Pacific RISA

Project Overview

The Pacific RISA engages with communities, governments, and businesses to develop effective policies to build resilience. The project strives to enhance Pacific island communities’ abilities to understand, plan for, and respond to changing climate conditions. 

Using a mix of stakeholder dialogue, climate forecasting, education and outreach, and research and assessment, the Pacific RISA focuses on providing support across seven key sectors. Those sectors include water resource management, coastal and marine resources, fisheries, agriculture, tourism, disaster management and public health. 

Select Outputs

• In the fall of 2011, the Pacific RISA launched a series of videos called Climate Matters Documoments. There are currently three videos in the series, each of which tells a story about how people from different backgrounds are effected by climate variability and change and are taking measures to adapt to it in the Hawaiian Islands. The videos currently have nearly 300 views. Researchers see this initial set of videos as a starting point for helping policy makers understand real-world climate impacts and the need for usable climate information in Hawaii and other Pacific Islands.

• Researchers at the Pacific RISA have been conducting analyses of rainfall and temperature data for the Hawaiian Islands. These analyses will inform downscaling efforts to more accurately identify periods of severe drought and assess groundwater recharge rates. They are currently running a triply nested model on the Maui supercomputer, and the results will then be fed into a hydrological model. A report is also in progress looking at Hawaii's most important freshwater aquifer, the Pearl Harbor Aquifer. This report will inform the downscaling efforts and also connects those efforts with other similar volcanic islands.

Other Resources

• Decision Support Tool Library: A collection of decision support tools created by NOAA and other agencies and organizations for use within the region. They include tools that provide information on climate, drought, and hazards as well as climate adaptation and community monitoring.

• Pacific RISA Newsletter: Program highlights from the first year of work (2010-11) for the Pacific RISA.

• Publication Library: A collection of journal articles, book chapters, technical reports, and conference proceedings and abstracts written by Pacific RISA researchers. Some articles are available as PDFs.