Thanks to COVID, I haven’t been on a plane since November 2019. So when my son Reid asked me to come to Oahu for a late Mother’s Day dinner, I wasn’t sure if I should go because the numbers are moving up again and I noticed people are done with masks and are just not wearing them. They are not even required to wear them on the plane, but I wore a double mask, just in case, although the plane’s air circulation system is one of the safest.

In the last few months, “Volcano Watch” articles have introduced several research projects funded by the Additional Supplemental Disaster Relief Act of 2019 (H.R. 2157). Each of these projects will help scientists better understand how Kilauea volcano works and how the 2018 lower East Rift Zone eruption and collapse of Kilauea summit happened.

June is the beginning of the hurricane season in the tropical Pacific north of the equator. It generally lasts for six months but with global warming the storms may even develop later. According to the meteorologists studying our Hawaiian weather, it looks like a La Nina year. We will likely have fewer storms than during an El Nino year. This is due to cooler than normal ocean waters in the eastern and central Pacific this year.

The year 1916 not only marked the birth of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, but also is remembered for the eruption of the Honamalino flow from the Southwest Rift Zone (SWRZ) of Mauna Loa 106 years ago.

When the first Polynesians arrived in the Hawaiian Islands, there were no coconut palms here. There were no mountain apple, breadfruit, kalo and many other plants we think of as Hawaiian. If you think that kukui, bananas, and ti are natives and seem to grow easily, then it is time to rethink! These plants are alien, nonnative species brought to Hawaii by the Polynesians as they migrated across Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean. These are referred to as canoe plants. They were important to their survival, especially when Polynesians explored new islands and found those like Hawaii lacked the variety of fruits and medicinal plants they needed.

Deep beneath Pahala, a town located in the southern part of the Island of Hawaii, is currently the most seismically active region of the Hawaiian Islands. Frequent, deep earthquakes (greater than 20 km or 12 miles below sea level) are felt regularly by local residents, and, occasionally, people across the entire island.