Scientists monitoring Hawaii lava undertake risks

[Buster's Uncle]

Scientists monitoring Hawaii lava undertake risks
Associated Press
By JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER  September 18, 2014 12:27 AM



This Monday, Sept. 15, 2014, photo provided by the U.S. Geological Survey shows a geologist from the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory using a radar gun to measure the speed of the lava flow from the June 27th flow from the Kilauea volcano in Pahoa, Hawaii. On Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2014, Hawaii County spokesman Kevin Dayton said the slow-moving lava is expected to bypass homes in the Kaohe Homesteads subdivision, and the lava is about 19 days from reaching Pahoa Village Road. (AP Photo/U.S. Geological Survey)



HONOLULU (AP) — Scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory have been monitoring every twist and turn of lava creeping unpredictably toward communities in a rural and isolated district on the Big Island.

Their work can be dangerous and includes frequent flyovers in a helicopter, navigating precarious terrain and taking careful data measurements to give the public an accurate picture of the lava's progress.

"To do that you have to walk across a lava tube, and that's fairly hazardous work," said Janet Babb, a geologist who also serves as the observatory's spokeswoman.

Photos taken by the observatory this week include a shot of a geologist wearing protective clothing while using a radar gun to measure the speed of the lava flow. A wider shot shows another scientist noting his measurements of the volume of lava flowing through the tube.

"That's important to know because that tells us what's feeding the flow front," Babb said.

To obtain those measurements, geologists have to make sure the ground they're dealing with is stable enough. To measure the speed of lava, a geologist needs to find a skylight — an opening on the roof of the tube — that can be safely accessed, Babb said.

The measurements help Hawaii County Civil Defense officials prepare for the lava, which the observatory estimated could cross the Puna district's Highway 130 in 13 days. In order to prevent residents from being cut off from the rest of the island, county workers are busy preparing defunct, unpaved roads to be used as alternate routes.

On Wednesday, the lava had advanced about 350 yards from the previous day within a vacant lot in the Kaohe Homesteads subdivision. Officials were hopeful the flow would bypass homes.

Babb said that those in her field have a fascination for the wonders of volcanos.

"This is our line of work, but at the same time, it is with heavy hearts that we see this flow approach critical infrastructure and disrupt people's lives," she said. "When a lava flow is going into the ocean ... it's not impacting anyone's life directly, it's easier to stand back and sort of enjoy the beauty of that. But when the flow is headed for infrastructure ... that makes it hard."

Before the public became concerned about the lava, the observatory's scientists were already keeping close tabs on the lava, which they call the June 27 flow because that when it emerged from a vent. The observatory issued a news release on Aug. 22 letting the public know it was advancing.

"And it wasn't an easy decision because we didn't want to alarm people unnecessarily," Babb said. "Now that we look back, we're convinced it was the right thing to do."

Residents at packed community meetings on lava updates often preface their comments or questions with gratitude for the scientists' work, county spokesman Kevin Dayton said.

"I think it's because the scientists who work up there have been there a long time," he said. "They're not strangers. They're people who have been in the community many years."


http://news.yahoo.com/scientists-monitoring-hawaii-lava-undertake-risks-002739313.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Meandering Hawaii lava flow menaces another Big Island community
Reuters
By Malia Mattoch McManus  11 minutes ago



HONOLULU (Reuters) - A meandering volcanic lava flow that appeared to have spared one community on the Big Island of Hawaii was creeping in a slightly new direction on Friday as it headed straight for a nearby town to the northeast, local government officials said.

The June 27th flow, named for the date it first bubbled out of the Kilauea Volcano, initially prompted voluntary evacuations among many residents of the Kaohe Homestead subdivision as it moved steadily through a forested area toward their homes.

But officials said the flow on Friday appeared to be bypassing the estimated 30 to 50 dwellings of Kaohe and veering instead toward the much larger town of Pahoa, a historic former sugar plantation consisting of small shops and homes with a population of roughly 1,000.

"If the lava continues as it is currently moving, it is expected to travel along the slope to the village of Pahoa in a couple of weeks," Hawaii County spokesman Kevin Dayton said.

The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said the lava flow had advanced at a rate of 660 feet a day since Wednesday and was now 1.5 miles from the outskirts of Pahoa, which lies less than 2 miles to the northeast of Kaohe.

“Active portions of the flow are still in thick forest, creating smoke plumes as lava engulfs trees and other vegetation, but fires are not spreading away from the flow,” the agency said in an updated notice.

Officials said the lava might yet swerve away from Pahoa, as it did in approaching Kaohe. But some residents of the surrounding Puna district already had opted to flee in anticipation of lava cutting off access to Highway 130, the only paved road into the area.

"There are people shopping for rental units away from this and finding it very difficult," Dayton said.

Big Island Mayor Billy Kenoi has said more than 8,000 people in the Puna district could be "lava-locked" if the flow blocked Highway 130.

Hawaii County was resurfacing rough dirt roads in the area with gravel to provide an alternate route, but for residents needing to commute an hour north for work in the city of Hilo, those crude roads will present challenges.

The Kilauea Volcano has continuously erupted from its Pu’u O’o vent since 1983. The last home destroyed by lava on the Big Island was at the Royal Gardens subdivision in Kalapana in 2012, according to Big Island Civil Defense.

(Reporting by Malia Mattoch McManus from Honolulu; Editing by Steve Gorman and Ken Wills)


http://news.yahoo.com/meandering-hawaii-lava-flow-menaces-another-big-island-025204915.html