Thursday morning, May 27, 2021. So they say...

Dear Readers:  Itʻs all interesting.  The blog platform wants me to TryLater to upload images.  So.  

I wrote the above early this morning, then attended to commitments.  Then this afternoon, I tried again, successfully.  Technologies and their limitations, frustrations, quirks, etceteras... 

A study in pastels, as the sun rose this morning, from the Maunaloa Strip Road.  Just to the right of the horizon tree, trade-carried mists and fogs drift to the right side of the image.

And then, from the HVO thermal webcam this morning.  Not much has changed...

Following is a link to webcams: 

Kīlauea webcams 

NOTE that youʻre able to navigate (I hope) the HVO site and look at Photos, Monitoring, Deformation Data and what-la...

Just in case the below isnʻt legible, hereʻs a link to the Kīlauea UPDATE page:

Kīlauea Updates

Of note, above, in the (14) Remarks:  there remains some seismic tremor, weak inflation, an increase in shallow tectonic (earth adjustment) earthquakes..."These observations indicate that the eruption in Halemaʻumaʻu...has paused."  Has paused.  Not stopped.

The News Flash of the day, courtesy of our reliable Star Advertiser on Oʻahu:

"The eruption on Kilauea Volcano on Hawaii island is has stopped paused after more than five months, the U. S. Geological Survey said today."

And merely observing, and not quibbling...seems a bit premature to declare the eruption "Over".  From April 23 to May 4, the depth of the loko ahi was "stuck" at 744 feet, though SO2 was in the 300 - 475 tonnes per day range.  And, as we observed during the 35 years of Puʻuʻōʻō, there were pauses, starts, pauses, new vents, etc.  All part of extremely complex processes, causes of which are known only to Pelehonuamea.  Iʻve learned, repeatedly, that predicting, prognosticating, and plain statements often lead to disappointment or embarrassment.  We simply do not know whatʻs next.

We shall see...

In the yard last Monday, the fresh brilliance of just unfurled pepeʻe hāpuʻu, a bit shocking in the otherwise understated forest.  And again, that combo of green and the blue of sky that tugs at my heart.

As always, with aloha,

BobbyC

maniniowali@gmail.com

Wednesday, May 26, 2021. Glows, moons, crusts, plants: Topics

 Whew!  Re-entering the buzz of society has been...interesting, challenging, with a bit of apprehensive scariness, despite being vaccinated.  Like being physically out of shape, one must ease into exercise.  Body, brain, all same same.  The speed of thinking and reacting has accelerated, and itʻs been an interesting transition.

Summer has apparently arrived.  Hopefully, this time isnʻt a false alarm.  This past Monday was HOT, aided by Kona winds and lots of sunshine.  Iʻm happy, and pray that the warmth (and dryness here) lasts, as it has so far.

First, about the works of Pelehonuamea:

ghostly purpled pit

loko ahi once seething

for now crusted calm

Above, on Monday, May 24, 2021, that one bright dot on the floor.

Below, also on May 24, from the HVO webpage, a bit of glow from the west vent spatter cone complex in the fume at the left, and the dot on the papa, the floor of Halemaʻumaʻu.

Below, last Friday the 21st, a hotter papa...

And as with many terms in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi, there are many descriptors for "glow", with subtle, but important differences.  I am far from qualified to discern varieties, but reading, learning, considering is always enlightening.  Hmmm... Pun Intended???

So.  You can come visit night time, and enjoy moon and/or starglow, but for as long as She decides, pele glow is skyabsent...  And please, please, please...no one I know and respect is saying that the eruption is over, and I trust that you wonʻt either.

And so Nani Wale ka Mahina...the beauty of the moon never fails to entrance...specially when get eclipse.  Have seen eclipses of the moon, I wasnʻt inclined to stay up late.  But hf did and shared this:

At totality, hf commented:  "Interestingly, the moonʻs north limb (top) retained a bit of brightness...and the red color never developed fully, perhaps because the moon was just past meridian rather than near the horizon."  And that dot to the left???  A star, HIP 79524, 125 light-years away, whilst mahina is about 1 light-second away.  "Light-" is how far light travels during the stated time.

