Research

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Droughts in the Pacific Islands can be extremely severe, causing drinking water shortages, extensive crop damage, and increases in the size, severity and extent of wildfires that burn incredibly large percentages of island land areas. A recent analysis of historical drought in Hawai‘i found that drought duration, magnitude, and frequency have all increased significantly, consistent with trends found in other Pacific Islands. While land managers are tasked with utilizing the “best available science”, they often are confronted with data products that are difficult to access and there is no facilitated communication process with researchers to meet the needs of resource managers.

The Pacific Drought Knowledge Exchange (PDKE) was established in 2019 to facilitate drought knowledge exchange and enable collaborative relationships among drought stakeholders in Hawai‘i and in Pacific Island Nations and territories. We use an iterative approach to co-produce site-specific, customized drought data and products based on the needs of our partners, including factsheets and decision support tools. Through active engagement between researchers and end users, we strive to make drought and climate data products more accessible to managers for drought planning and management.

Since the pilot phase in 2019, the PDKE has expanded to work with over 130 partners across Hawai‘i and Guam, and has begun building relationships in other Pacific Islands. The PDKE has worked with partners across various sectors, including natural resource management, water resource management, and ranching. The PDKE is governed by a stewardship team, and regularly seeks input from an advisory council and steering committee through quarterly and annual meetings. PDKE output products have been used by partners in various capacities, including in funding proposals, climate change education, and management activity planning. The PDKE can serve as a model for how a successful knowledge exchange process can improve drought management and planning.

See our website here: https://www.soest.hawaii.edu/pdke/ 

Related publications: 

Lisonbee, J., Parker, B., Fleishman, E., Ford, T., Bocinsky, K., Follingstad, G., Frazier, A.G., Hoylman, Z., Hudson, A.R., Nielsen-Gammon, J.W., Umphlett, N., Wickham, E., Bamzai-Dodson, A., Fontenot, R., Fuchs, B., Hammond, J., Herrick, J., Hobbins, M., Hoell, A., Jones, J., Lane, E., Leasor, Z., Liu, Y., Otkin, J.A., Sheffield, A., Todey, D., and Pulwarty, R. (2025). Prioritization of Research on Drought Assessment in a Changing Climate. Earth’s Future 13(3), e2024EF005276. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024EF005276. 

Moss, W.E., Crausbay, S.D., Rangwala, I., Wason, J.W., Trauernicht, C., Stevens-Rumann, C.S., Sala, A., Rottler, C.M., Pederson, G.T., Miller, B.W., Magness, D.R., Littell, J.S., Frelich, L.E., Frazier, A.G., Davis, K.T., Coop, J.D., Cartwright, J.M., Booth, R.K. (2024). Drought as an emergent driver of ecological transformation in the twenty-first century. BioScience, biae050. https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biae050.

Trauernicht, C., Frazier, A.G., Dendy, J., Bubb, I., Camacho-Fejeran, C., Friday, J.B., King, R., Manglona, J., Ruegorong, F., Singeo, A., Giardina, C.P., and Cordell, S. (2024). How people, rainfall and vegetation shape tropical island fire regimes across Micronesia. Journal of Biogeography 51(3), 422-438. https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.14763. 

Frazier, A.G., Giardina C.P., Giambelluca T.W., Brewington L., Chen Y.-L., Chu P.-S., Fortini L.B., Hall D., Helweg D.A., Keener V.W., Lucas M.P., Mair A., Oki D.S., Reyes J.J., Yelenik S.G., and  Trauernicht C. (2022). A Century of Drought in Hawaiʻi: Geospatial Analysis and Synthesis across Hydrological, Ecological, and Socioeconomic Scales. Sustainability 14(19), 12023. https://doi.org/10.3390/su141912023. 

Longman, R.J., Frazier A.G., Giardina C.P., Parsons E.W., and McDaniel S. (2022). The Pacific Drought Knowledge Exchange: A Co-Production Approach to Deliver Climate Resources to User Groups. Sustainability 14(17), 10554. https://doi.org/10.3390/su141710554. 

Longman, R.J., Peterson C.L., Baroli M., Frazier A.G., Cook Z., Parsons E.W., Dinan M., Kamelamela K.L., Steele C., Burnett R., Swanston C., and Giardina C.P. (2022). Climate Adaptation for Tropical Island Land Stewardship: Adapting a Workshop Planning Process to Hawai‘i. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 103(2), E402-E409,  https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-21-0163.1.  

Lucas, M.P., Trauernicht C., Frazier A.G., and Miura T. (2020). Long-Term, Gridded Standardized Precipitation Index for Hawai‘i. Data 5(4), 109. https://doi.org/10.3390/data5040109. 

Frazier, A.G., Deenik J.L., Fujii N.D., Funderburk G.R., Giambelluca T.W., Giardina C.P., Helweg D.A., Keener V.W., Mair A., Marra J.J., McDaniel S., Ohye L.N., Oki D.S., Parsons E.W., Strauch A.M., and Trauernicht C. (2019). Managing Effects of Drought in Hawai‘i and U.S.-Affiliated Pacific Islands. In: Vose, J.M.; Peterson D.L.; Luce C.H.; Patel-Weynand T., eds. Effects of Drought on Forests and Rangelands in the United States: Translating Science into Management Responses. Gen. Tech. Rep. WO-98. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Washington Office. 95-121. Chapter 5. https://www.fs.usda.gov/treesearch/pubs/59164. 

The overarching goal of the Hawaiʻi Climate Data Portal (HCDP) is to provide streamlined access to high-quality reliable climate data and information for the State of Hawai‘i and for parts of the Pacific. This includes the production of near-real-time gridded rainfall and temperature, as well as other climate variables. Using the "Access Data" tool, users can access a user-friendly tool to visualize and download data with relative ease. Easy access to high-quality climate data, information and products through the HCDP allows researchers to focus more time on their analyses and less time on data collection and processing. It also provides the broader community with access to information that would otherwise be inaccessible due to technical limitations. Finally, centralizing data and information helps to create a more holistic environment for environmental stewardship in Hawai‘i.

See our website here: https://www.hawaii.edu/climate-data-portal/ 

Related publications: 

Longman, R.J., Lucas, M.P., Mclean, J., Cleveland, S., Kodama, K., Frazier, A.G., Kamelamela, K., Schriber, A., Dodge, M., Jacobs, G., and Giambelluca, T.W. (2024). The Hawaiʻi Climate Data Portal (HCDP). Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 105(7), E1074–E1083. https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-23-0188.1. 

Lucas, M.P., Longman R.J., Giambelluca T.W., Frazier A.G., Mclean J., Cleveland S.B., Huang Y.-F., and Lee J.H. (2022). Optimizing automated kriging to improve spatial interpolation of monthly rainfall over complex terrain. Journal of Hydrometeorology 23(4), 561-572. https://doi.org/10.1175/JHM-D-21-0171.1.

Lucas, M.P., Trauernicht C., Frazier A.G., and Miura T. (2020). Long-Term, Gridded Standardized Precipitation Index for Hawai‘i. Data 5(4), 109. https://doi.org/10.3390/data5040109. 

Longman, R.J., Frazier A.G., Newman A.J., Giambelluca T.W., Schanzenbach D., Kagawa-Viviani A.K., Needham H.L., Arnold J.R., and Clark M.P. (2019). High-resolution gridded daily rainfall and temperature for the Hawaiian Islands (1990-2014). Journal of Hydrometeorology 20, 489-508. https://doi.org/10.1175/JHM-D-18-0112.1.

Longman, R.J., Giambelluca T.W., Nullet M.A., Frazier A.G., Kodama K., Crausbay S.D., Krushelnycky P.D., Cordell S., Clark M.P., Newman A.J., and Arnold J.R. (2018). Compilation of climate data from heterogeneous networks across the Hawaiian Islands. Scientific Data 5(180012). https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2018.12.   

Frazier A.G., Giambelluca T.W., Diaz H.F., and Needham H.L. (2016). Comparison of Geostatistical Methods to Spatially Interpolate Month-Year Rainfall for the Hawaiian Islands.  International Journal of Climatology 36(3), 1459-1470. https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.4437.

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 of the American Meteorological Society 94, 313-316. https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-11-00228.1. 

Related publications: 

Lisonbee, J., Parker, B., Fleishman, E., Ford, T., Bocinsky, K., Follingstad, G., Frazier, A.G., Hoylman, Z., Hudson, A.R., Nielsen-Gammon, J.W., Umphlett, N., Wickham, E., Bamzai-Dodson, A., Fontenot, R., Fuchs, B., Hammond, J., Herrick, J., Hobbins, M., Hoell, A., Jones, J., Lane, E., Leasor, Z., Liu, Y., Otkin, J.A., Sheffield, A., Todey, D., and Pulwarty, R. (2025). Prioritization of Research on Drought Assessment in a Changing Climate. Earth’s Future 13(3), e2024EF005276. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024EF005276. 

