Kaluapele

On the Island of Hawaiʻi, Kaluapele (the pit of pele or Pele) crowns the summit region of the volcano Kīlauea.

24 December 2020

Thursday, December 24, 2020. Polalauahi [Pola.lau.ahi] or Uahiʻawa [Uahi.ʻawa]?

 You know whatʻs interesting???  These CoViD times of stay home are much like those during The Three Months of 2018.  Except I was staying home because nobody knew what would happen, and I didnʻt want to be away if "something" did.  Thus the three months of writing time; an effort to occupy myself.  

Now, like many, Iʻm staying home much of the time, save for weekly or so trips to town (Hilo) for nūnī PT and groceries.  I try to get out for walks, but knees and legs arenʻt as cooperative as Iʻd like.  So today, I borrowed a wheelchair and was pushed to the beginning of the cinder path near Keanakākoʻi thanks to the generous kindness of jp.

And the view, long-missed but indelibly impressed, was much as recently remembered, save for puffs of fume rising out of unseen Halemaʻumaʻu depths.  And the polalauahi.  00On the way we saw Maunakea (barely)...look good, past the blooming molassesgrass just to the left of little dark puʻu Kūlani.


Puffs of uahiʻawa are exhaled, some we saw were very very lightly tinted pink...reflected from active pele circulating on the floor of the Lua.  And too, though too far away for phonelens camera, koaʻe kea were seen soaring between fume and wall.



And below from a very slightly different angle (note the group of three trees), last evening enjoyed by friends mak.  We mahalo them for sharing!



Compare the above to the previous...two of the three trees are off to the left of the frame.

So many different moods and lighting, itʻs not at all surprising I never tire of visiting.

So.  This morning, a friend, pl, shared a bit of poetry:

hoʻi mai ka polalauahi i Hilo
hoʻohiʻi ʻia e Pele
ua nalowale ka wai a Kāne
hoʻihiʻi ʻia ka maka e Pele

"Polalauahi" was new to me.  Turns out, according to Pukui and Elbert, itʻs "Haze, as during a volcanic eruption.  Rare." I love words that are "Rare", those little used gems.  Yesterday I mentioned "uahiʻawa", Lit.,"bitter smoke", the "Pungent sulphur smoke, as from a volcano".  I interpret these as uahiʻawa being the choking sulphurous gases close to vents, while polalauahi is generically "vog".  Not as pungent, but still irritating.  So mahalo piha to pl for my learning today.

The "maka" referred to was inspired by one of the many F1 webcam images Iʻve saved, watching the evolution of the surface of the lavalake, and more fascinating, the slow movement of the floating island, the iris of the maka (eye).


The primary vent, at the left edge of the maka is barely at the surface, if we judge temperatures correctly, though below, 4 minutes later at 152p today, it appears that a low spatter rampart encircles the upper part of the vent.  Both photos from similarly-placed HVO webcams.


I went town Tuesday, and had to put gas when I got back up the hill.  The source of vexatious noxiousness was apparent, even from the highway approaching Volcano during slack wind:


And then at Kūkamāhuākea (Steaming Flat) looking toward Wahinekapu and Kaluapele beyond:


And we read breathless accounts of rate of fill, projections of overflow of Halemaʻumaʻu, of when the floor of Kaluapele may be inundated, and I chuckle, yes, with a bit of annoyance:  No.  Body.  Knows.  Save for Pelehonuamea, and she doesnʻt share her thoughts.  All the statistics in the world makes not a difference, except to temporarily sate curiosities of the moment.  Que sera sera.  Love that song...

Tilt, this time for a Month, at both Uēkahuna (UWE) and Puʻuʻōʻō (POO).  Note the steep UP on 12/02 on the UWE graph, then 

see the plots of ʻōlaʻi during the summit intrusion on 12/2/20:


Map showing locations of earthquakes at Kīlauea’s summit on December 2, 2020. Motion detected by HVO’s GPS monitoring network is shown as green arrows.  The length of the arrow corresponds to the amount of motion and the direction it points shows the direction of motion.  Earthquakes are plotted as circles with color corresponding to the time of day they occurred, and size scaled according to earthquake magnitude.  The green box shows the minimum size of the magma intrusion, as constrained by ground deformation. The intrusion model shows opening of a rectangular surface with its top edge to the south-southeast that trends downward to the north-northeast at an angle of 40–60 degrees.  Black lines are local roads. 

For more detail about the intrusion, see the HVO Volcano Watch for December 17, 2020.

Todays Update:
Thatʻll be it for today...

As always, with aloha, and prayers for good health and common sense.

BobbyC
maniniowali@gmail.com

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