Kaʻū News Briefs, Saturday, April 6, 2019

DAMIEN KAIMANA BARCARSE is appointed by Gov. David Ige to represent Hawai‘i County on the statewide Board of Education. Barcarse has worked at Kamehameha Schools since 2013, most recently as the West Hawai‘i regional director. Previously, Barcarse served as the director of the Hawaiian Cultural Based Education Department, as well as interim director/senior project manager and coordinator at the ʻĀina Based Education Department at Kamehameha Schools.

Kaimana Barcarse awaits state Senate confirmation to become a member of the state Board of Education. He works for Kamehameha Schools as West Hawaiʻi regional director. Photo from Cultural Survival Quarterly

     Barcarse is an educator who teaches the connection between language, culture, and environment. In a June, 2017, article in Cultural Survival Quarterly Magazine, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts,  he said, "There's definitely a connection between the environment and our language. Hawaiians believe that we are a part of the earth and the ecosystem, and we have that connection to the earth. In many ways our deities are all connected to the earth. We have deities that are connected to the mountains, to the trees, to the oceans, to the sky. We communicate with these deities, and we do it of course through our Indigenous language.
     "We have hundreds of names for rain and just as many names for the winds, and knowing the names of the winds and the rains can tell you where you are, what island you're on. It can tell you what season you're in, what kinds of events are happening. It can also help you predict what kind of events are going to happen. If we're in the uplands of Waiakea and we feel the Uluau winds, we know the trade winds are light, and we know this is a land-associated breeze that brings with it a certain feel and certain fragrance. If we feel the Mālualuaki‘iwai winds, it's a cool, stiff wind, we know that rain is going to follow shortly after because Mālualuaki‘iwai means to gather and bring the rains over. Our language is closely tied to what we observe and what we see out in nature. So in that way we can understand; we can frame the climate and frame the environment through our language, and our language describes the environment.
     "Looking through our oral histories and our written histories to understand what the seasons and the cycles are can give us data over time. That is fully scientific data that is historic, observed over hundreds of years. And when we understand how that cycle changes and compare it to how that cycle changes now, you can see the pattern of climate change—as things start to warm up, as certain areas start to have the sea level rise... We listen to our songs of a certain area, it talks about the līpoa, it's a type of seaweed, and the ‘alamihi, crabs. You go there today, you won't see alamihi. You won't smell the līpoa like you used to. That tells us that that the environment has changed. By knowing your language, by knowing your history, by understanding how descriptive and how intimate our language is with the environment, you can understand the nuances, whether they be really subtle or really obvious. You can understand the changes, and by that you can understand your relationship to the environment."

     Prior to joining Kamehameha Schools, Barcarse was a staff member and lecturer of ethno-zoology and voyaging and navigation at the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo's Hawaiian Studies Division. He is also a DJ and program producer for KWXX-FM. Barcarse's three-year term would begin July 1. He replaces Patricia Bergin.
     Ige has also re-appointed Kenneth Uemura to the City and County of Honolulu seat and Bruce Voss to the at-large seat on the BOE. Both Uemura and Voss also begin their three-year terms on July 1, 2019. All three appointees are subject to Senate confirmation.

Sen. Mazie Hirono. Photo from Hirono's Twitter

     Said Hirono, "In an effort to rush their right-wing judicial nominees to the bench, Republicans went 'nuclear' and changed the Senate rules. Normally, the president's nominees face up to 30 hours of debate in the Senate so that we can do our due diligence in making sure they are fit for the position to which they were nominated. This is part of the Senate's constitutionally mandated advice and consent role.

     "But Mitch McConnell and Republicans have successfully reduced 30 hours of debate to two hours so they can quickly send more of Trump's ultra-conservative hand-picked nominees to the district courts. That's right, only two hours.

     "The GOP will stop at nothing to pack the courts with young, conservative ideologues who will make critical decisions on issues like healthcare, LGBTQ protections, gun safety reform, women's choice, and so much more -- and once approved, these judges have lifetime appointments, meaning many will be there for decades after Trump and even McConnell are out of office.
     "We need to send a strong message to McConnell, Trump, and the GOP: we've had enough of their partisan court packing."

     The end of Kīlauea's 2018 eruption this past September was accompanied by an enormous decrease in the amount of sulfur dioxide gas (SO2) emitted from the volcano. This has led to beautifully clear skies gracing the Island of Hawai‘i, particularly noticeable on the west side, where the volcanic pollution known as vog chronically collected in past years.

