UH Hilo marine science alumna Julia Hill interns on expedition mapping Pacific seafloor
Just finishing up a research expedition in the Equatorial Pacific, Julia Hill says her interest in mapping and geology started after taking a course in geological oceanography her junior year at UH Hilo.
A marine science alumna from the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo has just completed a seafloor mapping expedition with the Ocean Exploration Trust, a nonprofit that conducts Pacific expeditions aboard the exploration vessel Nautilus, a 68-meter research vessel.
Julia Hill, a UH Hilo 2023 graduate with a bachelor of science in marine science, took part in offshore seafloor mapping of Howland and Baker Islands, two uninhabited U.S. atolls in the Equatorial Pacific. The 26-day expedition began Sept. 28 in Pago Pago, American Samoa, and ended Oct. 25 in Koror, Palau. Hill served as a seafloor mapping and hydrography intern as part of the trust’s Science and Engineering Internship Program.
“We use multibeam sonar to collect our data and deploy an expendable bathythermograph (XBT) to acquire the sound velocity for accurate sonar mapping,” says Hill in an online interview with the trust. XBT is a probe used to measure ocean temperature.
Howland and Baker Islands lie just north of the equator, about 1,800 miles southwest of Hawaiʻi. They are low-lying, sandy coral islands ringed by narrow fringing reefs and surrounded by deep ocean.
According to the trust’s website, it is one of the least explored regions under U.S. jurisdiction. The expedition’s mapping crew captured high-resolution depth readings in areas where no or little mapping data exists. The team prioritized seamounts, guyots (flat-topped mountains), ridges, and margins around the islands.
“Going to school in Hawaiʻi was one of the best decisions I could have made”
Hill was born and raised in San Diego, California, before attending UH Hilo.
“As a child, I was always known to wander off and explore while I was with my family camping in national parks or on the beach collecting shells,” she says. “I believe I have carried that curiosity with me into adulthood by always wanting to learn more especially if it means more wandering.”
While at UH Hilo she worked as a volunteer in Professor Adam Pack‘s Marine Mammal Laboratory helping to catalogue data to be used in artificial intelligence recognition software that identifies individual humpback and sperm whales using the trailing edge of their fluke.
- UH Hilo’s Marine Mammal Lab contributes to milestone humpback whale study (UH Hilo Stories, Feb. 29, 2024)
Her interest in mapping and geology started after taking a course in geological oceanography her junior year at UH Hilo.
“Going to school in Hawaiʻi was one of the best decisions I could have made for studying this field because I was able to snorkel during class and learn about the reef ecosystem,” she says in a bio page on the Ocean Exploration Trust’s website. “After taking many college classes in oceanography, I began to understand so much more about the ocean than I though possible.”
“Since learning about all of the different disciplines in marine science my curiosity has only increased and I am so excited for what will come next in my marine science endeavors,” she says.
Hill says a very important lesson she’s learned since graduating is “to have confidence in oneself to succeed in whatever field you pursue.”
“I believe that networking with people in this field is key to success,” she says. “Maintaining good relationships with people has helped me advance my career and made me feel less alone in my struggles. I have found lifelong friends just by opening up and talking to different people in classes and internships.”
Hill is currently working as a deckhand for boats much smaller than the exploration vessel Nautilus.
“I hope to apply what I have learned from my undergrad, this internship, and my job to further my career aboard ships studying the ocean.”
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Story by Susan Enright, a public information specialist for the Office of the Chancellor and editor of UH Hilo Stories. She received her bachelor of arts in English and certificate in women’s studies from UH Hilo.
