The Role of Climatology in the Hawaiian Sugar-Cane Industry: 
An Example of Applied Agricultural Climatology in the Tropics 1 
Jen-hu Chang 
Climatological study in the Hawaiian sugar- 
cane industry has a long, noteworthy history. 
Meteorological observations on the plantations 
were initiated in 1883, preceding the establish- 
ment of the first official weather bureau station 
in Hawaii by fully 20 years. The climatological 
network in the cane-growing areas expanded by 
leaps and bounds to 50 stations at the turn of 
the century, and to 500 stations in I960 in an 
area of only 350 sq miles (Fig. 1). 
In the late 1920’s and early 1930’s Das ( 1928, 
1931 a, 1931 b 9 1932) used the rainfall and tem- 
perature records to define the effect of climate 
on crop yield and juice quality in a simple, direct 
manner. He also advocated the use of day-degree 
as a guide to irrigation control (Das, 1936). 
Investigations along the same line of climate- 
and-plant complex were carried further by Wil- 
liams (1933), Borden ( 1940, 1949), Clements 
(1940), Swezey (1942), and others into the 
early 1940 s. 
At the end of World War II meteorologists, 
freshly relieved from their wartime duties, were 
able to turn their attention to a multitude of 
peacetime problems. The Hawaiian sugar in- 
dustry promptly seized this opportunity. The 
Experiment Station and the Pineapple Research 
Institute founded their joint Meteorological De- 
partment in 1946 and contracted with a group 
of meteorologists at the University of Chicago 
to investigate dynamic and regional climatology 
of Hawaii. The culminating results of this in- 
tensified research were a series of papers in the 
Meteorological Monographs, discussing the gen- 
eral circulation, weather types, local flow pat- 
terns, rainfall statistics, and the like. Such studies 
inevitably led to the improvement of forecasting 
and furnished valuable information for opera- 
tional planning. 
At the half-century mark, when weather 
1 Contribution No. 121, Experiment Station, Ha- 
waiian Sugar Planters’ Association, Honolulu, Hawaii. 
Manuscript received June 14, 1962. 
modification was a new subject, the industry 
embarked upon an intensive study of cloud seed- 
ing. Leading scientists from seven research in- 
stitutes in the U.S.A. and abroad participated 
in the so-called "Project Shower.” It was hoped 
that the Hilo coast, with its humid trade winds, 
would provide an ideal environment where rain- 
fall could be induced by the addition of chemi- 
cals to the warm clouds; it was soon realized, 
however, that scientific know-how of artificial 
rainfall was probably still decades away. The 
project nevertheless produced valuable informa- 
tion in the field of cloud physics. 
Realizing the limitations upon man’s ability 
to modify weather on a grand scale, the industry 
sought instead to improve the efficiency of water 
use through the study of micrometeorology. In 
1957 an evapotranspiration project was initiated 
at the Experiment Station. Apart from its ob- 
vious application in irrigation planning, the de- 
termination of potential evapotranspiration pro- 
vides a vital link for solving the energy budget 
and water balance equation in the soil-plant 
system. The solution of these equations renders 
the climate-and-yield relationship amenable to 
quantitative treatment. 
Climatological study in the Hawaiian sugar 
industry thus encompasses a wide variety of 
topics. More than 50 papers have appeared in a 
dozen scientific journals. The industry ranks 
among the leaders in the study of agricultural 
meteorology. The experience gained during the 
past three decades may very well benefit research 
workers in other parts of the world, especially 
those in the tropics. This paper attempts to 
summarize these studies. It is hoped that such a 
stock-taking will not only serve as a reminder 
of our past accomplishments but also as a guide- 
post for planning future research. 
TRADE-WIND WEATHER 
The subtropical high pressure cell in the Pa- 
cific Ocean with its attendant trade wind is the 
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