Telephoto zoom of the largest sulfur deposit forming on the  northeast talus wall in Halema‘uma‘u. The view is from  USGS HVO's K3cam. Image from volcanoes.usgs.gov

     During the peak of the 2018 lower East Rift Zone (LERZ) eruption, when the volcanic emissions and vog were both much stronger, a team of academic researchers worked with the U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory and the Hawaiʻi State Department of Health to study the intense volcanic air pollution events generated by the eruption.

     The researchers, U.K. scientists from the Universities of Leeds, Cambridge and Oxford, sampled volcanic particles and gases at the LERZ fissure 8 vent, the ocean entry, and various sites downwind: Leilani Estates, Orchidland Estates, Volcano, Pāhala, Ocean View, and Captain Cook. To determine the nature and composition of the volcanic pollution, samples were collected by pumping air through filters, from the ground and from the air using drones.

     The tiny particles captured on the filters were then analyzed in the laboratory for chemical composition and imaged using a powerful Scanning Electron Microscope to determine the composition of individual particles. Other instruments determined the number or weight of particles of various sizes, which are associated with different health impacts in studies of human-caused pollution. The samples were analyzed for pH (acidity); major components, including sulfate, fluoride, and chloride; and trace metals, such as lead and arsenic.

     These analyses targeted chemical species that we know are present in volcanic plumes. Kīlauea's plume is composed primarily of water vapor, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and entrained air, along with smaller amounts of other gases, including hydrogen chloride and hydrogen fluoride. SO2 reacts in the atmosphere over time to form tiny acidic and neutral sulfate particles, which are a major component of volcanic pollution in Hawaiʻi. Small amounts of toxic metals have also been found in the volcanic gas plumes emitted from Kīlauea's vents – see vog.ivhhn.org/vog-fact-sheets.

     The summer 2018 gas and particle sampling campaign was the first effort to look at how trace elements, such as metals, change over distance in the Kīlaueaplume. It was found that the amount of these elements was highly variable but was not solely predicted by the distance of the plume from the vent. Most of the particles – 99 percent – were less than 2.5 micron in diameter—small enough to penetrate deep into the lungs.

     The study's findings also support previous observations regarding the chemical conversion of SO2 gas to particles. Areas far from the gas source, such as along Hawaiʻi Island's Kona coast, had high particle concentrations since much of the SO2 gas had converted to particles as it travelled downwind. Ambient air quality standards for both SO2 gas and particles were exceeded at various locations on the island during the three months of the LERZ eruption,  health.hawaii.gov/cab/files/2018/08/exceedances_2018_08_01_04.pdf.

Vog safety tips were important last year, when air quality was impacted by gasses and ash from the eruption. USGS poster

     In contrast to last summer, Kῑlauea's current lull in activity provides an excellent opportunity to study background air quality. This can help us distinguish between anthropogenic pollution, such as traffic exhaust, and volcanic pollution. While controlling emissions from a volcano is not a practical proposition, understanding the contribution of human-made pollution, which can be controlled, is important on an island with a growing population.    

     To address the characterization of anthropogenic pollution, the same research team plans to return this coming summer to sample the background air without the volcanic contribution, using the same equipment and sampling sites. The 'before' and 'after' snapshots will help to isolate the chemical fingerprint of the volcanic particles. This will improve our understanding of the potential health, environmental, and ecosystem effects of volcanic plumes.

     The eruptive events of 2018 have reshaped the land and the lives for many residents in Hawaiʻi Island's lower Puna District. The end of the eruption allows all of us across the island to breathe more easily, literally and figuratively, and provides an opportunity to better understand the chemistry and impacts of the Kīlaueavolcanic plume.

     Three earthquakes with three or more felt reports occurred in Hawaiʻi during the past week: a magnitude-2.8 quake 26 km (16 mi) west of Pepeʻekeo at a depth of 33 km (21 mi) on April 1 at 9:42 p.m. HST; a magnitude-3.4 quake 10 km (6 mi) northeast of Pāhala at a depth of 31 km (19 mi) on March 31 at 7:49 a.m. HST; and a magnitude-3.7 quake 2 km (1 mi) southeast of Kapaʻau at a depth of 38 km (24 mi) on March 29 at 8:29 p.m. HST.

     Visit volcanoes.usgs.gov/hvofor past Volcano Watch articles, Kīlauea and Mauna Loa updates, volcano photos, maps, recent earthquake info, and more. Call 808-967-8862 for weekly Kīlauea updates. Email questions to askHVO@usgs.gov.

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To read comments, add your own, and like this story, see Facebook. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter. See our online calendars and our latest print edition at kaucalendar.com.

KAʻ Ū TROJANS BOYS BASEBALL team played Waiakea Thursday. The Warriors took the game, 11 to 1.