James P. Kauahikaua

James Puupai Kauahikaua[2] (August 1, 1951 – October 8, 2023) was an American geophysicist and volcanologist who served as the 19th Scientist-in-Charge of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory from October 2004 to March 2015.[1][3] He was the first Scientist-in-Charge at the Observatory to be of Hawaiian ancestry.[4]

James Kauahikaua
Born
James Puupai Kauahikaua

(1951-08-01)August 1, 1951
Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, U.S.
DiedOctober 8, 2023(2023-10-08) (aged 72)
Hilo, Hawaii, U.S.
Other names"Dr. Jim"
Education
Scientific career
ThesisThe subsurface resistivity structure of Kilauea Volcano, Hawaiʻi (1982)
Doctoral advisorEduard Berg
Websitewww.usgs.gov/staff-profiles/jim-kauahikaua

Personal life

Kauahikaua's was born in Honolulu on August 1, 1951.[5] His family lived in Nuuanu when he was born, though they moved to Kailua soon after. He did not have a particularly Hawaiian upbringing, but considered himself an "academic Hawaiian" for his scholarly interest in Hawaiian culture and sciences.[6]

Kauahikaua was a cancer survivor.[7] In an interview with PBS Hawaii, he described waking up with double vision, and after much consulting with doctors, was diagnosed with nasopharyngeal cancer. After many rounds of chemo and radiation treatment, the cancer was killed and he began remission in 2003. It was described as the scariest experience of his life, more so than anything else during his career.[6] The treatments left him deaf in one ear and hard of hearing in the other.[8]

Kauahikaua died from meningitis complications in his Hilo, Hawaii home on October 8, 2023, at the age of 72.[5]

Career

Kauahikaua began his career with the USGS in 1976, originally working out of Denver, but then moved to Hawaii after a year.[9][10]

In 1998, he participated in an archaeology excavation in Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park with the U.S. Department of the Interior. This work was featured in part of a 2003 report.[11] As well as his academic papers, his research was cited or otherwise used in multiple U.S. Government reports.[12][13]

Kauahikaua was awarded funds from the National Science Foundation for research in collaboration with the University of Oregon for the 2002–04 fiscal years.[14]

Kauahikaua served as scientist-in-charge of the Observatory from 2004 to 2015, preceding Tina Neal and following Donald A. Swanson.[15] During this time, he coordinated responses to multiple notable geologic events, including the Mauna Loa unrest of 2004–05, the Kīholo Bay earthquake, as well as other eruptions at Kīlauea and elsewhere.[16] He stepped aside after over ten years to make room for personal research.[17] He continued to work for the Observatory through the 2018 lower Puna eruption,[18] and continued to work there as a research geophysicist.[19]

In May 2015, he won a DOI Meritorious Service Award from the U.S. Department of the Interior in recognition of his scientific work for the Geological Survey.[20][21] In 2019, he appeared as a panelist at a workshop hosted by University of Colorado Boulder, in which he talked about his experiences as a Hawaiian volcanologist and gave perspective to the 2018 eruption of Kīlauea.[22]

Kauahikaua was often consulted by the news media as a volcanology expert,[23] especially during the 2022 eruption of Mauna Loa.[24]

Writing

Kauahikaua was the author of Volcano: Creation in Motion,[25] a book about Pele, the Hawaiian deity of volcanoes.

