Hurricane Flossie is on course to brush Hawaii's Big Island today, according to meteorologists, bringing up to 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain and waves up to 20 feet (6 meters) high.
The hurricane is currently a Category 2 storm with maximum winds reaching 110 miles (177 kilometers) an hour.
The tempest is drifting west-northwest about 200 miles (322 kilometers) south of Hawaii's seven inhabited islands.
While Flossie is not expected to make landfall, meteorologists predict that it might hit Hawaii's uninhabited northwest islands later this week—a region that includes the world's largest marine sanctuary.
But so far scientists see no serious risk to the sanctuary's millions of seabirds and rare animals.
"There's going to be some winds and rain," said Jason Baker, a marine biologist with the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center in Honolulu.
"But [it's] probably nothing unusual compared to the [regular] winter storms they get up there."
Rare But Persistent
In 2006 President George W. Bush designated the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands as a marine reserve, now called the Papah'naumoku'kea Marine National Monument.
These islands extend northwest from the populated islands like a 1,200-mile-long (1,900-kilometer-long) tail and include the famous World War II base at Midway.
(Related photo: "Troubled Hawaiian 'Treasure' to Welcome Visitors" [July 23, 2007].)
The reserve is meant to protect about 7,000 species, a quarter of which exist nowhere else on the planet.
For example, the islands are a breeding zone for the Hawaiian monk seal—one of the world's rarest marine mammals.
Despite the islands' unique wildlife, scientists aren't particularly worried about the hurricane's impact.
That's partly because Flossie is weakening as it moves northward toward cooler waters.
"I wouldn't expect it to have any effect on monk seals," Baker said.
Birds, though, might see some mortality.
"Sometimes when there are young birds in the nests and there's a huge amount of rain, the nests can flood," he said.
Still, he said, such storms are nothing out of the ordinary. Species that weren't able to handle them wouldn't be living there in the first place, he noted.
"It's something they've adapted to," he said. "These populations have persisted for a long time."
Research Camps
Even though the sanctuary is officially uninhabited, camps of summer researchers living in canvas tents on several of the islands are also having to brace for the coming tempest.
"We've been on alert for several days, telling them what they need to do," Baker said. "Basically, they batten down the hatches and weather it out."
The researchers are trained to move everything to the highest possible ground, secure their boats, and do their best to keep their equipment dry.
"It's kind of a regular event," Baker said.
"We have these field camps out there for four or five months a year, so we deal with this stuff all the time."
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