{"id":122760,"date":"2020-07-20T13:17:43","date_gmt":"2020-07-20T23:17:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=122760"},"modified":"2020-08-07T11:14:58","modified_gmt":"2020-08-07T21:14:58","slug":"hanauma-bay-water-clarity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2020\/07\/20\/hanauma-bay-water-clarity\/","title":{"rendered":"Hanauma Bay water clarity significantly improves without visitors"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
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糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> researchers continue to collect data at Hanauma Bay during the COVID-19<\/abbr> closure. Photo credit: Hawaiʻi<\/span> Institute of Marine Biology<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Since March, Hanauma Bay has been closed to the public in response to the COVID-19<\/abbr> pandemic. During this time, University of Hawaiʻi<\/span> at Mānoa<\/a> researchers have discovered that the water clarity at Hawaiʻi\u2019s<\/span> famous snorkeling beach has significantly improved in comparison to open days and weekly closures every Tuesday, before the COVID-19<\/abbr> pandemic began.<\/p>\n

On average, 糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> researchers found that the water in Hanauma Bay was 42 percent clearer during the COVID-19<\/abbr> closure than on a day open to the public, and 18 percent clearer during the COVID-19<\/abbr> closure than on Tuesdays, when the beach is closed to the public.<\/p>\n

糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> researchers gathered results by measuring water clarity approximately once a week from April 21 to June 16. They will continue to measure water clarity weekly at Hanauma Bay for the duration of the closure.<\/p>\n

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Photo credit: Hawaiʻi<\/span> Institute of Marine Biology<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n
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Photo credit: Hawaiʻi<\/span> Institute of Marine Biology<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n
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Photo credit: Hawaiʻi<\/span> Institute of Marine Biology<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n

“I was surprised that the preliminary data showed that the water was clearer during the COVID-19<\/abbr> closure when compared to closed Tuesdays,” said Sarah Severino<\/strong>, a research assistant at 糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> Mānoa\u2019s Hawaiʻi<\/span> Institute of Marine Biology<\/a>. “I was under the impression that the sediment and sand that gets kicked up by visitors would be deposited back to the seafloor by the next day, but it appears that the finer sediment may still be suspended in the water column the day after visitors are present. What we could be seeing during this closure is the lack of sand\/sediment resuspension for an extended period of time leading to increases in overall water clarity.”<\/p>\n