Kīlauea Update, Tuesday, May 22, 2018, Not so random randomness

Trades continue to blow, a blessing for those of us here near the 4,000 foot summit of Kīlauea.  Seems like an ordinary early morn, filled with apapane and other birdsongs.  Fresh bright green fronds of hāpuʻu, as they continue to fill out and become sturdier, begin to droop with their weight. Our air is crisp and clean.  And then we expand our view and perspective...those new-fangled webcams have become a critical part of our seeing and learning.  Anywhere you like look...get.  Well...almost.

And Iʻm missing my morning walks with eb, from the Devastation Trail Parking Lot, along portion of the closed Crater Rim Drive to Keanakākoʻi overlook, and more recently to the floor of Kaluapele, where we turned around at the Closed Beyond This Point sign on the September 1982 Flow.  That eruption was the first I worked in uniform.  And yes, memories are vivid still, and I shanʻt quibble with details.

And we, all of us, at some point, miss places, and all associations with them.  Unlike tornado, hurricane, flood, tsunami, etc., after which basic landforms remain, when pele comes...Every Single Thing...is absolutely, irrevokably, gone.  Forever.  Except of course the winds, rains, and mea like that.  Punaluʻu, that pond, once a favorite on the coast just puna of the park boundary, is now buried under 100+ FEET of solid, entombing pele.  The entire landscape is fresh and new, and Hiʻiaka has commenced her work of greening.  And we commence getting reacquainted with the ʻāina.

Here (I hope itʻs legible on your end) is something I wrote in September 2014, after a holosolo to Keanakākoʻi (the crater named "the cave where the adzes were made"):

A caveat:  I write these so I remember...theyʻre personal, and so the imagery may be abstract or incomprehensible to you.  

HVO Updates on the other hand, provide us with succinct "Whatʻs happening" details, in my words:  Halemaʻumaʻu is apparently in a cycle of steam ash steam ash steam etc bigger ash steam increased seismicity and a bit more then ka-boom (but again, those, as far as I can tell, are to our ears, silent) then after her throat is cleared ash steamsteamsteam ash...

Steam this morning from the cam in the tower at HVO:

And almost the same time, below, from Volcano House.  Note the sunlit slope of Mauna Loa at the right of the image:

Earthquakes in the summit region seem to reflect the cyclical nature of ka-booms, this morning, relatively quiet after the explosion late yesterday afternoon:

At the coast:

Pele and her pele continue to work ceaselessly...When going stop?  When she stop...

TryLook at photos and video posted all over, but especially at the HVO site:

HVO Photos & Video

And my pal Andrew Richard Haraʻs VIMEO site:

Andrew Richard Hara media

The fountaining depicted reaches heights of 150 to maybe 200 feet.  Regular for right now.  They may increase or diminish, and when and if Pele gets bored or tired, maybe sheʻll move elsewhere up or down rift.  And media on the continent:  HUGE fountains, ANOTHER HAZARDOUS HAZARD!!! Yeahyeahyeah... Compared to everything else volcanic weʻve seen over our lifetimes, maybe not so much.

Of course the hulihia (catastrophic upheaval) of peoples lives can never be overstated, but Iʻd wager that most understand, on some level, that everything under our feet belongs to Pele.  Itʻs all hers, and she can, and she does, do what she wants, when she wants, where she wants, for as long as she wants.

Moving along...(I gotta get to town this morning...)

ʻŌlaʻi (earth quaking) on the LERZ (lower East Rift Zone) seems moderate.  USGS said yesterday of the region:

"This eruption is still evolving and additional outbreaks of lava are possible. Ground deformation has slowed and seismicity levels have decreased in the area. 

Future outbreaks could occur both uprift (southwest) and downrift (northeast) of the existing fissures, or, existing fissures can be reactivated. Communities downslope of these fissures could be at risk from lava inundation. Activity can change rapidly."

So basically, gang:

be outside...pay attention........noho i waho...a maliu

Fountaining depicted on the PGcam this morning:

Fountains...and note the fume and smoke being blown to the left, toward the sea, by the nighttime diurnal wind coming down from ma uka.

And the thermal image below from USGS shows that one of the ocean entries stopped as of noonish yesterday.  Very cool tech (pun intended...). White = hottest.

And finally, the USGS Flow Map from yesterday morning.  Compare to the above.

Headed out.  More tomorrow morning, or sooner if events warrant.

As always, with aloha,

BobbyC