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Research about Marshall Islands

Source-linked reports with geographic coverage including Marshall Islands.

10 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS2024

Developing version 2 of satellite-estimated precipitation monthly reports for selected locations in the Republic of the Marshall Islands

The Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI; also known as the Marshall Islands) is a nation of more than 30 low-lying atolls and islands, most of which are inhabited, dispersed across an Exclusive Economic Zone over 770,000 square miles in the tropical central north Pacific Ocean. The study objectives and methods were originally presented in U.S. Geological Survey Data Report 1181 and are summarized herein. Monitoring environmental conditions for potential drought risk is challenging in such a dispersed island nation, and current drought hazard products provide generalities regarding conditions on a broad geographic scale. In 2022–23, a team of U.S. Geological Survey scientists, and managers of natural resources and natural hazards in the RMI, used Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for Global Precipitation Measurement satellite estimates of precipitation to develop content and a template for timely monthly reporting of precipitation for 23 inhabited atolls and islands. After a year of report production and user feedback, the team incorporated lessons learned and revised user priorities to update the content and layout of the template. This data report describes the collaboration process and results of revising the report content and layout into version 2 of the monthly satellite-estimated precipitation report.

Data Report↗
USGS2017

Atoll groundwater movement and its response to climatic and sea-level fluctuations

Groundwater resources of low-lying atoll islands are threatened due to short-term and long-term changes in rainfall, wave climate, and sea level. A better understanding of how these forcings affect the limited groundwater resources was explored on Roi-Namur in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. As part of a 16-month study, a rarely recorded island-overwash event occurred and the island’s aquifer’s response was measured. The findings suggest that small-scale overwash events cause an increase in salinity of the freshwater lens that returns to pre-overwash conditions within one month. The overwash event is addressed in the context of climate-related local sea-level change, which suggests that overwash events and associated degradations in freshwater resources are likely to increase in severity in the future due to projected rises in sea level. Other forcings, such as severe rainfall events, were shown to have caused a sudden freshening of the aquifer, with salinity levels retuning to pre-rainfall levels within three months. Tidal forcing of the freshwater lens was observed in electrical resistivity profiles, high-resolution conductivity, groundwater-level well measurements and through submarine groundwater discharge calculations. Depth-specific geochemical pore water measurements further assessed and confirmed the distinct boundaries between fresh and saline water masses in the aquifer. The identification of the freshwater lens’ saline boundaries is essential for a quantitative evaluation of the aquifers freshwater resources and help understand how these resources may be impacted by climate change and anthropogenic activities.

Water↗
USGS1996

Ground-water resources and contamination at Roi-Namur Island, Kwajalein Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands, 1990-91

A study was conducted on Roi-Namur Island, Kwajalein Atoll to define the extent of the freshwater lenses and recharge zones and to asses potential contaminant migration from known sources of contamination. Rainfall, which is the sole natural source of freshwater, is strongly seasonal and occasional multi-year droughts are capable of disrupting the island's water supply. The supply of freshwater is produced by a joint system of rain catchments and shallow wells. From 1980-91, rain- catchment yield and ground-water withdrawal average 22,632 and 5,829 gallons per day, respectively. Maps were produced showing the areal extent of freshwater, the thickness of the freshwater lenses, the water-table configuration and directions of ground-water flow, and contamination sites and potential migration pathways of contaminants. Sectional views of freshwater lens thicknesses and seasonal freshwater lens thickness changes were also constructed. The freshwater lens attains a maximum thickness of 23 feet beneath the central area of Roi where recharge is high. The estimated amount of water in the lenses with chloride concentrations less than 250 milligrams per liter underlying Roi and Namur is 226 million and 4.2 million gallons, respectively. The presence of thick vegetation on Namur increases evapotranspiration losses significantly producing a smaller freshwater lens. Freshwater thicknesses shrank and expanded in a seasonal cycle as much as 3 feet near withdrawal wells. The water table forms broad mounds beneath Roi and Namur and freshwater heads reach a maximum of 1.4 feet. Most known sites of contamination lie near the periphery of the island where ground-water flow patterns will carry contaminants away from the withdrawal wells toward the shore.

Kwajalein Atoll, Roi-Namur Island↗
USGS1995

238U-234U-230Th chronometry of Fe-Mn crusts: Growth processes and recovery of thorium isotopic ratios of seawater

Comparison of ( ( 234 U)excess ( 238 U ) "> 234 U) excess ⁄ ( 238 U) and ( ( 230 Th 232 Th "> 230 Th ⁄ 232 Th ) activity ratios in oceanic Fe-Mn deposits provides a method for assessing the closed-system behaviour of 238 U- 234 U- 230 Th, as well as variations in the initial uranium and thorium isotopic ratios of the precipitated metal oxides. This approach is illustrated using a Fe-Mn crust from Lotab seamount (Marshall Islands, west equatorial Pacific). Here we report uranium and thorium isotopic compositions in five subsamples from the surface of one large 5 cm diameter botryoid of this crust, and from two depth profiles of the outermost rim of the same botryoid. The decrease of ( ( 234 U)excess ( 238 U ) "> 234 U) excess ⁄ ( 238 U) and ( ( 230 Th 232 Th "> 230 Th ⁄ 232 Th ) activity ratio with depth in the two profiles gives mean growth rates, for the last 150 ka, of 7.8 ± 2 mm/Ma and 6.6 ± 1 mm/Ma, respectively. All data points (surface and core samples) but one, define a linear correlation in the Ln ( 230 Th 232 Th − Ln ( 234 U)excess ( 238 U ) "> Ln ( ( 230 Th 232 Th "> 230 Th ⁄ 232 Th ) −Ln[ ( ( 234 U)excess ( 238 U ) "> 234 U) excess ⁄ ( 238 U) ] diagram. This correlation indicates that for all points the U-Th system remained closed after the Fe-Mn layer precipitated, and that the different samples possessed the same initial Uranium and thorium isotope ratios. Furthermore, these results show that the preserved surface of this Fe-Mn crust may not be the present-day growth surface, and that the thorium and uranium isotopic ratios of seawater in west equatorial Pacific have not changed during the past 150 ka. The initial thorium activity ratio is estimated from the correlation obtained between Ln ( 230 Th 232 Th − Ln ( 234 U)excess ( 238 U ) "> Ln ( ( 230 Th 232 Th "> 230 Th ⁄ 232 Th ) −Ln Ln ( 230 Th 232 Th − Ln ( 234 U)excess ( 238 U ) ">[ ( ( 234 U)excess ( 238 U ) "> 234 U) excess ⁄ ( 238 U) ] .

Lotab Seamount, Pacific Ocean↗
USGS1948

Reefs of Bikini, Marshall Islands

Systematic surveys made at Bikini before and after the atomi bomb tests (Operation Crossroads) in the summer of 1946 afforded an unusual opportunity to examine the reefs and islands of one of the larger atolls of Micronesia. The existing reef appears to be developed on an older surface that extends as a terrace into the lagoon and beyond the seaward margin of the reef. A sketch map shows the distribution of the terraces in relation to the existing reefs. Reef zonation is briefly described, and a classification of reef types based upon the characteristics of the marginal zone is presented. Illustrations are given from Bikini's reefs and those of near-by atolls. A sketch map shows the distribution of the reef types at Bikini relative to prevailing winds and currents. The processes of reef growth and unusual areas wherein the existing reef appears to be undergoing destruction are also described and figured.

Bikini Reefs↗