Sunny Sunday, September 30, 2018, The Heat, the Icky Ikiiki...

Cannot help:  ikiiki is "stifling heat and humidity".  And itʻs icky.  Itʻs been this way for a week or more.  Hilo has been fairly horrendous, mostly because I havenʻt made time to submerge in any number of icy waters along the Keaukaha shore.  And I cannot, much as I try, remember such weather.  Up here, Iʻve left windows open day and night, for a week, for the first time in three decades.  Notable...

But the shade is most pleasant, mostly vog-free skies still amaze, and early morning walking to Keanakākoʻi is excellently quiet, cool, and relatively unpopulated.  Iʻm thinking that although many are happy that The Park has reopened, they may be disappointed if visitors donʻt return full-force.  There is no molten rock to be seen, no glow at sunset, no hiking across the coastal plain in search of flowing pāhoehoe.  Or, to be more precise, one can hike and search away, but itʻll be a fruitless endeavor.

So we do what we do...This morning it was a short-notice gathering of friends, "What you doing?  Come up!"  "You up here?  Come over!"  "What??? You where??? In the plane on Oʻahu ready to take off to Taiwan??!!  Good one.  Next time then..."  And in early morning cool winds we walked.  To the edge of Kaluapele and marveled yet again.  And the nēnē flew over, and the lighting was excellent, and the countless wisps and plumes of steams and vapors wafted this way and that, and I wished, really wished, that I had wide-angle vision, so I could sit and stare transfixed without headturning.  But so it goes.  And then we brunched on frittata, and salad, and lemon squares, and hijiki-shiitake-carrot rice, and tamagoyaki, and crusty baguette with fig jam, and strong coffee, and I am so very grateful and happy to, and for, my friends!!!  We all so lucky!

And here we are.

Our friends at USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (remember The Three Months???) have compiled a tidy Fact Sheet:

2018 Summit LERZ (Lower East Rift Zone) Fact Sheet

Great info, easily digestible, extremely concise and informative.

Pretty sure itʻs not only me, but it seems that Iʻm awakening from a dream.  That The Three Months happened to someone else somewhere else.  Odd.  And yes, I still miss our lūʻōniu.  And that discombobulated frame of mind I kinda miss too.  Never satisfied.

So hereʻs something cool:

Itʻs the Summit Tilt in blue, and Puʻuʻōʻō tilt in green.  Summit down, Puʻuʻōʻō up, but not particularly concerning according to geologist friends.  ʻŌlaʻi (earthquakes) are still few and far between...

The thing I found interesting a few days ago, was the consistency of the shapes of the blue line.  Looks like pictures Iʻve seen of the Grand Teton range.  But so regular.  And in the middle of the day.  And why???  TryRead:

Volcano Watch for 092718

Short answer:  Middle of the day, up here, HOT and clear.  A diurnal or quotidian (that word again!), or happening every day, cycle.  Good to note.  

And because Iʻm really visual and really like nice pictures:

I REALLY wish I had planned ahead, done the research, and gone walking at the proper time that morning.  But I had to go town...

And below, from the Photos & Video section on the HVO webpage:

HVO Webpage


First, in Keahialaka, the Leilani Estates subdivision and Fissure 8 and its māwae (channel).  Note again how the leeward side of the vent (to the left and bottom right) is still greenish, while the windward (at the bottom) is brown and sulphur-burnt tephra-stripped.  Tephra is volcanic products (cinder, reticulite, Peleʻs hair and tears, etc.) that fall from the sky during fountaining.

Then below, at Kapoho.  Waiapele (a.k.a. Kapoho Crater, Kapoho Cone, Green Mountain) at the upper left.  The green lake of Waiapele was filled in by pele.  And too, Pele simply filled in the gap between the 1960 flow (left photo at top), and the 1955 flow (left photo at bottom).  I hope that we are no longer surprised when pele flows where She is supposed to.

And more, I hope and trust that our Government Officials understand that rebuilding infrastructure at our expense (or ANY expense) is a Foolʻs Errand in the long term.  And residents and former residents need to understand that too.  I hope.  

I feel a rant coming on, so with that, Iʻll go enjoy the rest of this beauty full afternoon.

Thisʻll be a crazybusy week, but I hope to post something nevertheless.

If any are interested in archaeology, the Society for Hawaiian Archaeology is holding their annual conference in Hilo this coming weekend.  Registration is $120 for members, $140 for nonmembers:

SHA Conference

Till next time, as always, with aloha,

BobbyC
maniniowali@gmail.com