A still, sunny morning, blue skies here, but voggy there...The excitement about elemental Pelehonuamea again revealing herself in her home Halemaʻumaʻu is perhaps diminishing as her uahi ʻawa (bitter, pungent sulphur smoke, a.k.a. vog) envelops us. Of course it remains to be seen how long Her visit lasts, and of course we manage as best we can, though already I miss crisp clear views.
From an HVO Maunaloa cam on November 27, 2020:
And the same view with slackish winds this morning:
A classic "No can help" situation.
So. As I did a couple years ago, I mostly compile and share information. I visit various sites, mainly the web page of the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, and encourage all of you to wander.
I muse and wonder and often go off on tangents, but find that most bits of info are useful to some to some degree.
I sometimes forget, and get frustrated, that many others lack my (unique?) perspective on our surroundings. How can people not know that the M4.4 ʻōlaʻi at 1037p Sunday night, December 20 last was a separate event unrelated to Pele announcing her presence at 929pm-ish that same night? The earthquake an aftershock of the M6.9 of May 4, 2018, and the eruption, well... thatʻs what Pele does...
And so I try to clarify, remind, and move on.
A cool thing about the filling of Halemaʻumaʻu is the floating island. We can watch it drift, albeit ever so slowly. The F1 webcam (first on the list below) has been my best friend. Its thermal imagery offers clarity through the 30,000 tonnes of Sulphur Dioxide exhaled daily from the pele.
[From Wikipedia: The tonne (/tʌn/ ( listen) or /tɒn/; symbol: t) is a metric unit of mass equal to 1,000 kilograms. It is commonly referred to as a metric ton in the United States. It is equivalent to approximately 2,204.6 pounds, 1.102 short tons (US) or approximately 0.984 long tons (UK).]
Plus the thermal imagery has a fun color palette...Dates and times are useful. I have a series of these, but wonʻt bore you with tiny incremental change. I will say that the first image below reminds me of one of those deep deep sea denizens, fish with huge eyes to allow them to make out things in the dark dark. And red fish is a traditional offering, a mōhai, for Pele.
I wondered last night whatʻll happen when the vent is drowned by the lake? And one thing I thought is that maybe not much, other than perhaps increased circulation of molten pele with plates overturning and gas bubbles bursting. Kinda like happened in Halemaʻumaʻu from 2008 to 2018. And Kīlauea Iki, and Puʻuʻōʻō, and... As long as pele ascends and plumbing is under positive pressure, the lakeʻll keep rising. I think.
Always remember that systems are dynamic, and sometimes seemingly whimsical. We cannot know or predict whatʻll happen. Just gotta
be outside...pay attention noho i waho...a maliu
or TryLook the webcams.
And too, always remember that this isnʻt the first time...
Below is a picture of a picture in "The Volcano Letter", Smithsonian Institution Press, 1987. TVL was published by HVO from 1925 to 1955, and is awesomely excellent, filled with details and details...
And then Volcano Watch for June 18, 2015 has this photo and excellent Halemaʻumaʻu lava lake summary info:
Looking southwest across the surface of Halema‘uma‘u lava lake on January 23, 1918. Jagged "crags" of stranded, solidified lava rise as much as 30 m (100 ft) above the surface of the lake. A natural levee separates the smooth surface of the active lava lake from overflows of pāhoehoe in foreground. Photo by Thomas A. Jaggar, Jr.
Expect the unexpected...
And I had to chuckle when a friend and fellow curious person told me this morning, "This episode brings to mind your comments about naming caldera features. Something to the effect that: “Never mind will soon be gone anyway!” "
I had mused outloud about new names for sections of pali, and the new pali itself, and then thought "Why?"... Kinda like conversations folks had about Halemaʻumaʻu...what are we going to call the new pit? Ummmm Halemaʻumaʻu??? Itʻs perhaps new to us, but as the home of Pelehonuamea, itʻs been there for centuries, through many remodels and reconfigurations. Itʻs still Halemaʻumaʻu.
October 11, 2019... Iʻll work on getting a current view, dependent on behavior of knees! Looking across (west) from near Keanakākoʻi.
Iʻll close for now. The outdoors beckon. Hereʻs the morning Kīlauea Update:
As always, with aloha,
BobbyC
maniniowali@gmail.com
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