Tag: kyle anderson

July 5: Volcano Community Meeting

Informing the public without panicking them about an extremely unlikely but life-threatening hazard is tricky. So it’s taken the USGS a while to release this document which they’ve been promising the residents of Volcano:

On HVO website: Volcanic Hazard at the Summit of Kīlauea Update [summary: “This document is a guide for understanding current activity and hazard at and around the summit of Kīlauea Volcano. Here, we summarize activity from late April through the present, detail possible future outcomes, and review hazards associated with these outcomes.”]  Presumably it’s called an “update” because it supplements the June 26 “Frequently Asked Questions About Kīlauea Volcano’s Summit Earthquakes” FAQ. [EDIT: No, actually, it’s an update to the May 8th “Preliminary Analysis of Current Explosion Hazards at the Summit“]

This was the chief topic of Thursday’s Volcano Village meeting, led not by the National Park Service this time, but by Civil Defense Administrator Tal Magno.

Here’s the FULL video of the meeting. BigIslandVideoNews excerpted the most important part, HVO Scientist-in-Charge Tina Neal’s 4-minute talk:

Partial Transcript

Continue reading July 5: Volcano Community Meeting

July 5: USGS Media Conference Call

Between computer troubles (fixed now!) and that all-important Volcano Village meeting last Thursday evening, I missed the July 5 11am USGS media conference call. Here’s the archived audio file.

It was short, but for completeness’ sake, here’s a transcript.

[Note: Posted July 9, 3.30pm HST, backdated to keep it in correct order chronologically.]

Continue reading July 5: USGS Media Conference Call

June 28: USGS on Latest Changes to Kīlauea Caldera [Pt. 3 of 3]

This post got long, so I’ve moved the Q&A session to Part 3. Again, I’m transcribing what HVO geologists had to say at the June 28 Volcano Village community meeting.

Part 1 was Kyle Anderson’s talk on seismicity and ground deformation— lots of nitty gritty science— while Part 2 was Don Swanson’s slideshow of some of the visible changes he’s observed within Kīlauea Caldera, with a lot of photos I haven’t seen anywhere else.

Here’s the video of the whole meeting.

Here’s my transcription of the Q&A session. A lot of these questions have already been answered online, but I like hearing direct, personal responses from some of the senior HVO scientists:

Continue reading June 28: USGS on Latest Changes to Kīlauea Caldera [Pt. 3 of 3]

June 28: USGS Talk on Latest Changes to Kilauea Caldera [Pt. 1 of 3]

On Thursday, there was an hour and a half meeting with the USGS, National Park Service and residents of Volcano Village. Above is a video of the whole meeting. As usual, I’m interested in the geology, and so I’ve made a transcript of that part of the meeting. The first half of Kyle Anderson’s talk rehashes the “collapse/explosion” events that we’ve covered before, but the second half has a timelapse of Halema’uma’u from June 1st to June 28th — which I’ve rebuilt frame by frame, since I could just make out the timestamps— plus the latest Digital Elevation Model of Kilauea’s summit showing the slumping not only in Halema’uma’u, but across part of the caldera floor.

Scientist-in-Charge Tina Neal (HVO)

[5:40] [Introductory remarks, greetings and thanks]

[6:20] So tonight you’ll hear from familiar faces, Kyle Anderson and Don Swanson, who will give you an update on what the volcano is doing, what we think is happening, and we’ll touch on this very important question of how long and how big. Those are very hard questions to answer, so let me just preview that we’re not going to give you a wonderful take-away that will solve all that uncertainty. But we’ll do the best we can.

Continue reading June 28: USGS Talk on Latest Changes to Kilauea Caldera [Pt. 1 of 3]

June 1: Halema’uma’u Exposed

Today’s Eruption Summary

Fissure 8 continues to pump out vast amounts of lava, although it’s slacked off a tad from yesterday’s 260-foot display. One of its fingers burned a building or two at PGV. Other lobes closed in on Kapoho throughout the day, touching Highway 132 again half a mile north of Four Corners at 3:30. Fissure 18, which has been sending a flow east and down towards the ocean, has pretty much stalled apart from some small breakouts. Authorities were ordering Kapoho-area residents out today before lava cuts their only remaining road to the rest of the island.

