Kīlauea

"Why should I believe something I can't see, especially since I already don't believe so many things that I can see?" This verbal barb is sometimes used by volcanologists during good-natured, "tongue-fu" exchanges, as when arguing about which discipline—say, geology, seismology, geophysics—is "best" for determining what the volcano has done or might do next.
 

Mosquitoes are not native to the Hawaiian Islands. Anyone driven away from an outdoor activity or rudely awakened by a biting mosquito would agree that the islands of old were indeed a paradise. 

May 18th marks the 20th anniversary of the catastrophic eruption of Mount St. Helens that laid waste to over 540 square km (200 sq mi) of forest, killing 57 people and countless wildlife. Hundreds of kilometers away in eastern Washington, as much as 5 cm (2 in) of ash fell, closing the interstate highway from Seattle to Spokane for a week and paralyzing air traffic.

Kīlauea is a magnet to volcanologists, visitors, and television production companies alike, drawn from around the word by the spell of its eruptions. Kīlauea is also of great interest to those who cannot travel here to see it firsthand. So, it is reasonable that HVO should work with TV crews to bring the Kīlauea story into tens of millions of homes on all continents.
 

Lehua blossom from the ‘ōhi‘a tree - The flower of Hawai‘i

Mauna Loa Volcano last erupted 1984. Lava flows from vents in its northeast rift zone reached within seven kilometers (four miles) of Hilo. When and from where will it erupt next?
 

The topics for this article are presented in response to requests from our readers. Many weeks ago, a reader called to express her appreciation for the "Volcano Watch" column and asked if we would write about the Steaming Flats in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park.
 

A house burst into flames on Thursday afternoon, April 6, when it was overrun by lava. This house, at the foot of the Royal Gardens subdivision, is the latest of 182 structures to be destroyed by the ongoing eruption along Kīlauea's east rift zone. It's the first such loss since October 1991.
 

On March 31, Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park officially opened Kulanaokuaiki campground, a barrier-free facility along the Hilina Pali Road south of Kīlauea's caldera. The new campground replaces the Kipuka Nene picnic area, 2 km (1.2 miles) farther southwest, which is now closed to protect Hawai`i's state bird.

With the east rift zone eruption of Kīlauea continuing into its 18th year, much of our focus in volcano and seismic monitoring at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory is on Kīlauea. At the same time, however, Mauna Loa receives a lot of our attention, and it should never be overlooked in terms of the hazards that it poses to us.
 

Which way would you drive if you lived on the on the flank of an active volcano with lava headed your way? This question is based on real-life events that happened during the 1950 eruption of Mauna Loa.