Ka`u News Briefs Tuesday, May 5, 2015

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MISS KA`U COFFEE 2014 AMERY SILVA is featured in a new Japanese tour book for the Big Island of Hawai`i. She introduces a section in the Globe-Trotter Travel Guidebook entitled Volcano – South Point. Points of interest listed include Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park, Volcano Village businesses, Pahala Plantation House, Aikane Coffee Plantation, Moa`ula Ka`u Cloud Rest Coffee stop, Ka`u Coffee Mill, Pahala Hongwanji, Wood Valley Temple, Punalu`u Black Sand Beach, Honu`apo Green Sand Beach, Punalu`u Bake Shop and Ka Lae Coffee.

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TODAY’S OVERLOOK CRATER LAVA LAKE, which first formed in 2008 at the summit of Kilauea Volcano, has already outlasted all other Halema`uma`u lava lakes since 1924, according to Hawaiian Volcano Observatory’s latest issue of Volcano Watch. Scientists give a history of previous lava lakes in the article.
      “Over the past week, lava has risen within the Halema`uma`u Overlook crater (active vent at the summit of Kilauea) and overflowed onto the floor of the larger Halema`uma`u Crater. As a result, visitation to Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park has skyrocketed. This is understandable because it’s the first time that a lake of lava within Halema`uma`u Crater has been visible from park visitor overlooks since 1974.
      “The Overlook crater opened on March 19, 2008, but until this week, only the gas plume and nighttime glow from the vent had been visible. Over the years, the vent opening enlarged as parts of its rim spalled off and dropped dramatically into the lava lake. Today, the opening is about 160 meters (175 yards) wide and about 220 m (240 yds) long, and the lava lake within it slowly circulates – ascending in the north and descending in the south.
      “This is the16th lava lake hosted in Halema`uma`u Crater since the explosions of May 1924, which doubled the crater’s width and increased its depth to about 410 m (450 yds).
      “From 1924 to 1934, seven lava lakes occurred in Halema`uma`u, each lasting from two to 33 days. After 1934, Kilauea Volcano was completely inactive until June 27, 1952, when an active lava lake reoccupied Halema`uma`u for 136 days. Four more short-lived lava lakes popped up in the crater in 1954 and 1961. Accumulation of lava from these 11 lakes decreased the depth of Halema`uma`u Crater to 170 m (186 yds).

      “In early November 1967, another lava lake was created by an eruption that occurred in phases over a period of 251 days. By the time the eruption ended on July 13, 1968, Halema`uma`u Crater had been filled with another 100 m (110 yds) of lava.

      “The 1967-1968 eruption produced perched lava lakes or ponds. These are bodies of circulating lava that build their own rims, much like an above-ground swimming pool. The 1967-1968 eruptive phases typically started with lava erupting from, and covering most of, the Halema`uma`u Crater floor before being confined within its perched boundaries. The rest of the eruptive phase would consist of stationary and migrating spattering sources, or low lava fountains, within the perched circulating lava lake.

      “Not long after the 1967-1968 summit eruption ended, activity picked up in Kilauea’s upper East Rift Zone, where, in 1969, the Mauna Ulu eruption began. Twenty-nine months later, Mauna Ulu activity waned, and Kilauea’s summit started to inflate rapidly. On August 14, 1971, a brief fissure eruption occurred in the east summit caldera. This was followed in September by a five-day eruption in the Southwest Rift Zone and within Halema`uma`u Crater, where lava fountains filled a broad ring along the outer edges of the crater before the summit activity ceased.

      “But changes within Halema`uma`u Crater were not only due to lava filling. By the end of the September 1971 eruption, the central part of the floor, still covered with 1968 lava, had dropped 45 m (49 yds), leaving a 150-m- (165-yd-) wide bench of lava about halfway up the crater walls. The bench is now narrower, but can still be seen about halfway up the walls of Halema`uma`u Crater.

      “In February 1972, eruptive activity resumed at Mauna Ulu in Kilauea’s upper East Rift Zone and continued until late July 1974. This was followed by three brief eruptions at the summit and upper Southwest Rift Zone of Kilauea. The second of these eruptions included a fissure that crossed the floor of Halema`uma`u Crater on Sept. 19, 1974. But unlike the September 1971 eruption, the September 1974 eruption remained within Kilauea Caldera.
      “The 1974 fissure erupted for less than half a day, but lava covered the Halema`uma`u Crater floor – except for the tops of three high spatter cones formed in the 1967-1968 eruption – before the lava level dropped about seven m (eight yds). The current floor of Halema`uma`u Crater is what remains of the September 1974 eruption… .
      “Will (the volcano) continue to build a perched lava lake on the Halema`uma`u Crater floor? Or will the lava lake collapse back into the crater in response to another rift zone breakout? Whatever happens, USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists will be closely watching and documenting the activity.”
      See hvo.wr.usgs.gov/volcanowatch.
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AUDITIONS FOR KDEN’S PRODUCTION of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The King and I are coming up. Auditions will be held on Monday and Tuesday, May 18 and 19 at 6:30 p.m. at Kilauea Military Camp Theater in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. 

      The show is directed by Suzi Bond, with musical direction by Kait Wilson and choreography by Carmen Richardson. Pedro Ka`awaloa conducts the orchestra, Jonathan Sudler is designing the set and costume construction is lead by Helie Rock.

      The story is based on the 1944 novel Anna and the King of Siam, by Margaret Landon. English widow, Anna Leonowens, and her young son arrive at the Royal Palace in Bangkok, having been summoned by the King to serve as tutor to his many children and wives. The king is largely considered to be a barbarian by those in the West, and he seeks Anna’s assistance in changing his image, if not his ways. With both keeping a firm grip on their respective traditions and values, Anna and the King grow to understand and, eventually, respect one another, in a unique love story.
      KDEN’s summer musical is a family affair with parts available for all ages. Principal parts are available for three women, two men and two boys. There are featured roles for two men and a singing-dancing ensemble consisting of royal dancers, wives, children, priests and amazons. Auditioneers should be prepared to sing with accompaniment and dance some. Dress comfortably to be able to move freely on stage. There will be some line readings for those interested in the lead roles.
      For more information, contact KDEN at 982-7344 or kden73@aol.com.
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CINCO DE MAYO BUFFET TAKES PLACE today from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Kilauea Military Camp’s Crater Rim Café in Hawa`‘i Volcanoes National Park. Cost is $18 per adult and $9 per child $9. KMC is open to authorized patrons and sponsored guests. Park entrance fees apply; Call 967-8371 for more information.

HISTORIAN DAWN DUENSING DISCUSSES National Park Service roads in Hawai`i during After Dark in the Park this evening at 7 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. $2 donations support After Dark programs. Park entrance fees apply.

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