Moss, W.E., Crausbay, S.D., Rangwala, I., Wason, J.W., Trauernicht, C., Stevens-Rumann, C.S., Sala, A., Rottler, C.M., Pederson, G.T., Miller, B.W., Magness, D.R., Littell, J.S., Frelich, L.E., Frazier, A.G., Davis, K.T., Coop, J.D., Cartwright, J.M., Booth, R.K. (2024). Drought as an emergent driver of ecological transformation in the twenty-first century. BioScience, biae050. https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biae050.

Trauernicht, C., Frazier, A.G., Dendy, J., Bubb, I., Camacho-Fejeran, C., Friday, J.B., King, R., Manglona, J., Ruegorong, F., Singeo, A., Giardina, C.P., and Cordell, S. (2024). How people, rainfall and vegetation shape tropical island fire regimes across Micronesia. Journal of Biogeography 51(3), 422-438. https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.14763. 

Frazier, A.G., Giardina C.P., Giambelluca T.W., Brewington L., Chen Y.-L., Chu P.-S., Fortini L.B., Hall D., Helweg D.A., Keener V.W., Lucas M.P., Mair A., Oki D.S., Reyes J.J., Yelenik S.G., and  Trauernicht C. (2022). A Century of Drought in Hawaiʻi: Geospatial Analysis and Synthesis across Hydrological, Ecological, and Socioeconomic Scales. Sustainability 14(19), 12023. https://doi.org/10.3390/su141912023. 

Crausbay, S.D., Betancourt J., Bradford J., Cartwright J., Dennison W.C., Dunham J., Enquist C.A.F., Frazier A.G., Hall K.R., Littell J.S., Luce C.H., Palmer R., Ramirez A.R., Rangwala I., Thompson L., Walsh B.M., and Carter S. (2020). Unfamiliar territory: emerging themes for ecological drought research and management. One Earth 3(3), 337-353. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2020.08.019. 

Frazier, A.G., Deenik J.L., Fujii N.D., Funderburk G.R., Giambelluca T.W., Giardina C.P., Helweg D.A., Keener V.W., Mair A., Marra J.J., McDaniel S., Ohye L.N., Oki D.S., Parsons E.W., Strauch A.M., and Trauernicht C. (2019). Managing Effects of Drought in Hawai‘i and U.S.-Affiliated Pacific Islands. In: Vose, J.M.; Peterson D.L.; Luce C.H.; Patel-Weynand T., eds. Effects of Drought on Forests and Rangelands in the United States: Translating Science into Management Responses. Gen. Tech. Rep. WO-98. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Washington Office. 95-121. Chapter 5. https://www.fs.usda.gov/treesearch/pubs/59164. 

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 limit. Oecologia 175, 273-284. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-014-2888-8. 

Related publications: 

Longman, R.J., Lucas, M.P., Mclean, J., Cleveland, S., Kodama, K., Frazier, A.G., Kamelamela, K., Schriber, A., Dodge, M., Jacobs, G., and Giambelluca, T.W. (2024). The Hawaiʻi Climate Data Portal (HCDP). Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 105(7), E1074–E1083. https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-23-0188.1. 

Lucas, M.P., Longman R.J., Giambelluca T.W., Frazier A.G., Mclean J., Cleveland S.B., Huang Y.-F., and Lee J.H. (2022). Optimizing automated kriging to improve spatial interpolation of monthly rainfall over complex terrain. Journal of Hydrometeorology 23(4), 561-572. https://doi.org/10.1175/JHM-D-21-0171.1.

Luo, X., Wang B., Frazier A.G., and Giambelluca T.W. (2020). Distinguishing variability regimes of Hawaiian summer rainfall: Quasi-Biennial and interdecadal oscillations. Geophysical Research Letters 47, e2020GL091260. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL091260. 

Longman, R.J., Frazier A.G., Newman A.J., Giambelluca T.W., Schanzenbach D., Kagawa-Viviani A.K., Needham H.L., Arnold J.R., and Clark M.P. (2019). High-resolution gridded daily rainfall and temperature for the Hawaiian Islands (1990-2014). Journal of Hydrometeorology 20, 489-508. https://doi.org/10.1175/JHM-D-18-0112.1.

Longman, R.J., Giambelluca T.W., Nullet M.A., Frazier A.G., Kodama K., Crausbay S.D., Krushelnycky P.D., Cordell S., Clark M.P., Newman A.J., and Arnold J.R. (2018). Compilation of climate data from heterogeneous networks across the Hawaiian Islands. Scientific Data 5(180012). https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2018.12.   

Frazier A.G., Elison Timm O., Giambelluca T.W., and Diaz H.F. (2018). The influence of ENSO, PDO and PNA on secular rainfall variations in Hawai‘i. Climate Dynamics 51(5-6), 2127-2140. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-017-4003-4. 

Frazier A.G., and Giambelluca T.W. (2017). Spatial trend analysis of Hawaiian rainfall from 1920 to 2012.  International Journal of Climatology 37(5), 2522–2531. https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.4862. 

Frazier A.G., Giambelluca T.W., Diaz H.F., and Needham H.L. (2016). Comparison of Geostatistical Methods to Spatially Interpolate Month-Year Rainfall for the Hawaiian Islands.  International Journal of Climatology 36(3), 1459-1470. https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.4437.

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 of the American Meteorological Society 94, 313-316. https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-11-00228.1. 

I was a Chapter Author for the 6th National Climate Assessment (NCA6), and the Chapter Lead Author for the 5th National Climate Assessment (NCA5) Hawai‘i and U.S.-Affiliated Pacific Islands Chapter. The NCA5 report was released in November 2023. I am also an author and technical contributor on the Pacific Islands Regional Climate Assessment (PIRCA) reports (2020-2025): https://www.pacificrisa.org/pirca-website/. 

Related publications: 

Frazier, A.G., Lustig, A.R., Chang, M., Elias, E.H., McPherson, R.A., Keener, V.W., Grecni, Z.N., Huntington, H.P., Mecray, E.L., Wood, K.M., Dello, K.D., Chardón-Maldonado, P., and White, D.D. (2025). Reflections on Preparing Regional Chapters for NCA5. Climatic Change, 178, 72. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-025-03874-y. 

Chu, E., Bowser, G., Frazier, A.G., Quintyne, A., Shi, L., and McElwee, P.  (2025). Broadening diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion in the process and development of climate assessments. Climatic Change, 178, 63. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-025-03873-z.  

Frazier, A.G., Johnson, M.-V. V., Berio Fortini, L., Giardina, C.P., Grecni, Z.N., Kane, H.H., Keener, V.W., King, R., MacKenzie, R.A., Nobrega-Olivera, M., Oleson, K.L.L., Shuler, C.K., Singeo, A.K., Storlazzi, C.D., Wallsgrove, R.J., and Woodworth-Jefcoats, P.A. (2023). Ch. 30. Hawai‘i and U.S.-Affiliated Pacific Islands. In: Fifth National Climate Assessment. Crimmins, A.R., Avery, C.W., Easterling, D.R., Kunkel, K.E., Stewart, B.C., and Maycock, T.K., Eds. U.S. Global Change Research Program, Washington, DC, USA. https://doi.org/10.7930/NCA5.2023.CH30. 

Grecni, Z., Miles W., King R., Frazier A.G., and Keener V. (2020). Climate Change in Guam: Indicators and Considerations for Key Sectors. Report for the Pacific Islands Regional Climate Assessment. Honolulu, HI: East-West Center, https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4037481.  

Related publications: 

Moss, W.E., Crausbay, S.D., Rangwala, I., Wason, J.W., Trauernicht, C., Stevens-Rumann, C.S., Sala, A., Rottler, C.M., Pederson, G.T., Miller, B.W., Magness, D.R., Littell, J.S., Frelich, L.E., Frazier, A.G., Davis, K.T., Coop, J.D., Cartwright, J.M., Booth, R.K. (2024). Drought as an emergent driver of ecological transformation in the twenty-first century. BioScience, biae050. https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biae050.

Trauernicht, C., Frazier, A.G., Dendy, J., Bubb, I., Camacho-Fejeran, C., Friday, J.B., King, R., Manglona, J., Ruegorong, F., Singeo, A., Giardina, C.P., and Cordell, S. (2024). How people, rainfall and vegetation shape tropical island fire regimes across Micronesia. Journal of Biogeography 51(3), 422-438. https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.14763. 

