Kaʻū News Briefs Sunday, June 3, 2018

PUNCTUATING A RECORD NUMBER 500 EARTHQUAKES in 24 hours came a 5.4 magnitude earthquake at Kilauea summit at 3:51 p.m. today. Brian Shiro told the press this morning that 500 earthquakes over the last 24 hours represent “the highest rate ever measured there.” Shiro, a seismologist with USGS Hawaiian Volcanoes Observatory, also reported “no major explosions or plume over the last day,” and the ash advisory lifted at 11 a.m..
     Soon after his report, the 5.4 earthquake rocked Volcano and sent an ash plume 8,000 feet above sea level. Civil Defense sent out a warning to look for ash in Volcano and Pāhala. As of 7 p.m., the air quality for ash and S02 remained good for both Volcano and Pāhala.
    Shiro also said that during recent days Kīlauea  summit recorded a a lot of seismic activity, in comparison with the Lower East Rift Zone, where there is very little seismic activity but lots of lava flowing, destroying homes and farms.
     

Summit plume at 8:40AM HST on June 3. A slight mist in the air softens the look of the plume, which is predominantly white steam with very minor amounts of ash. USGS photo

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"UNPRECEDENTED" IS THE HAWAI`I VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK CLOSURE, said park spokesperson Jessica Ferracane at the press briefing today. It's day 24 and she said the reason to keep two-thirds of the park off limits is that “increased seismicity and volcanic activity at the summit of Kīlauea” continue.
     She also reported on air quality. “Yesterday, we had extraordinarily terrible air quality… in the red for SO2 and particulates. Our minimal park staff, which are the emergency operators and law enforcement teams up there were worried about air quality and trying to work indoors and in their cars as much as possible.”

Crack, Slumping in Halema`uma`u Crater This animated GIF shows a sequence of radar amplitude images  that were acquired by the Italian Space Agency's Cosmo-SkyMed  satellite system. The images illustrate changes to the caldera  area of Kīlauea Volcano that occurred between May 5 and June 2  at 6 p.m. HST. The last image in the sequence, from June 2, shows  the development of several cracks outside Halema‘uma‘u  and inward slumping of a large portion of the western crater rim. The west  side of Halema‘uma‘u is clearly unstable, and it is possible  that rockfalls and continued slumping will occur in the future. See the animation from USGS

   Air quality throughout the park and Kaʻū is determined by the emissions from Kīlauea and the active venting and lava flow in Puna and which way the wind blows.

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SO2 LEVELS VARIED THROUGHOUT KAʻŪ TODAY. SO2 levels in Pāhala were unhealthy for sensitive groups over Saturday night, going green around 8 a.m. today, and remaining good into this evening.Through 7 p.m., Ocean View S02 was reported mostly healthy and moderate ratings, with about a third of the day unhealthy for sensitive groups and a single spike of unhealthy air for 15 minutes this morning.
     Volcano's Jaggar Museum air quality was similar to Ocean View. Volcano's Visitor Center was good all morning, but strayed into air unhealthy for sensitive groups for a little over two hours today. By mid afternoon, the air was good. Kona showed little S02 all day.
     See AirNow. See Hawaiʻi Short Term SO2 Advisory. Also see the University of Hawaiʻi air quality predictions on its VMAP.

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     She explained, "We have two eruptions going on now right now. One at the summit which has changed its character very dramatically in the last month from the lava lake producing eruption that

Tina Neal, Chief Scientist at Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. Photo from Big Island Video News

we all enjoyed from a distance, to one where the lava lake has disappeared and withdrawn into the volcano. And now we are producing intermittent explosions of ash which is impacting you folks and communities down wind. We also have this eruption in the Lower East Rift zone in Leilani Estates area that is producing quite a bit of lava at the surface, and also erupting a great deal of gas. And that gas is also coming around the island at times and impacting your community here.

     "While this period of ash coming into Kaʻū may seem new," Neal told the Kaʻū residents, "you've been dealing with vog for ten years." She said, "This is is a very resilient part of the island. If you go back generations and generations, actually the people of Kaʻū have been dealing with ash hazards. You have a lot of ash in the hills here. When the first Hawaiians were living in this area, there were many ash explosions going on at the summit of Kīlauea. So we do know, indeed, that the people of Kaʻū have dealt with ash in the past and so we will deal with it again, in this episode, which continues."

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THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IS HERE "to support the communities during this time that are facing hazards of ashfall as well as the S02," said Deanna Marks, who works for National Weather Service in Hilo. She spoke at last Wednesday's meeting on ash and S02 in Pāhala.

     She reported that the National Weather Service produces "two daily upper air weather balloon launches and what that does is give us a wind profile from the surface all the way up to 100,000 feet in the air. So when we do have an explosion or if we have S02 moving around in the area, we can look at our wind profiles to see where exactly that's going to move and what communities that will be affecting."

Weather balloons are launched twice a day from the Hilo National Weather Service station to give a wind profile up to over 100,000 feet. This helps with predictions of where ash will fall from Halemaʻumaʻu. NWS photo

     She said additional support is coming from two weather radars on this island, one up in Kohala and one in Kaʻū. "I'm sure many of you have seen that big white ball up on the hillside there. What those are doing is sending out beams every few seconds looking for particulates in the air, same like they would look for rain showers. That's one way we can tell how high these ash clouds are making it into the air. Once we know the vertical extent of the ash plumes, we can get a better idea of where it is moving and, coupled with those wind profiles, we can let folks know where exactly the ash is going to go and where the S02 is going to go."

     She said the National Weather Service does issue special weather statements with one that's running at all times for any sort of trace of ash fall that may be affecting the area. "Once the ashfall accumulation reaches above a trace but below one quarter of an inch, we will issue an ash fall advisory. Once the ash gets above a quarter inch, we will issue an ash fall warning."

     The National Weather Service reports can be found on its website at weather.gov and NOAA Weather Radio at nws.noaa.gov/nwr.

Photo from 7 a.m. helicopter overflight, hovering offshore and looking up the flowfront. Nearly all of the front was active and advancing and spreading;  advance rates were estimated at an average of 250 feet/hour (76 m/hr), and as of 5:45 p.m. the flow was 245 yards from the ocean. USGS photo

A HALF MILE WIDE FRONT OF LAVA CLOSED IN ON KAPOHO BAY this evening along its devastating path through farms and homes yesterday and today. "Lava is advancing along a 0.5-mile-wide front towards the ocean at Kapoho Bay between Kapoho Beach Road and Kapoho Kai Drive. As of 5:45 PM HST, the lava flow was about 245 yards from the ocean at its closest approach point," reported Hawaiian Volcanoes Observatory. At sunset the lava was plowing through houses near the shoreline. See Ikaika Marzo's video from a helicopter.

As Fissure 8 lava flowed into Green Lake, the lake water boiled away, sending a white plume high into the sky. USGS photo

     Brian Shiro, a seismologist with USGS Hawaiian Volcanoes Observatory, gave an update on the activity in the Lower East Rift Zone this morning, saying “vigorous” flow from Fissure 8 is supplying a flow front.
     Shiro gave a possible answer for much-lowered seismicity in the active lava flow areas in lower Puna where there was a 6.9 magnitude in May. “We think the conduit is open, lava is flowing freely, and it doesn’t need to break the rock, to make earthquakes, down there much anymore.”
     Shiro confirmed the plume of steam seen yesterday, June 2, at Green Lake was lava encountering then vaporizing the water in the lake. Scientists cannot say how much lava is in Green Lake, since it is not safe to go into the area. Without an estimate of the previous water depth, he said,  Green Lake was “known to be deep.”

Another angle from the 7 a.m. overflight June 3. USGS photo

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HAWAIʻI VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK RANGERS ADD ANOTHER LOCATION TO SHARE PARK INFORMATION beginning June 3. Two Park Rangers are stationed at the Grand Naniloa Hotel in downtown Hilo, from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., every Sunday and Monday, in the Willie K Crown Room - as long as nothing else is scheduled in the space. The rangers will be doing daily talks at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. about the eruption. They will show the park film that is normally available to visitors to see at the Kilauea Visitor’s Center at the Summit, Born of Fire, Born in the Sea, every half-hour beginning at 9:30 a.m.

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CHAIN OF CRATERS EMERGENCY-ONLY EVACUATION ROAD has been cleared of the older-flow lava that was covering it, but the crews still need to roll out the road, to improve the surface. Jessica Ferracane of Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park wants to emphasize this is not a road that will be open to the public; it is a one-way-out-only emergency exit.