Tuesday, January 5, 2021. Warmth of the Sun, Watching Pelehonuamea...

 Ahhh...Clear sky, warm sun, and She continues.  After the extensive data dumps the past two days, deep breathing is a good thing.  A few things to tidy up, clarify, and expand a bit on...

Those images of moonrise, purported headlights, and "Where are we?".  Here are a couple samesame pics. First, annotated with locations.

And second, the impetuous "headlights at Kīlauea Overlook"scene.  The refracted reflected images of mahina rising between Kūpinaʻi Pali and Puʻupuaʻi...  Kīlauea Overlook is way off the left edge of the frame.

Pele continues to erupt in Halemaʻumaʻu.  That brightness at the bottom of both images is a dome fountain.  Below, a closeup at 830a this morning by BCarr at HVO.

Not too much earlier, the steep tube from vent to loko pele broke open.  The little dome is an upwelling.  The dull reds on the cone complex are areas of lava and tephra that are thermally oxidized.  Iron in the lava has oxidized (rusted), because it was/is baked by heat.  White slopes are encrusted with various mineral precipitates.

If you visit the USGS HVO Photos and Video page for today, January 5, 2021, you can enjoy and learn from several different short videos:

January 5, 2021 Photo and Video Chronology

And perhaps learn, muse, wonder about ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi terms related to pele.  I compiled the following from the Hawaiian Dictionary.

I suggest that we view our surroundings differently than the people of old.  Perceptions vary, and vocabulary and expressions can vary too.  We want to talk about what we see, but experiences often leave us at a loss for how to describe them.  We do the best we can...

Aside from small, incremental change, like the lava tube breaking open, fluctuations in the level of loko pele, the surrounding kaulu (ledge) being resurfaced and increasing in height, and moku lana au slowly drifting, and... main thing is Pele is home.

The UPDATE for today:

And, appended to the Updates on the HVO site, a succinct Hazard Analysis, mostly about polalauahi (vog):

Smaller islets are adrift too...and Kama, using ones imagination, still looks puaʻa-ish.

And finally today, to provide some context for Waiakāne pictured yesterday, though I havenʻt done it in way way too long, drifting in warm sea is a favorite pastime.  In Kahuwai Bay, October 7, 2014:  the little rock Iʻm looking toward is the top edge of the outlet of Waiakāne.  Note the noeʻuahi (haze) making the sky a slightly less lovely blue.

Good to go...

As always, with aloha,

BobbyC

maniniowali@gmail.com