Halema'uma'u Explodes! Again! ...and again...

For those volcano watchers out there, you already know that Kilauea's central crater and continuously erupting vent Halema'uma'u has been about as volatile as the stock market of late. We had the biggest explosion since September 2nd this past Sunday (the 12th), and then had two more big ones yesterday (the 14th). I biked to work this morning (the 15th) in a muddy shower of ash and rain from this morning's latest eruption.

To summarize basic activity at Halema'uma'u, it has been consistently venting a large plume of steam, gas and ash since early March. This is technically an ongoing eruption. Very passive, basically just the de-gassing of the lava lake that is a few hundred meters below the surface. But every now and then, something explosive happens, and the tranquil white plume turns into a roiling brown mushroom cloud, showering ejecta in the immediate vicinity. Anything thrown out of a volcano during an eruption is called ejecta. This includes pulverized rock, or ash, molten lava and bits of rock ripped off the walls of the vent. Its exciting, there are usually huge flames and loud noises. The numerous seismometers around the crater all record big earthquakes.



That is a picture from a remote camera installed on the crater rim during the Tuesday afternoon eruption. I was sitting at a desk overlooking the crater at the time, but lamentably had my eyes stuck inside a microscope.


One of the things the folks at HVO do very well is put cool videos of impressive volcanic activity on their website for public display. You will enjoy these, I promise. The first is taken by a webcam sitting in the observatory atop our building, the second is taken by the crater rim camera (time-lapse, sped up).









Wow!! Damn, did you see that camera get covered in ash! Wow, cuz that's the exact spot we stand at to try and catch a glimpse of the lava lake when we do the daily ash collection. Good thing that hit when nobody was there...

The question you are all asking, I'm sure, is Why? Why does this normally passive volcano all of a sudden blast out ash, gas and lava?

I will answer that in the next post...soon to come.

View from the Top of the World

My field work is centered on Mauna Loa, often cited as the world's largest mountain, as measured from the sea floor where this behemoth begins its rise from nearly 30,000 feet below sea level to over 13k above sea level. Take that mount everest. Yet this strange mountain has no peak, no glaciers, not even a decent cliff or pinnacle to climb. It's profile is as bland as can be. This, folks, is a shield volcano. So named because of the profile of a shield...





Two surprises. First, you win a prize if you realized that this pic is of Mauna Kea (taken from Mauna Loa). Two, you win an even bigger prize if you realize that I actually took this photo, and didn't pirate it from the web or a friend (as I have nearly every other picture i've ever shown anyone). I don't have a good pic of Mauna Loa's profile that I have taken, and I'm trying to learn how to use my new camera, so i'm gonna stop stealing people's pics...hopefully.

Next photos...taken from Mauna Loa summit, after a helicopter ride to the top, thank you US Government for funding my good time.



--- The dark puffy clouds are the top of the eruption plume spewing out of Kilauea, the actively erupting volcano in my backyard ----


--- A panorama of Makuaweoweo, the summit crater of Mauna Loa. The field of view is about 6km across. Big-ass crater. ---

I'll make a Picasa photo album sometime soon to exhibit the coolest I have to offer.