Our blessed moaʻe (a generic for trade wind) have returned. A couple things about that...During this time of the blooming of ʻawapuhi kāhili, or kāhili ginger, a nasty invasive imported from the Himalaya because of it beautiful inflorescences, I think that pollens are suspended in the air, and batches move about on breezes. Across the street this morning:
You can maybe make out the recurved tips of the leaves. White, yellow, and other ginger have flat leaves.
A bit of a geography refresher (thanks for asking, db)...Normal trades blow from the NE. The bad vog came when winds shifted to the E. Iʻm a little over 20 miles ESW of Keahialaka, source of tens of thousands of tons of SO2 daily. And Iʻm a little over 4 miles ENE of Kaluapele, so we feel every little creak and groan taking place at the summit.
And another casualty of our serious bout of uahi ʻawa last Monday, leaves of my Punaluʻu hibiscus are falling off. The vog lasted just a few hours, but damage was noticeable. Not surprising, since Oʻahu hibiscuses didnʻt have to adapt to vog.
TryRead about uahi ʻawa (vog):
Back to winds and ginger: A problem is Iʻm allergic to kāhili ginger (so named because of its resemblance to feather standards), and when those batches of pollen-laden air waft my way, the sneezing begins. And itʻs not only the sneezing. Worse are the rhizomes (underground stems) of kāhili ginger that form thick knobby mats, prohibiting other plants from growing and choking those already present. Up here in native rain forest that is NOT a good thing. And kāhili ginger sets a lot of seed in pods that are bright orange when they split open.
Birds eat the seed and distribute them far and wide. Thankfully not much of this applies to ʻawapuhi keʻokeʻo (white ginger), my favorite. Rhizomes arenʻt as thick, and the flowers donʻt seem to set seed. And, the scent of white ginger is different and very pleasing. To me. And others, like kuʻuhoa hk, are very fond of ʻawapuhi melemele (yellow ginger). And, although theyʻre invasive too, the gingers with white flowers and yellow, as well as other varieties, arenʻt as invasively bad, in my of course very subjective and humble opinion. And The Best white ginger is the one I saw in Waipiʻo decades ago. We were walking on the path to Waimā, and in the middle of the "road" was a giant patch of what I now call Waimā ginger: white with a bright yellow heart. Different and beauty full. I have one in my yard.
Side note of a tangential nature: Spread out your right hand flat. That looks like a plan-view of Waipiʻo. Your thumb is Hiʻilawe, index finger Waimā, then Koʻiawe, Alakahi and Kawainui. Five amphitheater-headed valleys in the back of Waipiʻo. And at Kawainui is the Waimanu Gap, leading to that valley. Eventually, because of headwall erosion, Waimanu and Kawainui will join. Eventually.
And here are two Waipiʻo songs by Robi Kahakalau, evoking the loveliness of that place. For a time, maybe in the late 70s, almost every weekend Iʻd walk down and cruise around. Just because. Fond memories. "Alolua" is a really cool word. One definition is "facing each other", as the pali do deep in the back of the valley. Somebody told me one time that the best loʻi (wetland kalo patches) are in the front of the valley because they get the most sunlight. Way back, Waipiʻo is so deep and narrow that hours of direct sunlight are diminished.
He Po Lani Makamae
Na Pali Alo Lua
And I forget the other thing about moaʻe I was going tell you...
So. Down at Puna ma kai, She still going. Though Pele seems to be contemplating her next moves, the Thermal Map shows us that sheʻs still very busy.
And I know I keep saying this, but no get cocky or sassy. There were some that thought houses remaining on the north edge of the flow field were safe after the initial onslaught seemed to "stop" at Kapoho. Then pele reactivated... The kahawai pele (lava stream) is a complex thing, and stuff happens: volume erupted, as we see below, fluctuates, lava bergs float down and create blockages, chunks of levee break off and cause blockages too, or gaps in the levee allow flows to move in new directions.
There are pulses in volume of lava being erupted. The following were taken by HVO over the course of four minutes a couple days ago:
And, while I was noodling around, watching the PG cam yesterday afternoon, I thought "Wow! She stopped?". Fifteen minutes later, when the next shot was posted: "Oh...I see"...then again, and again. Looks like longer duration and maybe more intense pulses. Why? Because...
And another repeat geographical note: The kinda pointy puʻu directly behind F8 is Kaliʻu, a location sometimes mentioned in chant.
And trying to figure out the internal processes of Pele and her pele is interesting and sometimes challenging. Cheryl Gansecki and gang at UH Hilo have been working to decipher geochemistry. Lava samples are collected as close to molten as possible, then quenched (quickly cooled) in water to preserve crystal distribution and structure, because that changes during the natural cooling process. Then samples are sliced super-thin and viewed under a microscope to see what minerals, and in what proportions, are present.
TryRead:
Volcano Watch 072718
And finally, because I forgot to include this days ago, hereʻs a link to information about those Wow! Lidar images of Halemaʻumaʻu. Thanks to KE for sending it to me originally, and Ipo for the reminder in yesterdays Comments. I may have forgotten because I havenʻt made time to figure out how to work the buttons to view the info. Enjoy...
Pūʻiwa-inducing LIDAR images of Kīlauea
OK? More in the morning... Enjoy the weekend.
As always, with aloha,
BobbyC
maniniowali@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment