These pictures were taken in the spring of 2004 during my semester
"abroad" on the Big Island of Hawai'i. I was one of 8 students composing the
innagural group of Cornell's Earth and Environmental Field Program (see
EES Program). The Hawaiian Islands
are an ideal natural laboratory in which to study Earth Science due to the
extreme variations in altitude (and thus temperature) (0 - 13,000 ft) and
rainfall rates (0.01 - 1m/yr). This results in a density of different
ecosystem types that is found nowhere else. I attempt to
capture this diversity (and the dynamics of our colorful group) in these pictures.
We were housed on the Hawai'i Prep Academy (HPA) campus in the town of Waimea on the
north end of the Big Island. Located on the saddle between Mauna Kea and Kohala
volcanoes, Waimea straddles the "green line", or the division between the wet,
windward side of the island and the dry, leeward side. Waimea isn't exactly a
tourist hot spot because the relatively cool temperatures at 3000 ft and the almost
daily dose of rain and blowing mist. The leeward (western) and Makai (Hawaiian for 'sea ward',
Mauka is 'mountain ward') region of the Island is where one finds the tourist resorts.
For my thoughts and expereinces with the tourist resorts and their socioeconomic impact
on the native population, and for my thoughts on the general state of the Hawaiian
Islands, see Hawaii thoughts. Enjoy the pictures -
several of these photos were taken by AJ Wentzel and are noted with "(AJ)" - Thanks Adria!
See also our visits to Maui and
Kaua'i.
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