Ka`u Calendar News Briefs Monday, June 20, 2016

KA`U RESIDENTS CAN TAKE an online Bowhunter Education course beginning on July 1. Hawai`i Hunter Education Program within the Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement is offering the course in order to expand bowhunter Education certification options in Hawai`i.

      The course is approved by the National Bowhunter Education Foundation and meets the requirements to purchase a bowhunting license where required. In addition, it does not require completion of a field day.

      Although Hawai`i does not require a Bowhunter Education certification to bowhunt, many states are increasingly requiring this additional certification to purchase a bowhunting license.

      Currently, the Hawai`i Hunter Education Program offers a three-day in-person Bowhunter Education course with field day once a year. Over the past three years, classes have been held on Maui, O`ahu and Hawai`i Island.

      This online course is offered through the NBEF-approved Bowhunter-ed.com. The cost for this is $30, which is assessed directly from Bowhunter-ed.com after course completion. Students must have completed Basic Hunter Education prior to completing the online Bowhunter Education course. In addition, students must be at least 10 years old to take this course. The course is limited to Hawai`i residents. 

      After passing and paying for the course, students will be able to immediately print their Temporary Bowhunter Education Certificate, which is valid to purchase a bowhunting license (where required) as long as it is purchased within the expiration date. Students will be mailed their permanent Hawai`i Bowhunter Education Certificate from the Hawai`i Hunter Education Program within three to four weeks. If they complete the course but do not meet the requirements above, they will not be issued a Bowhunter Education certificate from the program.
      To take the online course after July 1, see https://www.bowhunter-ed.com/#select-your-state. Select “Hawaii,” register, and begin the course. The course includes chapter quizzes and a final exam.

      The Hawai`i Hunter Education Program will also continue to schedule one three-day, in-person bowhunter course per year for those individuals wishing to attend an in-person course.

      See http://dlnr.hawaii.gov/huntered/classes/ for a list of current classes.
      For more information, call 808-587-0200.
      To read comments, add your own, and like this story, see Facebook. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter.

HAWAIIAN VOLCANO OBSERVATORY scientists discuss Kilauea’s new lava flows at Pu`u O`o in the current issue of Volcano Watch.

      “Early on the morning of May 24, 2016, USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists were alerted by text message that a tiltmeter on the Pu`u `O`o cone on Kilauea Volcano’s East Rift Zone had detected rapid change,” the article states. “Soon after, an HVO field crew reported that lava had broken out from the flanks of Pu`u `O`o. Tiltmeter data showed that the breakout likely began at 6:50 a.m. HST, resulting in a rapid deflation of the cone as magma burst forth from new vents.
      “HVO geologists were soon in the air to investigate the sudden – although not entirely surprising – change in activity at this long-lived eruption site.

      “Once on scene, the geologists mapped and sampled two vigorous lobes of lava advancing from new vents on the north and east sides of Pu`u `O`o. Both lobes traveled atop older Pu`u `O`o lava flows, forming shimmering deltas of pahoehoe channels, fingers and toes. At the time, the two flows were about 1 kilometer (3,300 yards) in length, too short to reach the forest on the north, but active enough to thrill tourists flying above the area.

      “Over the following days, activity continued from these breakouts – now called episodes 61f and 61g in the lexicon of HVO eruptive activity tracking. Each was developing nascent lava tubes and distributary channels that carried lava downslope, slowly extending their lengths and widths. 

      “During this time, the June 27th lava flow field remained active in scattered areas within about 5–6 km (3–4 mi) northeast of the vent, a continuation of the activity observed in the same general area for the past year. Apparently, the supply of lava from Pu`u `O`o to the lava tube feeding the June 27th flow was not immediately starved by the new breakouts.
      “Now, however, only the eastern breakout is active—no lava has been sighted in the northern breakout or on the June 27 flow field since June 6. Clearly, the eastern breakout — informally called the “61g flow” — has captured most, or all, of the outflow from Pu`u `O`o. This is most likely because the 61g vent is at a lower elevation on the flank of Pu`u `O`o compared to the 61f vent and the older June 27th lava flow tube. 

      “As of June 16, the 61g flow is moving steadily southeast along, and just outside of, the Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park boundary. The flow is contained within topography of older Pu`u `O`o lava flows and is headed for the northwestern corner of the long-abandoned Royal Gardens subdivision.
      “At its present advance rate, the flow could reach the Pulama pali (a steep, lava mantled fault scarp on Kilauea’s south flank) in days to weeks. If and when it reaches the coastal plain and then the ocean depends on the evolution of a tube system and constancy of lava supplied from the vent – variables that are difficult to forecast at this time.
      “This turn of events at Pu`u `O`o was not entirely unexpected. For weeks, an HVO tiltmeter on the north rim had shown steady outward tilting as magma accumulated in the subsurface reservoir system, pushing on the sides of the cone and the floor of the crater. Indeed, thermal webcam imagery showed the floor of Pu`u `O`o slowly lifting as the pressure increased from below and numerous small lava flows repeatedly erupted from vents within the crater.
      “The cone was clearly filling with magma, the crater floor responding like a piston and the flanks bulging outward. A new outbreak of lava was certainly possible, and, on May 24, it happened: flows 61f and 61g erupted from the flanks of Pu`u `O`o.
      “Meanwhile, Kilauea’s summit magma reservoirs have also been on a long run of inflation, punctuated by occasional DI (deflation-inflation) events. For some months now, we have considered the magmatic plumbing system of Kilauea’s summit and upper rift zones to be pressurized and full, a condition ripe for change as stresses increase on the walls of engorged magma reservoirs.
      “Time will tell if and how other parts of Kilauea respond to this pressurization.
      “For now, the recent activity at Pu`u `O`o is just the latest chapter in what long-time volcano watchers have observed for decades: Kilauea’s complex and long-lived East Rift Zone eruption site is dynamic and always changing.”
      See hvo.wr.usgs.gov/volcanowatch.
      To read comments, add your own, and like this story, see Facebook. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter.

WEAVE A TI LEAF LEI Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park.       Free; park entrance fees apply.

POHAKU CLAY SCULPTURE class still has openings. Offered by Olivia Ling, the class takes place at Ocean View Community Center on Tuesday, July 12 from 10 a.m. to noon. Participants each make a clay mask, which will be pit fired at the community center on Tuesday, July 26 at 10 a.m. Cost is $25 per person and includes instruction and all materials and firing.
      Space is limited, and to ensure enough clay for the class, RSVP as soon as possible by calling 929-8174.

SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS AT PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM. KA`U COFFEE MILL IS OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK.