Ka`ū News Briefs Monday, August 6, 2018

Impassable road damage on Crater Rim Drive, past Keanakakoi. Even if earthquakes and lava flows stop, it would take time to repair and reopen closed areas at Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. HVNP photo

THE FATE OF THURSTON LAVA TUBE and other features of Hawa`i Volcanoes National Park remain "unknown because it's too risky to send anyone inside to take a look," park officials said in a statement today. Part of the park has been closed for more than 12 weeks. The three-month mark of closure for all Kīlauea summit and nearby areas passes on Saturday.
     Though the earthquakes and lava flows slowed in recent days, Jessica Ferracane, Public Affairs Specialist for the park, says "it is really too early to tell what Kīlauea is going to do next." She told press today not to expect an immediate reopening should scientists report the hazards from seismic activity have passed, as there is major damage to park infrastructure. She said assessments and repairs will be needed -- possibly in stages. She said she is "cautiously optimistic" that some closed areas of the park could reopen soon.

A large boulder, out of place due to seismic activity,  at Byron Ledge near Kīlauea Iki. USGS photo

      Park Superintendent Cindy Orlando says, "It's impossible to say when the park can reopen, what it's going to look like, and what the visitor experience will be. We are cautiously optimistic that seismicity decreased over the weekend. Everyone's safety is our top priority and we are still in an unpredictable and hazardous phase of this eruption cycle. Right now, the only certainty is uncertainty.

     The release from HVNP says more than 18,000 temblors in the last 30 days have "wreaked havoc throughout the park." Magnitude 5.0 and higher seismic events have riddled Highway 11, other park roads, overlooks, and trails with sink holes and cracks. 

     Jaggar Museum and the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory buildings are damaged and stand empty. The summit crater, Halema`uma`u, has more than quadrupled in size as magma drains out to the lower East Rift Zone eruption outside the park. "The new dimensions are staggering to those familiar with Halema`uma`u." says the release. Once 280 feet deep, it is now more than 1,500 feet deep in places. Its volume has increased to 800,000,000 cubic meters, according to USGS, an amount equivalent to about 300,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Large sink hole at Kīlauea Overlook and Crater Rim Drive.  HVNP photo

     More than 60 large collapse/explosion events have occurred since the park closed on May 11. The earthquakes also increase the risk of fire: broken waterlines have left most of the park without running water for fire suppression. "Fixing them makes little sense as long as the earthquakes continue," says the release.

     While scientists cannot predict exactly when the eruptive and seismic activity will end, Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park invites everyone to explore how a volcanic landscape snaps back to life. In the park's Kahuku Unit, says the release, "gorgeous `ōhi`a trees spring forth from Mauna Loa Volcano's 1868 flows. Native birds, including crimson `apapane, forage among the blooms. `Io, the Hawaiian hawk, and the short-eared owl, pu`eo, are sometimes seen soaring above. Ranger-guided hikes at Kahuku reveal the link between volcanoes and all life in Hawai`i. On the two-mile Nature & Culture hike, visitors are inspired how hulihia (catastrophic change) and kulia (restoration) are correlated."

     See more on what Kahuku and other locations with park involvement offer, in the events section below.