low lying clouds scud
crimson pompoms swaying there
brisk tradewinds blowing
Two years ago it was raining, or about to rain. Though some start The Three Months when Pelehonuamea revisited Keahialaka at about 5p on May 3, 2018, I start counting at 2p, Monday, April 30, 2018.
USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory Summary of 2018 Events
On April 27, 2018, I walked, as I very often did, from the Devastation Trail Parking Lot, along the closed-to-vehicles portion of Crater Rim Drive, to the September 1982 flow on the floor of Kaluapele, the caldera. Who knew that that would be the last time? Then, as now, lehua bloom.
If youʻve sharp eyes, perhaps you can spot the HVO and Jaggar Museum buildings on the far rim, just to the right of the right-most fume cloud emanating from Halemaʻumaʻu.
I had attended the Monday Morning Meeting at HVO that Monday, April 30, 2018. I remember the tone being fairly serious and concerned, with staff discussing recent overflows of the crater inset on the floor of Halemaʻumaʻu, and the ongoing and very noticeable inflation of the floor of Puʻuʻōʻō. Generally, inflation can be kind of abstract - recorded on instruments, but not particularly visible in the field. This instance was different. One could see inflation happening, and a "Heads-up" was noted for all heading to the field in coming days.
At 2p that afternoon, in foggy rains, the floor of Puʻuʻōʻō collapsed. Scientists werenʻt able to helicopter out there because of the weather, but were keenly tuned remotely to cameras and instruments.
In VERY laymanʻs terms, turns out shallow reservoirs on Kīlauea had been inflating for quite some time, as evidenced by the aforementioned signs at Halemaʻumaʻu and at Puʻuʻōʻō. The entire system was pressurized. Then there was, the afternoon of April 30, a rupture. The East Rift Zone suffered an aneurysm just downrift of Puʻuʻōʻō, and the breaking of internal structures allowed Pele to begin her travels so she could revisit former haunts. While Pele was headed ma kai, Her pele was sinking out of sight at Halemaʻumaʻu. It was as if a faucet had been turned on, and plumbing started to drain.
Above, under a beautifully decorated sky, the last of Pelehonuamea can be seen sinking out of sight, this photo from Jaggar Museum on May 2, 2018.
News Media accounts of the happenings, both at Kaluapele and at Keahialaka drove me to distraction with their inaccuracies and overblown hyperbole. Remember the flying cows and refrigerators? So I started this little blog. The first post was on May 1, 2018. Those first few are actually the content of emails I sent to friends to update them. Thatʻs why some links donʻt apparently work as they should, or why attachments (See the attached...) are missing. I started emailing on my hawaiiantel.net account. I exceeded carrying capacity there in several days. Then I migrated to gmail, and that lasted a week or so. Then a fateful visit with friends after a Robert Cazimero May Day Concert in Waimea led me to CM who got the blog rolling. And here we are. So please forgive the elementary early posts. Havenʻt had time or seen the need to change them. Theyʻre all part of The Record methinks.
[[Oh...just in case...Kaluapele is the traditional name for the caldera (big crater formed by collapse) of Kīlauea. The home of Pelehonuamea, Halemaʻumaʻu, is on the floor of Kaluapele. Then, Keahialaka is the ahupuaʻa (traditional land division) in which is located the subdivision of Leilani Estates.]]
So. The ground is shaking. A lot. And frequently. And weʻre all wondering...
On May 5, 2018, between 4p and 8p we had 19 earthquakes up here. They were shallow, very sharp, pretty violent, and effing scary:
The ʻōlaʻi (earthquakes) listed above are depicted below. All those orange dots in the center overlie a grey grid - the streets in Mauna Loa Estates, where I live.
I called TN who knows about these things...she said, Oh. Those are probably structural adjustments, likely to buried caldera-bounding faults, because the summit is subsiding because magma is draining... And she had to take another call. And Iʻm wondering... And??? Will the adjustments stop??? Will the summit stop subsiding??? Ummmmm
And then on May 15, after a phone call with ZT, I speed (at a leisurely pace) up to the Golf Course, and took this at the Jade Ave intersection on the Highway. WOW!!! Did I turn around and really speed down to town? Of course not... This was the first BIG ash emission of a protracted series.
While all that was going on up here, down in Puna ma kai, Pele had her fires on full display. A friend, Andrew Richard Hara, shared a few photos. Lots are available through his website: Andrew Hara Photographs
We know that 720 structures, mostly homes rented or owner-occupied, were burned as Pele made her way to the sea.
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| ARH 052518 |
And upon reaching the shore, she continued traveling underwater. The photo below is the best I know of showing roiling ocean, as very hot sea water rises from an underwater flow.
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| ARH 062018 |
Below is a screenshot from USGS Professional Paper 1676:
GoLookGoogle:
Though life is, and always will be, full of distractions, we must not forget... [Please note that in the edition of the Pukui / Elbert Dictionary used to verify Hawaiian spellings for this Professional Paper, "Kupaianaha" was spelled incorrectly as Kūpaianaha.].
Iʻm thinking either "naku" or "mōioio". Any language folks want to wade in with a comment?
"Hā ka moana" is a phrase found in "He kau no Hiʻiaka", a chant for a younger sister of Pele describing a very similar series of eruptive events at Kaluapele and Keahialaka a few centuries ago. Itʻs posted in my blog. "Hā" is to breathe or exhale..."Moana" is the ocean... The ocean breathes. And in the chant, "ocean" also means a lake of molten lava, as was found in Kaluapele.
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| ARH 062018 |
Just as these are even more amazing, and pūʻiwa-inducing... "Pūʻiwa", according to the 1865 Andrews Dictionary, is "a stupefaction on account of wonder". Indeed!!!
The first photo below, see the upper "Crater Rim Drive" arrow? It crosses a grey area, the September 1982 lava flow. Just left of the arrow is the road, and if you look REAL good, you can see the little ʻōhiʻa tree I visited on April 27, 2018, second picture from the top of this post.
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| USGS HVO 040920 |
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| USGS HVO 042120 |
Our eye at Puna ma kai is still operational, and sits as it did atop Puʻuhonuaʻula. This, this morning, with the drill rig at Puna Geothermal Venture at left, just to its right, on the horizon, is the hump of Kaliʻu, and immediately below it F8, with the big lava channel at right. This from the USGS HVO PGcam.
And then, this on June 20, 2018. Look familiar? Different camera, different lens, but you get the idea...
And because I shall always adore them, but mostly because they are emblematic and a favorite of Pelehonuamea, and of Hawaiʻi nei, Iʻll end with these. A JUST opening cluster of lehua, with tight pink petals and furry white coats.
The bloom is full, and we deeply appreciate their beauty and their symbolism...
Too, a PS:
Webcams, Seismic, Deformation, and Photos and Video, can all be accessed at the USGS HVO page: https://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/cams/
Data for Kīlauea for the past year is at: The Year in the Life of Kīlauea GoLook!
As always, with aloha,
BobbyC
maniniowali@gmail.com
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