Hawaii’s mid-Pacific location makes it an excellent meeting ground for globally dispersed collaborators of all kinds. ADVERTISING Hawaii’s mid-Pacific location makes it an excellent meeting ground for globally dispersed collaborators of all kinds. For the next two weeks, the USGS
Hawaii’s mid-Pacific location makes it an excellent meeting ground for globally dispersed collaborators of all kinds.
For the next two weeks, the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) is honored to host scientists from New Zealand and Alaska who are funded in part by a joint U.S.–New Zealand Commission on Science and Technology Cooperation. The commission supports international partnerships to co-develop advances in research, science and technology.
The scientists are here to focus on the impacts of three very important and globally relevant volcanic hazards: volcanic ash, volcanic gas and lava flows.
The team includes USGS geologist Kristi Wallace from Alaska Volcano Observatory and her New Zealand counterparts — Graham Leonard from the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences, Carol Stewart from Massey University and Tom Wilson from the University of Canterbury — all part of an international working group on volcanic ash.
The working group’s mission is to provide guidance to people, businesses and communities facing potential impacts from volcanic ash. They work in close cooperation with the International Volcanic Health Hazard Network to understand the impacts of ash on agriculture, infrastructure, water supplies and human health.
Surprisingly, there is very little rigorous documentation of the effects of ash on these critical aspects of human activities. The New Zealand government made it possible for the team to travel to sites of recent explosive eruptions to study how people were impacted and how they coped.
New Zealand scientists in the working group also conducted novel laboratory experiments to examine the impact of ash-fall on common electronics such as computers and air conditioning units. Imagine, for example, a desktop computer in an enclosed chamber. Now, flip the switch and blast some gritty, abrasive, slightly acidic volcanic ash of varying concentrations into the chamber to see how well the hard drive, power supply and fan continue to function. (It turns out they are surprisingly resilient.)
Even Kilauea and Mauna Loa have ash-producing eruptions from time to time, and the current activity at the summit of Kilauea occasionally sends small qualities of ash downwind.
So, despite the team’s focus on recurring ash eruptions from charismatic stratovolcanoes such as Mt. St. Helens, Hawaii and HVO will gain something from their efforts.
The second objective of this international team is to learn about the impacts of Kilauea Volcano’s June 27 lava flow and ongoing volcanic gas emissions on people, infrastructure and agriculture here in Hawaii.
As Puna residents know all too well, the June 27 lava flow buried a road, destroyed one house, partially inundated a new solid waste transfer station and threatened utility poles. Meanwhile at the summit of Kilauea, volcanic gas emissions continue to spread over Hawaii Island and, indeed, the entire state.
The scientists also are interested in how people who call the Puna District home deal with the stresses related to living on one of the world’s most active volcanoes. The team will meet with representatives from business and government to gather insights into how communities and individuals cope with the threat of lava inundation.
Hawaii is a spectacular laboratory for studying the ways in which people try to live in harmony with volcanoes and other natural hazards. For two weeks, scientists will be looking for insights they can share with other citizens of planet Earth who find themselves in similar situations.
You can find some of this information about impacts of volcanic ash on these websites:
• www.gns.cri.nz/Home/Learning/Science-Topics/Volcanoes/Eruption-What-to-do/Ash-Impact-Posters.
• http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/ash/.
• www.ivhhn.org/.
Kilauea activity update
Kilauea’s summit lava lake level fluctuated during the past week, but remained well below the Overlook crater (vent) rim and out of direct view from Jaggar Museum. On the morning of June 4, the lake was about 49 m (161 ft) below the Overlook crater rim.
Kilauea’s East Rift Zone lava flow continues to feed widespread breakouts northeast of Pu‘u ‘O‘o. The active flows remain within about 8 km (5 mi) of Pu‘u ‘O‘o.
One earthquake was reported felt on the Big Island in the past week. At 11:59 a.m. May 31, a magnitude 3.6 earthquake occurred 14.4 km (8.9 mi) southeast of Kilauea Summit at a depth of 8.9 km (5.5 mi).
Visit the HVO website (http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov) for past Volcano Watch articles, Kilauea daily eruption updates and other volcano status reports, current volcano photos, recent earthquakes, and more; call (808) 967-8862 for a Kilauea summary update; email questions to askHVO@usgs.gov.
Volcano Watch (http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/volcanowatch/) is a weekly article and activity update written by scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey`s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.
