MAWAR 2023
of Guam.

Waking up one morning and as island residents of Guam, we were subjected to ferocious winds and periods of torrential downpour that knocked out electricity over the island. On the morning of May 23, 2023, following a night of fierce winds and lightning storms caused by Typhoon Mawar, we awoke to assess the damage. The typhoon knocked down many coconut and mango trees and caused widespread power outages across the U.S. Pacific territory. Schools were closed, the graduation ceremony was postponed, and many stores were without power or internet and accepting only cash. However, some ATMs were also down. Having suffered a terrible loss, we have come together to make the world aware of the force of nature and the effects it is still having on us.

Our project aims to investigate the effects that climate change has on the people of Guam. The earth's atmosphere will change over the next few decades, which will affect many areas of Guam life. Sea levels are rising, the air and ocean are getting warmer, and the ocean's acidity is increasing. Guam's coral reef ecosystems are predicted to be destroyed or severely damaged by these changes, which will also increase the flooding and typhoons causing damage, decrease the amount of freshwater available during the dry season, and increase the frequency of uncomfortable high air temperatures. 

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This project explores questions such as: How is Guam being impacted by climate change? What damages did Typhoon Mawar of 2023 cause to Guam in aspects of people’s life? We investigated more on the detailed information on : Climate Change and Coral Loss, Tropical Storms, Rising Sea Level and Coastal Flooding, Rainfall and Water Supplies, Ocean Pollution Levels, Inland Plants and Animals, and Human Health of Guam.

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The project was conducted by high school students mainly from Guam, California, Massachusetts, and South Korea. Through the focus of the research (site visits and semi-structured interviews) from September 2023 to Jan 2024. The main interview was conducted by In-House Attorney Patrick Sherman and Chief Financial Officer Heepil Yun, Guam Ukudu Power LLC;Kevin J.Reilly, a Fire Captain/Fire Chief at The Guam Fire Department;Luong Truong, an Air Pollution Environmental Health Specialist III of Guam Environmental Protection Agency.

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We published research paper on international journal, published a magazine on amazon, created two Typhoon Awareness App Games, wrote & illustrated a picture book, conducted three governmental agencies and published a student-run newspaper.  We have worked to get the best output together for the duration of 10 months. Global team met every Monday through zoom.

Research Paper: 

Since Typhoon Mawar of Guam broke out in May 2023, our team has researched on Climate Change of Guam and the Effects of It. Our paper was published in The Journal of Knowledge Learning and Science Technology (ISSN: 2959-6386). Journal DOI : doi.org/10.60087/jklst.vol2.n3.p312

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Ocean Awareness Magazine in Amazon:

A collection of articles of our team members from June 2023~Jan 2024 is an anthology aimed to investigate the effects that climate change has on the people of Guam. The earth's atmosphere will change over the next few decades, which will affect many areas of Guam life. Sea levels are rising, the air and ocean are getting warmer, and the ocean's acidity is increasing. Guam's coral reef ecosystems are predicted to be destroyed by these changes, which will also increase the flooding and typhoons causing damage, decrease the amount of freshwater available during the dry season, and increase the frequency of uncomfortable high air temperatures. This anthology is a collection of student's rephrased articles that explores questions such as : How is Guam being impacted by climate change? What damages did Typhoon Mawar of 2023 cause to Guam? The articles also contain detailed information on : Climate change and coral loss, Tropical Storms, Rising Sea Level and Coastal Flooding, Rainfall and Water Supplies, Ocean Pollution Levels, Island Plants & Animals, and Human Health of Guam.

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Typhoon Awareness App Games:

Two of our team members created APP games to spread awareness on Typhoon Mawar. Aiden's game was created to inform people how much plastic ends up in the ocean in an interesting way. The game accomplishes this by the objective being the diver picking up the trash, and at the end, showing statistics about how much plastic is being thrown into the ocean. Jaeyoung invented a game using MIT Inventor, to destroy the typhoons that spawn around the screen randomly. Once you destroy 20 typhoons, the game ends with a title screen saying “You Won! The background is Guam in the typhoon, which is dark and damaged. All the sprites that were used were the head and the typhoon.

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Cartoon:

Hank the whale explores the ocean when the Typhoon strikes Guam. He finds a sunken umbrella in the ocean and wonders what it is. While wondering, Hank meets Seagull and hears what is happening in Guam. Seagull talks about Typhoon Mawar in Guam and Hank gets shocked. While Hank is being sad, they decide to do something to support the people in Guam.