Kaʻū News Briefs Thursday, Oct. 5, 2023

COFFEE, TEA & WATER EXPO is coming up at Nāʻālehu Park on Saturday, Oct. 21 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The website https://stargazerindustriesinc.com/events says, “This is the first large event in decades for the District of Ka‘ū.” 

    Organized by Stargazer Industries and Christine Kaehuaea, admission is free. The website says that 75 percent of the proceeds “go to the public schools & educators in Nāʻālehu and Pāhala, in District of Ka‘ū, Hawai‘i + 25% of Proceeds go directly into the hands of teachers in Lāhainā through the Hawai‘i Teacher's Association of Lāhainā.” 

    The website offers QR Code, inviting people to donate to the event's Ka‘ū Wish List Fund, for Ka‘ū public schools and educators, and “on the ground educators in the District of Lahaina to support teachers and students directly.” 

    Coffee Tea & Water “celebrates the elements that we all cherish: Coffee, Tea & Water...Music & Food. From Ka‘ū Coffee & Tea farmers, and Hawai‘i Island Bottled Water to Food & Retail vendors from around Hawai‘i island, including live musical performances by artists from across the state.” 

    Live performers are Shootz Band, Ho‘aikane, Tualia Lave, Kalae & Kalena, Keaiwa and Maka Gallinger. 

    Participants listed among coffee entities are: Ka‘ū Coffee Growers Cooperative, Ka‘ū Royal Coffee, Ka‘ū Coffee Mill, Rusty’s Hawaiian, Pohaku Coffee, Silver Cloud Coffee Farm, Hawaiian Monarch Coffee, The Rising Sun, Ka‘ū Coffee & Tea Company and Kealaka‘ikoa Coffee Co. 

    Tea farm participants listed are Mo‘La‘Ea Mountain Farm Hawaiian Grown Produce in Nā‘ālehu, Ancient Valley Growers in Wood Valley, and HI Five Farms in Volcano. 

    The water company listed is Wai‘akea Hawaiian Volcanic Water. Retail vendors, including food trucks are Duck Fat, Any Kine Wontons, Good to Go Grindz, Honuas Coffee House, Thai Smile, Lock Jaw Lemon Peel, Poi Dog Delie, Lavaloha, Graby & Go, 50 designz, Ka‘ū Coffee & Tea Co., Sunset Party Rentals, Big Island Produce, Sunbelt Rentals, Event Medics Hawai‘i, Hawai‘i Wholesale Fencing, Show Systems Hawai‘i and Brandon Makano. 

    Top Shelf sponsors listed are KTA Super Stores, Paradise Helicopters, Whisky, Steak & Wine Steakhouse in Hilo, Hawai‘i MedSpa in Kona and Lion Energy. The website says there are 30-second commercials on TV in Hawai‘i and the mainland West Coast, plus ads on Hawaiian Airlines and presence on Hawai‘i News Now, KHNL and KHON2 and in “Seattle, down to San Diego and over to Las Vegas.”

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HAWAI'I'S VOLCANOES ARE QUIET AND IT'S A BIT SPOOKY is the headline for Volcano Watch, the weekly column by U.S. Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists and affiliates:

    Here in Hawai'i nei, we don't have the dramatically changing leaf colors and brisk temperatures that mark the arrival of Fall. And as October arrived this year, our night skies were dark, with no warm orange glow indicative of lava erupting on the surface.

    Kīlauea's most recent eruption stopped on Sept. 16. This was the briefest of the five eruptions that have occurred at the summit of Kīlauea since 2020. The eruption lasted about six days and, like the four eruptions before it, filled in a portion of the summit that collapsed in 2018.