Frazier, A.G., Tan Yen B., Stuecker M.F., Nelson K., Sander B.O., Kantar M.B., and Wang D. (2022). Impact of historical climate variability on rice production in Mainland Southeast Asia across multiple scales. Anthropocene 40, 100353. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ancene.2022.100353. 

Frazier, A.G., Giardina C.P., Giambelluca T.W., Brewington L., Chen Y.-L., Chu P.-S., Fortini L.B., Hall D., Helweg D.A., Keener V.W., Lucas M.P., Mair A., Oki D.S., Reyes J.J., Yelenik S.G., and  Trauernicht C. (2022). A Century of Drought in Hawaiʻi: Geospatial Analysis and Synthesis across Hydrological, Ecological, and Socioeconomic Scales. Sustainability 14(19), 12023. https://doi.org/10.3390/su141912023. 

Selmants, P.C., Sleeter B.M., Liu J., Wilson T.S., Trauernicht C., Frazier A.G., and Asner G.P. (2021). Ecosystem carbon balance in the Hawaiian Islands under different scenarios of future climate and land use change. Environmental Research Letters 16(10), 104020. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac2347. 

Crausbay, S.D., Betancourt J., Bradford J., Cartwright J., Dennison W.C., Dunham J., Enquist C.A.F., Frazier A.G., Hall K.R., Littell J.S., Luce C.H., Palmer R., Ramirez A.R., Rangwala I., Thompson L., Walsh B.M., and Carter S. (2020). Unfamiliar territory: emerging themes for ecological drought research and management. One Earth 3(3), 337-353. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2020.08.019. 

Frazier, A.G., Deenik J.L., Fujii N.D., Funderburk G.R., Giambelluca T.W., Giardina C.P., Helweg D.A., Keener V.W., Mair A., Marra J.J., McDaniel S., Ohye L.N., Oki D.S., Parsons E.W., Strauch A.M., and Trauernicht C. (2019). Managing Effects of Drought in Hawai‘i and U.S.-Affiliated Pacific Islands. In: Vose, J.M.; Peterson D.L.; Luce C.H.; Patel-Weynand T., eds. Effects of Drought on Forests and Rangelands in the United States: Translating Science into Management Responses. Gen. Tech. Rep. WO-98. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Washington Office. 95-121. Chapter 5. https://www.fs.usda.gov/treesearch/pubs/59164. 

Frauendorf, T.C., MacKenzie R.A., Tingley R.W., Frazier A.G., Riney M.H., and El-Sabaawi R.W. (2019). Evaluating ecosystem effects of climate change on tropical island streams using high spatial and temporal sampling regimes. Global Change Biology 25(4), 1344-1357. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14584. 

Krushelnycky, P.D., Starr F., Starr K., Longman R.J., Frazier A.G., Loope L.L., and Giambelluca T.W. (2016). Change in trade wind inversion frequency implicated in the decline of an alpine plant. Climate Change Responses 3(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40665-016-0015-2. 

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 limit. Oecologia 175, 273-284. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-014-2888-8. 

See our website here: https://www.hawaii.edu/climate-data-portal/hawaii-mesonet/ 

Related publications: 

Longman, R.J., Lucas, M.P., Mclean, J., Cleveland, S., Kodama, K., Frazier, A.G., Kamelamela, K., Schriber, A., Dodge, M., Jacobs, G., and Giambelluca, T.W. (2024). The Hawaiʻi Climate Data Portal (HCDP). Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 105(7), E1074–E1083. https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-23-0188.1. 

Cheng, C.L., Izuka S., Kennedy J.J., Frazier A.G., and Giambelluca T.W. (2021). Water-Resource Management Monitoring Needs, State of Hawai‘i. U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5115, 114. https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20205115. 

 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 of the American Meteorological Society 94, 313-316. https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-11-00228.1. 

Related publications: 

Brewington, L., Bryson, C., Frazier, A.G., Keener, V.W., Marra, J.J., Matsutaro, E.X., Mochimaru, K., and Moehlenkamp, P. (2024). A Climate Services Dialog to Build Sector-Based Climate Early Warning Systems in the Republic of Palau. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 105(8), E1610-E1618. https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-24-0157.1.