Update: just as I was about to hit post.

(That’s a photo of Four Corners, which is the intersection of  Hwy 132 & 137. Apparently the lava’s started using 132 as a shortcut again.)

The summit has been steaming and vogging away, but the overlook vent has now been choked with debris falling from its walls. Ash explosions have nearly stopped since the 11am May 30 ash eruption that rose 12,000 ft.  Scientists are trying to figure out whether this means the main explosive phase is finished, or whether it’s going to build up enough pressure to blow out the clog. (That said, the crater has not “fallen quiet,” as many non-Hawaiian news stations claimed today. According to @NWSHonolulu, there was a minor “burp” of ash just after 1:30pm.)

Fantastic Kilauea Photo Gallery

@cheaptarts pointed me to photographer Andrew Richard Hara’s amazing Kilauea Instagram. A couple examples:

20180522 @ 03:30 HST – Methane field flames simmer in new cracks from Fissure 15 and 19 open up on the southeastern side of PGV, burning a State of Hawaii warehouse next to Pohoiki Road. Slow moving pahoehoe begins to approach PGV land at a crawl. . If you are worried about PGV, please remember that there are 23 fissures that have and emitting HF, H2S, and SO2 gases throughout this entire eruptive series. I'm not an expert by any means, but I try to remind myself that the gases that could be released at PGV are already being released into the atmosphere as we speak, outside of PGV's property. . For those who are wondering, I have official permission to be documenting this area. All areas that I have documented throughout this eruptive series have been through approved with legal access. Please kokua and do not attempt to trespass in areas unless official approval has been granted. . Many areas are now becoming inaccessible and the majority are dangerous due to volcanic hazards. . My respect and best wishes go out to the neighborhood of Leilani Estates, Lanipuna Gardens, and the areas within and between Kapoho. . #leilani #lava #pohoiki #lanipunagardens #bigisland#lavaflow #hawaii #geology #fissure #volcano @hawaiinewsnow

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20180529 @ 15:30-19:30 HST – Fissure 8 on Luana Street . Moderate southwest trade winds shifted gaseous plumes of smoke and gas while Pele’s hair, light fragments of cinder, and reticulate showered from the skies up to five blocks (up to Alapai Street) in radius F8’s eruptive site. F8 generated massive channels of lava extending partially east and north over older flows on Luana Street. Nearby, F24 sputtered glimpses of orange lava a few feet in the air and is unlikely to be contributing any major part in F8’s aggressive effusion rate. Massive bodies of new pahoehoe lava beds radiated an intense amount of heat, keeping ambient temperatures consistently within ~90°F at our location. . All areas that I have documented throughout this eruptive series have been through approved with legal access. Please kokua and do not attempt to trespass in areas unless official approval has been granted. The majority of my efforts are without pay and all expenses are out of pocket. The content shared is being shared without cost to our local news networks for community awareness and support. Some footage does help to pay a very small portion of my expenses. . Many areas are now inaccessible and the majority are dangerous due to volcanic hazards. . My respect and best wishes go out to the neighborhood of Leilani Estates, Lanipuna Gardens, and the areas within and between Kapoho. My heart especially goes out to all of my friends who have lost their homes in this fissure eruption. I am at a loss of words. _____ #leilaniestates #eruption #bigisland #helicopter #hawaii #aerial #volcano #lanipunagardens @hawaiitribuneherald @hawaiinewsnow @natgeo @milekalincoln @bruceomori

A post shared by Andrew Richard Hara (@andrewrichardhara) on

Pretty, huh? Okay, let’s get down to the day’s Kilauea news, views, and eruption information:

Continue reading June 1: Halema’uma’u Exposed

May 19 USGS Press Conference on Kilauea’s Explosive Side

BigIslandVideoNews just put up an edited video of Saturday’s USGS press conference. My hero Don Swanson is there. It’s INCREDIBLY informative on what they think is happening at the summit and why they think it’s a repeat of the “much smaller eruptions” of 1924 and not larger ones.

Transcription:

Continue reading May 19 USGS Press Conference on Kilauea’s Explosive Side