Kīlauea Update, Friday, June 15, 2018, Miscellanea

Well, as usual, when a pattern seems to be established, reality slaps us.  Some expected another biggish exploquake last night, and none came.  An hour ago there were several closely spaced loft wobbles...where I sit while typing.  Reminded me (again) that mayhaps I should move the computer downstairs.  

While I muse, mutter, and delay, Pelehonuamea continues her amazing works.  One project wouldʻve been more than enough, but what with the emptying of Puʻuʻōʻō (remember?), the awesome-to-behold and so far unquenchable river(s) originating in Keahialaka, and the complete remodel of her primary residence at Halemaʻumaʻu...I know..."wow".  Even "WOW" is insufficient.  And up here at the summit region of Kīlauea, Halemaʻumaʻu isnʻt the only feature being renovated.  Vast areas have been repainted with palegrey lehu (ash).  Peripheral māwae (fissures or cracks) continue to open, widen, and grow.  Shaking of the not-so-firm firmament, and our heads, continue too.

What a time!  How lucky (that doesnʻt seem like the right word, but...) that we are here to witness all this.  Read, research, delve, explore all you want, but being here and living through it all is...humbling.  Really, really, humbling.  You think youʻre in charge?  Not a chance!  You had plans to do X, Y, or Z?  So?  Too bad.  Deal with it.  We always need to remember that we are in the home of someone else.  Visiting.  

Pele isnʻt vindictive or mean or destructive.  She simply IS.  Sheʻs doing what sheʻs always done:  Create.  Make new lands, new topographies, reconfigure older ones, add some here, take some from there.  And then, with enough time, her sister Hiʻiaka will clothe the ʻāina, again, with verdure.  

Problems arise when we think WEʻRE the boss.  We build things, big and small, in places we shouldnʻt, because...because we donʻt know, we donʻt understand history, weʻve neglected to 

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

(again, with thanks to Hiilei Kawelo)

Or something.  

The hale continues to rumblewobble, and I expect (though I shouldnʻt) an exploquake sooner rather than later.  I DO NOT enjoy them, but what you going do???

We read Updates from USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.  Fountain heights at Fissure 8 continue to fluctuate between 200 and 100 feet or so.  Up down down up.  The puʻu being constructed of pōhāhā is now about 165 feet tall.  Pōhāhā, or tephra, is anything falling from the sky associated with fountaining lava.  And no, that does not include the "accidental take" of birds falling having been hit by semi-molten rock.

Again, I like seeing these images in early morning lack-of-light.  Contrast is better, and itʻs simple to discern the difference between flowing hot and not.

And then this screenshot from a USGS flight.  I marvel.  At that ninety-degree angle in the stream, and more, at the detour Pele made to drink of the waters of Waiapele, the cone pictured.  And she mustʻve been really thirsty, because she drank it all.

And another thing about the image above.  The pele is redorange and MOVING.  Itʻs not crusted over, but is a wide open channel.  And weʻre about 7, maybe a little more, miles from the source (to the right).  Observing allows us to assess the volume of the flow, and its speed in a very basic sort of way.

Try Look at the Photos & Video on the HVO webpage:

HVO Photos & Video

See the fountaining Puʻuʻōʻō when it was a child?  Right under the image is "Deformation", and under that is "Photos & Video".  Click on that.

Among the images and scenes taken along our newest shore are pictures of new black sand beaches.  They form when 2,000+ degree Fahrenheit lava meets the sea and shatters or explodes.  Sand is instantly created and collects in favorable pockets.  Those sand particles are sharp, glassy, and very black.  Not very rompable.  Especially when the beaches are washed by KaiWELAWELA (HOT sea water).  All that brownish funny-kine looking water offshore is full of suspended sand and other exploded detrita like limuopele.  The limu forms when sea water is trapped under flowing lava, instantly flashes to steam and blows bubbles up through the molten pele.  The skin of the pele stretches, freezes, shatters, and is wafted by winds.  The photo below is by Ken Hon at UH Hilo.  Pieces are about 2" across.

And finally, for today, hereʻs something I wrote way back when...with thanks to Dick Moore, formerly at HVO, for the phrase "vesiculated shattered fragments"...

In case any of you are wondering, I worked at Hawaiʻi Volcanoes off and on, starting in July 1982, till I retired 5 years ago.  And I was fortunate to have spent thousands of hours on the coast watching pele flow and sharing that experience with visitors.  Memorable.   To say the least.

Till tomorrow... as always, with aloha,

BobbyC