In ʻEwa Beach, meanwhile, from ln:

And, below, back to the Island of Hawaiʻi, from the HVO webcam on the Maunaloa Strip Road.  Click "Save" at the right time... at 750p last evening, looks like daytime.  Antares below mahina at the left, and our best friend Hanaiakamalama, the Southern Cross at the right.  Alpha and Beta Centauri, pointing from between clouds, at the top of the Cross.

Though Iʻve pointed this out before, the proper name for Moku o Keawe in ʻōlelo haole, is Island of Hawaiʻi.  Perhaps more might use that, rather than, at least for me, the nails-on-blackboard "Hawaiʻi Island".

[[NOTE:  Mahalo piha to hk for a kāhea pointing out an error in the paragraph above.  Sometimes fingers and brain donʻt always align, and for that, I apologize.  So.  "Moku o Keawe" or "Island of Keawe" is a traditional name for this island, Keawe being a famed Kona aliʻi centuries ago.  The language pattern, "Island of Xxxxx" is what I intended to point out.  As in Island of Hawaiʻi.  I did not intend to say that Moku o Keawe translates to Island of Hawaiʻi, which, of course, it doesnʻt. ]]

I persistently persist in trying to alter habits...

Sunday last, I joined a small group of friends to niele about a shore in Kaʻū.  VERY cool plant communities.  Shoulda brought a ruler (or something) for scale.

A hāliʻi nui (big blanket) of pāʻū o Hiʻiaka, a beach morning glory with pua liʻi (little flowers).  Theyʻre most often a pale blue.  When Pelehonuamea decided to go surfing at Hāʻena, she left baby sister sleeping on the sand.  Pele was gone awhile, sun got hot, and so the vine grew and blanketed Hiʻiaka.

ʻIlima papa, center bottom, grows with a creeping ʻakoko, a rare endemic Euphorbia, in pōhaku.  Practically no soil to speak of, and with very little seasonal rain, ʻakoko persists.

Nehe, an endemic member of the daisy family, a Composite with tiny leaves, also in bare pāhoehoe.

Kaunaʻoa, our endemic dodder.  Itʻs the floral symbol of Lānaʻi, and is a parasite, here being sustained by its host ʻilima.

Beautiful ʻIlima: Martin Pahinui

Below, kaunaʻoa befriended ʻakoko...

And then, rare for our fair isle, hinahina (Heliotropum anomalum), with leaves covered with tiny hairs to deflect sunlight, making it appear silvery grey to our eyes.  Growing amongst naupaka kahakai, itʻs a very very unusual pairing, but a strikingly beauty full one.

OK?  Variety is enjoyed.  

NOTE:  For those interested in eruption histories and the politics of land development, my frustrations with the continued spending of LOTS of our money to Recover and Rebuild in Puna ma kai after the 2018 lava flows, prompted me to submit a piece to Civil Beat, based on Oʻahu.  They published it yesterday:

Rebuilding in Puna ma kai is folly

Till next time, then...

As always, with aloha, for ʻIlima,

BobbyC

maniniowali@gmail.com

Saturday, May 15, 2021. The glow is...(almost, sometimes, for now pēlā paha) gone???

 Winter lingers.  False alarms of impending summer blare with hot days and warm nights, and then...chill rains return.  I optimistically turned off the propane heater pilot on May Day, only to re-light it yesterday afternoon.  Itʻs been challenging, but what you going do???  Meanwhile, lehua bloom, the first very young greens of ʻōhelo kau lāʻau are revealing themselves, and pepeʻe continue to unfurl.  

April 13, 2021

May 14, 2121

A month to reach full height, though as seen above, the fresh oho (fronds) are still ʻūpalu (floppy and fragile).  For scale, the pahu wai (water tank) is nearly eight feet tall.

oho

nvi.

1. Hair of the head; leaves of plants; fronds of ferns (see ex., ʻūpalu); to leaf out, sprout. Cf. lauoho. Oho kā hoʻi ka ulu ʻana o ka palai, the ferns are growing and sending out leaves.