References
  1. "Jim Kauahikaua is named scientist-in-charge of Hawaiian Volcano Observatory". Hawaii Tribune-Herald. October 3, 2004. p. A5. Retrieved May 7, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. "Volcanic Activity Reports | Volcano Listserv | New HVO Scientist-in-Charge". Laboratory for Artificial Intelligence and Human-Centered Computing (AI&HCC). The University of Texas at Austin. Retrieved May 4, 2023.
  3. "Hawaiian Volcano Observatory's chief scientist stepping down". Hawaii News Now. Hawaii National Park. Associated Press. February 27, 2015. Facebook. Retrieved May 4, 2023. Jim Kauahikaua, the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory's chief scientist who most recently led its response to the Puna lava flow, is stepping down.
  4. "Jim Kauahikaua". Roadtrip Nation. Retrieved May 4, 2023.
  5. "Noted geophysicist, former scientist-in-charge at Hawaiian Volcano Observatory Jim Kauahikaua dies". Big Island Now. October 18, 2023. Retrieved October 21, 2023.
  6. "James Kauahikaua / Long Story Short with Leslie Wilcox". PBS Hawai‘i. September 2016 [Aired April 26, 2016 and August 25, 2020]. Transcript. Retrieved May 2, 2023.
  7. Thompson, Rod (October 1, 2004). "Islander to head observatory". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. p. A11. Retrieved May 7, 2023 – via Newspapers.com. [Starbulletin.com]
  8. Wood, Mark (February 4, 2019). "Running Toward the Volcano". Pomona College Magazine. Retrieved May 7, 2023.
  9. "Jim Kauahikaua". Volcano World. Oregon State University. April 20, 2011. Retrieved May 2, 2023.
  10. "UH Mānoa alumnus James Kauahikaua". UH Alumni. University of Hawaiʻi. Retrieved May 3, 2023.
  11. Moniz Nakamura, Jadelyn J. (2003). Keonehelelei – The Falling Sands (PDF) (Report). U.S. Department of the Interior.
  12. Thornberry-Ehrlich, Trista (2009). Hawaii Volcanoes National Park Geologic Resources Inventory Report: Natural Resource Report NPS/NRPC/GRD/NRR—2009/163 (Report). National Park Service. In "NPS Geodiversity Atlas—Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, Hawai'i". National Park Service.
  13. Results from the Department of the Interior Strategic Sciences Group Technical Support for the 2018 Kīlauea Eruption (Report). U.S. Department of the Interior. In "Publication Index". U.S. Department of the Interior. July 2015.
  14. "NSF Award Search: Award # 0207919 – Thermal and Rheological Controls on the Emplacement of Basaltic Lava Flows". National Science Foundation. Retrieved May 4, 2023.
  15. Babb, Janet L.; Kauahikaua, James P.; Tilling, Robert I. (2011). "The story of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory—A remarkable first 100 years of tracking eruptions and earthquakes". U.S. Geological Survey General Information Product 135. General Information Product: i-63. doi:10.3133/gip135.
  16. Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park (February 27, 2015). "Ten Years at the Top: Hawaiian Volcano Observatory's Scientist-in-Charge Steps Aside". Pacific Island National Parks. National Park Service. Retrieved May 7, 2023 – via Wordpress.
  17. "Top volcano scientist leaves Alaska for Hawaii". Anchorage Daily News. Hawaii National Park. Associated Press. March 6, 2015. Retrieved May 7, 2023.
  18. "SOEST volcanologists, past and present, play a major direct role in Kilauea science response". University of Hawaiʻi System News. University of Hawaiʻi. May 22, 2018. Retrieved May 7, 2023.
  19. Kauahikaua, Jim. "Jim Kauahikaua". U.S. Geological Survey. Retrieved May 7, 2023.
  20. "HVO scientist Jim Kauahikaua receives Meritorious Service Award". USGS Volcanoes. July 10, 2015 – via Facebook.
  21. Multiple secondary sources:
  22. "Workshop 2019 || scenes-from-an-eruption". Natural Hazards Center. University of Colorado Boulder. Retrieved May 3, 2023.
  23. Multiple sources:
  24. Multiple sources:
  25. Kauahikaua, Jim (2015). Volcano: Creation in Motion. Photography by G. Brad Lewis (New ed.). Mutual Publishing. ISBN 978-1-939487-476.
  • 1 and 2, publications by Kauahikaua on ScienceBase-Catalog by the USGS
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