PACIFIC ISLAND RESEARCH

My research combines coastal geomorphology, paleo environmental reconstructions, spatial analysis, and the perspectives of a native islander to investigate how islands, reefs, and island people are impacted by changes in climate.

My friends and I created the MEGA Lab, a non-profit research lab based in Hilo Hawaiʻi. Learn more about the MEGA Lab here.

Photos shown above were taken while doing research in Sāmoa, the Republic of the Marshall islands, and across the pae ʻāina of Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian archipelago).

PUBLICATIONS

Burns, J.H.R, Pascoe, K.H., Ferreira, S.B., Kane, H.H., Kapono, C. Carrel, T.L., Reyes, A., Fukunaga, A. 2023. How Do Underwater Cultural Heritage Sites Affect Coral Assemblages? Remote Sensing 15(8). https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15082130

Harmon, K.C, Winter, K.B, Kurashima, N., Fletcher, C.H., Kane, H.H., Price, M.R. 2021. The role of indigenous practices in expanding waterbird habitat in the face of rising seas. Anthropocene 34: 100293. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.ancene.2021.100293

Kane, H.H., Fletcher, C.H., 2020. Rethinking reef island stability in relation to anthropogenic sea level rise. Earth’s Future 8 (10). https://doi.org/10.1029/2020EF001525

Kane, H., 2019. Before building another telescope, learn from Hawaiian culture. Science Advances 3241. https://www.newscientist.com/article/2211920-before-building-another-telescope-learn-from-hawaiian-culture/

Richmond, B.R., La Selle, SP, Jaffe, B., Nelson, A., Griswold, F., Arcos, B., Chagues, C., Bishop, J., Bellanova, P, Kane, H., Lunghino, B., Gelfendbaum, G., 2019. Sedimentary Evidence of Distant Source Tsunamis in the Hawaiian Islands. Sedimentology.  https://doi.org/10.1111/sed.12623

Kane, H.H., Fletcher, C.H., Cochrane, E.E., Mitrovica, J.X., Habel, S., Barbee, M., 2017. Coastal plain stratigraphy records tectonic, environmental, and human habitability changes related to sea-level drawdown: ‘Upolu, Sāmoa. Quaternary Research 18: 246-257. https://doi.org/10.1017/qua.2017.2

Bishop, J.M, Richmond, B.R., Zaremba, N.J., Lunghino, B.D., and Kane, H.H., 2016. Hurricane Sandy washover deposits on southern Long Beach Island, New Jersey: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2016-1090, 14p. https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2016/1090/ofr20161090.pdf

Cochrane, E.E., Kane, H., Fletcher, C.H., Horrocks, M., Mills, J., Barbee, M.M., Morrison, A.E., Matavai Tautunu, M., 2015. Lack of suitable coastal plains likely influence Lapita (~2800 cal. BP) settlement of Samoa: Evidence from south-eastern Upolu. The Holocene 26: 126-135. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683615596841

Kane, H.H., Fletcher, C.H., Frazer, L.N., Anderson, T., Barbee, M., 2015. Modeling sea-level rise vulnerability of coastal environments using ranked management concerns. Climatic Change 131: 349-361. 10.1007/s10584-015-1377-3

Kane, H.H., Fletcher, C.H., Frazer, N, Barbee, M., 2015. Critical elevation levels for flooding due to sea-level rise. Regional Environmental Change. Regional Environmental Change 15: 1679-1687. 10.1007/s10113-014-0725-6

Kane, H.H., Fletcher, C.H., Romine, B.M., Anderson, T.R., Frazer, L.N., Barbee, M., 2012. Vulnerability assessment of Hawai'i's cultural assets attributable to erosion using shoreline trend analysis techniques. Journal of Coastal Research 28: 533-539. https://doi.org/10.2112/JCOASTRES-D-11-00114.1