Dispatches from Volcano: Wednesday, October 6. 2021. Iʻve looked at clouds...

This breezywindy morning, early, I joined friends for a looksee at Uēkahuna, the NE part of the papa, the plateau. Maunaloa clear, Maunakea playing peek-a-boo with wind-driven ao, ao māhu hoʻokino rising from pit, blown and tattered by wind, and my mind went to Joni, via youtube

Joni Mitchell: Both Sides Now 1969

Joni Mitchell: Both Sides Now 2017

Her voice is remarkable, but remarks escape me. Acknowledging age is bittersweet, and before I fall down into the lua, Iʻll leave it at that.

I know... The vast land and sky scapes... and then you turn around...

And too, below, just right of the above scene. The fat ao māhu reminiscent of those in 2018 and 2019, taking shape (hoʻokino-ing) as māhu rose out of Halemaʻumaʻu.

māhu

1. nvs. Steam, vapor, fumes; to steam, exude vapor. Lola māhu hana alanui, steam roller for streets. hoʻo.māhu To create steam; to cook or soften food by steam; to steam.

And above, if youʻre able to look closely, on far horizon just right of ʻōhiʻa and ao māhu hoʻokino, are

Puʻukoaʻe, and the three Kamakaiʻa. Cone Peak is the dark one in front of Kamakaiʻa. No inoa ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian name) has yet been found for that. The fat ao is brownish and bluish because of sulphurs and carbon dioxides, and other not-good-to-breathes.

One is often left shaking oneʻs head at the incomprehensible unfathomable wonder of it all.

So start by learning what weʻre observing. Ao māhu above Kaluapele, puʻu on the Southwest Rift of Kīlauea where not far past them was our ʻōlaʻi last night. The puʻu are near the lonely yellow dot.

But NOTE: the summit region and Upper East Rift Zone, top right, are quiet-ish. Almost all Yellow. More than 2 days and less than 2 weeks old...

A sharp shake rolled through the hale south to north. PTSD heart racing... I. Do. Not. Like. Them.

Too, sometimes when you look down and observe...two pōhaku. The top one very dense, the lower vesiculated (full of puka). Both are likely lithic tephra exploded out during The Events of 1790. They were likely layered and buried during the growth of Kīlauea. Dense is likely the core of an ʻaʻā flow, or maybe a dike, and the puka puka one is vesiculated pāhoehoe.

"Hokele" according to SM Kamakau in "Ruling Chiefs of Hawaii":

A canoe kahuna must first own adzes, and these were not of iron but of stone. The best stone for the purpose was the hokele rock, the blue lava (ʻala' makahinu), and the pahoa, and the adzes were fashioned at the crater of Pele where the hokele rock was to be found; at Kaluakoʻi on Molokai; and at other places.

There are more than 200 workshops where koʻi (adzes) were fashioned at the summit area of Kīlauea, utilizing locally-sourced pōhaku hokele.

NOTE that the dusty fine-graveled granular surface is 1790 lehu (ash).

HVO has updated their extremely useful summit contour map:

The level of the loko ahi (lava lake) continues to rise, though a bit more slowly. Remember that Halemaʻumaʻu is cone-shaped. It filled very quickly early on, and now, more slowly. Pattern repeated this eruption and the previous one, December 2020 to May 2021.

Cone-shaped, like below (from juvale.com).

An aside...I grew up calling this ice shave. Honolulu people say shave ice. "Ice shave", for kuaʻāina (country folk) follows ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi language pattern. Like saying house green, rather than green house. But. The picture is of a "snowcone". From the continent. Note the coarse granularity. Our ice shave is extremely fine, and melts on the tongue. [Yes...I know I digress...]

The Depth of the Lake: Started at Zero. December 20, 2020 to May 26, 2021, it filled to about 750 feet. From last week Wednesday to today, a week, add 102 feet. Or so. 850 (or 840) or...

Measuring challenges include the undulating surface of the loko ahi, the point at which it is measured, and when, and whether or not the loko contracts slightly as it cools, or expands internally, or...

Lots of variables.