ʻū.palu 

1. vs. Gentle, mild, soft-spoken, soft, tender, fragile, languid. Ua ʻūpalu wale ke oho o ke kupukupu, the kupukupu fern fronds are soft.

Also growing are liko, the young shoots of plants.  I trust that you remember the Latin binomial, the two names, Genus species, of ʻōhiʻa lehua:  Metrosideros polymorpha.  From Wikipedia:  The name is from the Ancient Greek [metra = heartwood, sideron = iron] and the Latin [poly = many, morpha = forms].  The genetic diversity of ʻōhiʻa is mindboggling.  Every tree, unless theyʻre air-layered, grown from cuttings or whatla, every tree is unique.  In often subtle ways, flowers vary.  Leaves may be pubescent (furry) or glabrous (smooth and shiny), and too, the liko are all different.

And just to throw you off...above, nestled in uluhe, is liko ʻōhelo.  Serrated edges, and veiny surfaces, but red like the liko lehua below.  Red liko lehua is a tea favorite to soothe coughs.  And, Back In The Day, it was a favorite for lei in Hālau o Kekuhi.  Not everyone knew where the best patches were.  Kinda like asking "Where you got the kou?" (to make that bowl).  Or "Where you got the limu kohu?"  No ask because they not going tell.

Liko, though they are all leaf shoots of ʻōhiʻa, vary.  So do ao, the generic for "cloud".  I had occasion to go Oʻahu for a few days last week, and from the same window during my stay:

Pretty wow-ful!  Watching that squall was mesmerizing...

And mesmerizing too is watching the loko ahi, or at least the active pele portion shrink.  January 3, 2021, the entire loko ahi was molten.  The Kamapuaʻa-shaped moku lanaau, the drifting island, had yet to run aground, and other islets were clotting on the surface.

Today, we can see the ghost of the boundary of the loko ahi, and in the center, the darker shadow of Kama.  The two little active areas are hot and not-so-hot by turns, but clearly, Her activity has diminished.  Maybe starting Wednesday last, there was little to no glow to be seen.  And unless and until Pelehonuamea is reinvigorated during this cycle, we can expect that the glow will be absent.  Mostly.  There is always potential for systemic perturbations, so all we can do is TryWait...

Below, the newest webcam rests on a down-dropped block on the east side of the Lua.  If you look good, on the left-hand side, you can see that the surface, the papa, of the loko ahi has lifted much as a pancake being cooked rises.  The edges slope down to where they cleanly meet the wall of Halemaʻumaʻu.   

And one of the very best, well-timed "accidentals", is the gliding koaʻe seen below.  That brightwhite speck...  The west vent complex of spatter cones is at the left, perhaps 50 feet tall and fuming lightly.  Measurement of SO2 last Thursday, May 13 was 115 tonnes.  Pretty low.  Amount of SO2 generally correlates with flux or pele, another indication of waning activity.  Compare to 1,100 tonnes on March 19, 2021.

Too, the HVO webcam screenshot below captures concentricities on the papa.  Lighting is such that shadows allow us to observe various lake levels, terraces, and the amazing complexities of the work of Pele.  

Another spectacular photo by Janice Wei from the Hawaiʻi Volcanoes NP Facebook page.  At dawn, a full moon about to set behind Maunaloa, with a billow of ao māhu hanging over Kaluapele.

April 27, 2021, JWei

And, we are mesmerized too, watching remotely, Hānaiakamalama, Crux, or the Southern Cross stand nearly upright as Scorpio rises on the left side of the image.  That brightest hōkū at the left is Antares, at the bend of the scorpionʻs body.  A bit of glow emanating from Halemaʻumaʻu, and, at the right, Hānaiakamalama.

Last, but certainly not least:  Three Years Ago today, at 1107a, I took this from HWY11 looking past Kūkamāhuākea to The Amazement.  It was the first BIG ash emission. Utterly silent, and yes indeed, mesmerizing, and scary, and awesome, and...

Till next time, then...As always, with aloha,

BobbyC

maniniowali@gmail.com