A view of the inactive vents on the downdropped block of Kīlauea  summit caldera, which erupted from Sept. 10-16, 2023. During  the morning of Sept. 16, HVO field crews reported that active lava  was no longer flowing onto Halemaʻumaʻu crater floor and was restricted to a ponded area north of the vents on the downdropped  block. They observed lava spattering at the vents cease at approximately 11:15 a.m. Sept. 16 and webcam views show the ponded lava stagnant by around noon. No activity was observed  by field crews on Sept. 17. USGS photo by J. Chang

    Though Kīlauea is one of Earth's most active volcanoes, periods of time with no eruptive activity on the surface are not uncommon. Since 2020, there have been periods lasting weeks to several months between eruptions and during which there is no active lava on the surface. Prior to the recent summit eruptions, Kīlauea didn't erupt for over two years following the large lower East Rift Zone eruption in 2018.             Looking back at Kīlauea's eruptive history over the past couple hundred years, periods of weeks to months or even sometimes years between eruptions are relatively common. The longest period without any Kīlauea eruptions over the past 200 years was abnormally long and lasted 18 years! For USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) staff, these non-eruptive periods offer a bit of respite from the flurry of activity that comes with responding to increased unrest or a new eruption. 

   However, because our volcanoes erupt so frequently, these quiet periods also come with a bit of unease. HVO staff ask themselves questions such as how long will it be until a volcano erupts again? Where and when will the next eruption take place.

    HVO's monitoring network helps us to evaluate the answers to these questions. The monitoring network continuously tracks activity beneath the surface despite the surface itself appearing still. Right now, recent ground deformation south of Kīlauea summit is beginning to slow, but an increased number of earthquakes are being detected in this region due to a seismic swarm. The rift zones of Kīlauea along with other active volcanoes in Hawai'i, including Mauna Loa, remain quiet. We expect to see changes to these monitoring parameters when any of Hawaii's active volcanoes begin to show signs of unrest.

    Though Hawai'i's volcanoes currently aren't erupting, other volcanoes around the world remain active. Here in the United States, Great Sitkin and Shishaldin are erupting in Alaska, generating lava flows and ash plumes in the remote Aleutian Islands. Multiple volcanoes are active in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ecuador, Indonesia, Japan, The Philippines, and Russia. Individual volcanoes are also active in Chile, Ethiopia, Italy, Mexico, and Papua New Guinea.

    Elsewhere in the world, volcanoes can also cause unease even when not erupting. In Italy, there is increased earthquake activity at Campi Flegrei, a caldera that includes part of the city of Naples. The dense population of people living in the vicinity of this volcanic center has garnered much attention and the situation is complicated by evacuations during previous periods of unrest

5,000 in the mail, 2,500 on the street.

that did not escalate to eruption.Hawai'i over the past five years have fortunately offered safe viewing, have not required evacuations, and have only minimally impacted infrastructure. However, communities living on the flanks of Hawaii's active volcanoes should always be prepared for the range of activities that Hawai'i's volcanoes can exhibit. You and your family can be better prepared for one of the many natural hazards that can impact Island of Hawaiʻi residents by taking some time now, when it is quiet, to visit the Hawaiʻi County Civil Defense website on preparedness: https://www.hawaiicounty.gov/departments/civil-defense/emergency-prepar.... Though the skies above Hawaii's volcanoes are dark right now, they will certainly be lit up by the glow of eruptions in the future.

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SIGNS OF ELEVATED UNREST JUST SOUTH OF KĪLAUEA'S SUMMIT were reported Thursday by USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. Rates of inflationary tilt increased two days ago in the area south of the Kīlauea summit caldera and is now leveling off. A seismic swarm in the Kīlauea summit region started Oct. 5, with over 150 earthquakes in the last 24 hours. Most of the earthquakes are occurring in a region south of the caldera at depths of around 2.5–3.5 km (1.5–2 mi) below the surface.

    The USGS Summit Observations Thursday morning stated that earthquake rates beneath Kīlauea summit region have increased overnight from less than 10 earthquakes per day to over 140 earthquakes in the last 24 hours.

    The trend of the seismic activity parallels, but is slightly south of the December 1974 eruption vents. Sulfur dioxide (SO2) emission rates remain low and were measured at a rate of about 150 tonnes per day on September 25.

    Rift Zone Observations: No unusual activity has been noted along the East Rift Zone or Southwest Rift Zone; steady rates of ground deformation and seismicity continue along both. Measurements from continuous gas monitoring stations downwind of Puʻuʻōʻō in the middle East Rift Zone—the site of 1983–2018 eruptive activity—remain below detection limits for SO2, indicating that SO2 emissions from Puʻuʻōʻō are negligible.