer D., and Smith M.H. 2012. Climate change and Pacific Islands: Indicators and Impacts. Report for the 2012 Pacific Island Regional Climate Assessment. Washington, DC: Island Press.

Krushelnycky, P.D., Loope L.L., and Gillespie R.G. 2007. Inventory of arthropods of the west slope shrubland and alpine ecosystems of Haleakala National Park. Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit, Tech Rep. #148, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa

Loope L.L., Crivellone C.F. 1986. Status of the Haleakala silversword: past and present. Tech. Rep. CNPRSU-58, University of Hawaii, Honolulu.

Thompson, L.G. 2011. Climate Records from Ice Cores Drilled in Papua, New Guinea. MOUNTAIN VIEWS, 3. The Newsletter of the Consortium for Integrated Climate Research in Western Mountains Vol 5 no.2

Articles in Preparation

Giambelluca, T.W., Shuai X. , Barnes M., Alliss R.J., Miura T., Chen Q. , Longman R.J. , FrazierA.G., Miyagi K. and Best M.(In preparation) Modeling Solar Radiation in Hawai‘i.

Longman R.J, Diaz H.F. and Giambelluca T.W. (In Preperation) Sustained Increases in Lower Tropospheric subsidence over the central tropical North Pacific drives a decline in High Elevation precipitation in Hawai‘i. Submitted to the Journal of Climate, October 2014

Doctoral Dissertation

Nullet, D. 1989. Climate controls on evaporation in Hawai‘i. Dissertation thesis, University of Hawai‘i, Honolulu.

Master’s Theses

Frazier, A.G. 2012. Month-year rainfall maps of the Hawaiian Islands. M.A. thesis. Department of Geography, University of Hawaii at Mānoa, Honolulu

Longman R. J. 2011. Homogenization of long-term solar radiation time series using a clear-sky radiation model and assessment of solar radiation variability at upper elevations on Maui, Hawaii. M.A. thesis. Department of Geography, University of Hawaii at Mānoa, Honolulu

Minyard, W.P. 1994. Relationship of Vegetation Distribution to Water Availability Above the Trade Wind Inversion on the West Slope of East Maui, Hawai‘i Department of Geography, University of Hawaii at Mānoa, Honolulu

Menard, T.P. 1999. Ecological and hydrological effects of a rainless period on a montane cloud forest treeline on Haleakala Maui. M.A. thesis, Department of Geography, University of Hawaii at Mānoa, Honolulu

Schlappa, K. 2006. Measurements of cloud water and dry deposition at Kīlauea, Hawai‘i. M.A. Thesis University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, Honolulu

Tran, L.T., (1995) Relationship between the Inversion and Rainfall on the Island of Maui. M.A. thesis. Department of Geography, University of Hawaii at Mānoa, Honolulu

Tamayose, J. (2006) Supplemental feeding influences reproductive success of the Hawaiian goose (Branta sandvicensis) at Haleakala National Park, Maui, Hawai'i. M.A. thesis. University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, Honolulu

Conference Presentations

Frazier, A.G., Diaz H.F., Giambelluca T.W., 2011. Rainfall in Hawai'i: spatial and temporal changes since 1920. Abstract GC21B-0900 presented at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco, December 2011.

Frazier, A.G., Giambelluca T.W., Diaz H.F. 2012. Spatial Rainfall Patterns of ENSO and PDO in Hawai‘i. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco, December 2012. Presented by Abby Frazier

Longman, R.J., Giambelluca T.W. and Nullet M.A., 2010. HaleNet climate network. A briefing by the Pacific Islands Climate Change Cooperative (PICCC) and the Pacific Climate InformationSystem (PaCIS) about effective interagency communication, coordination, and collaboration on climate change in the Pacific Islands region, Honolulu, December 2010. Presented by Ryan Longman.

Longman, R.J, Giambelluca T.W. and Nullet M.A., 2010. Assessment of spatial and temporal microclimatic variability using the HaleNet climate network on Haleakalā Volcano, Maui, Hawai‘i. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco, December 2010. Presented by Ryan Longman.

Longman, R.J., Giambelluca T.W., and Nullet M.A. 2011. Recent trends in solar radiation at high elevations in Hawai‘i. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco, December 2011. Presented by Ryan Longman.

Longman, R.J., Giambelluca T.W., Elison Timm O. 2012. The spatial dynamics of potential evapotranspiration in Hawai‘i: How driving variables are influenced by the trade wind inversion. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco, December 2012. Presented by Ryan Longman.

Longman, R.J., Giambelluca T.W., Shuai X., Barnes M., Alliss R.J., Longman R.J., Miura T., Chen Q., and Nullet M.A. 2013. Development of High Spatial Resolution Solar Radiation Maps for Hawai‘i. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco, December 2013. Presented by Ryan Longman

Giambelluca, T.W., Nullet M.A., Loope L.L., and Longman R.J. 2011. Tropical island listening post—The climate monitoring network on Haleakalā. Hawai‘i Conservation Conference, Honolulu, August 2011. Presented by Lloyd Loope.

Giambelluca, T.W., Diaz H.F., Elison Timm O., Takahashi M., Frazier A.G., and Longman R.J., 2011. Regional climate trends in Hawai‘i. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco, December 2011. Presented by Tom Giambelluca

Giambelluca T.W., Shuai X., Barnes M., Longman R.J., Miura T., Chen Q., Alliss R.J. and Frazier A.G. 2013. Mapping Evapotranspiration in Hawai‘i American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco, December 2013. Presented by Tom Giambelluca

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