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Kilauea volcano on the island of Hawaii is extrememly active right now. The toxic gasses being released have increased each month since the begining of the year and resulted in parts of the island being declared a disaster area to support Big Island famers and flower growers that have lost their crops. Some towns are becoming uninhabitable and the county has notified island residents that they should not wait for an alert if they feel ill from the volcanic output. This page is updated as new information, photos and videos about the volcano and its activity becomes available.
KILAUEA ERUPTIONS ON THE BIG ISLAND OF HAWAII Kilauea is on the southeast side of Mauna Loa on the Big Island of Hawaii and has an elevation of 4,091 feet (1,247 meters). The caldera of Kilauea is within Volcanoes National park and there are many lookout points from which you can peer into the massive caldera. Within the caldera is a small crater called Halema'uma'u that is currently spewing out an incredible amount of gas, ash and occational eruptions of lava. From Volcano House, a hotel inside the Volcanoes National park and and across from the park's Visitor's center this is the view of Kilaueal caldera and the emissions from the Halema'uma vent.
On the other side of the caldera at the Volcanoes National park, a lookout at the Jagger Musem allows a better view of the Halema'uma crater.
The USGS has a live CAM of the erruption activity. At night the crater glows and sometimes emits bright red particles high into the sky.
Since February another vent (Pu'u O'o vent) about 15 miles from the Kilauea
caldera towards Hilo, began spewing gasses in earnest and has created a cinder cone.
It has been active a while, but the amount of emissions has really increased adding yet more gas and vog (volcano fog) to the area. NASA's Earth Observatory has been monitoring Kilauea output from space. The Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on NASA’s Aura satellite has been recording the increase in sulfur dioxide rising out of Kilauea.
All this choking gas is building up southwest of the Big Island (that big red blob) and moving northwest with the prevailing tradewinds, covering Maui and Oahu. IMPACT OF THE VOLCANO TO HAWAII There have been 45 major eruptions of Kīlauea in the 20th century. A recent lava flow in 1990 caused a great deal of destruction in Puna and completely destroyed the towns of Kalapana and Kaimu. Kilauea has been known to have explosive eruptions, one in 1924 when the lava lake in Halema'uma'u crater reached ground water. A larger eruption occured in 1790 at which time the eruption columns are believed to have gone up as high as 10 miles in altitude. Volcanic events this year have included 3 lava flows into the ocean off the Puna coast near Kalapana as well as increasing activity of the Halema'uma'u and Pu'u O'o vents. On March 19, 2008, Halema'uma'u had an explosive event generating a magnitude 3.7 earthquake, and scattering rocks over a 75-acre area. The debris covered part of Crater Rim Drive and an overlook. On March 24, the white gas turned brown-gray and lava particles were emitted. Earthquake activity has been on the rise along with rising amounts of dangerous Sulfur Dioxide (SO2). The county of Hawaii created a sulfur dioxide condition color chart and almost immediately the residential areas near the volcano were rated purple-Extreme. The Volcanoes National park was shut down several days and evacuated including residents and folks staying at Volcano House located in the park. Evacuation in the county is voluntary. A thick continuous cloud of white choking smoke and toxic gas is inundating the little town of Pahala nearby Volcano and most of Ka'u impacting the residents of Oceanview and Na'halea, their crops and their health. The sunny Kona coast has been sitting in almost constant overcast skies for the past 6 weeks and even Honolulu and Waikiki have been impacted The difference from previous explosions is the high level of SO2 being emitted which is creating acid rain and potentially dangerous air conditions. Information about the toxicity of SO2 is available here from the ATSDR (Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry). Information about Hawaii's Current Air Quality Conditions from the EPA are here. We went to the West side of the Big Island the last week of May. We found the vog to be unbearable in Waikaloa and Kona. This was the view from Hwy 11 driving past the Kona airport.
Here is a video we took of the drive by the Kona airport. Normally you can see a crystal blue ocean beyond the black lava. Daytime felt like nighttime there.
This is a picture of the vog over Waikoloa. This vog crosses over the short distance to Maui and on many days is blown to Oahu.
THE IMPACT OF THE VOLCANO TO HILO Hilo is the farthest east point in the Hawaiian islands and as a result we seem to be one of the locations least impacted by the vog. When the trade winds stop, we get a thick haze from buildup of the emissions pooled up in the area. As soon as the wind picks up, the haze moves out. Below is a voggy morning on May 15, 2008, during a time of no trade winds.
By 11AM, variable winds had moved the vog out of Hilo and the view looked like this:
Here is a view of Hilo from across the bay on a voggy morning. This level of vog is very rare in Hilo compared to the continuous vog being felt on the West side of the island.
We find people have different reactions to the vog. Some get sore throats and feel terrible and others barely notice. It is the same with the trees and plants. Some plants around our neighborhood are really being impacted.
These Eucalyptus trees in our park look like they are all dying. Huge branches are falling to the ground. Others looks pretty sad too.
But check out these trees. They are doing great. Many flowers and plants, like coffee, love the acid rain.
WHAT WE ARE DOING TO PROTECT OURSELVES AND PREPARE Real time information about the air quality due to the volcano is limited. Our best source of information on the volcanic gas output is the live CAM of Halema'uma vent in the Kilauea crater. The EPA has added a Hawaii State Air Quality Site with air readings, but it has limited area covereage on the island. We know that Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) could be a significant health problem and so we prepared ourselves by buying a detector that warns us when the SO2 levels get dangerous. We bought our "BW Gas Alert - Single Gas Detector - Sulfur Dioxide" online from professional equipment. Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S) is an even more deadly gas from volcanoes, but it smells strongly of rotten eggs, so if you ever smell that, get out fast!
Having an early alert system doesn't make sense without a plan for taking action once it goes off. We bought gas masks from Ace hardware store in Hilo to use in case our SO2 detector starts beeping due to high levels of SO2. The masks have carbon activated filters that protect against toxic gas. Their purpose is to give us time to get out of the area, they won't protect anyone for long periods. Our distributor tells us that SO2 reduces oxygen to the body, so you can't go to sleep, even with a mask on or you will suffocate at the levels of SO2 being reported near the volcano ( 9 parts per million).
You can order better masks from professional equipment that are for extended use in high SO2 and are battery operated. If the SO2 is just in the unhealthy range, we have carbon based Hepa air filters. We have to close up the house and it can get pretty hot since we don't have AC, but it cleans the air and takes away our throat uncomfort. We brought our Honeywell Hepa Air filters with us from the mainland.
We have been taking SO2 readings in Hilo and on the worst day we have had readings up to .5PPM (25% of the Federal maximum level). The vog has been heavy several times, but it hasn't always resulted in a SO2 reading. A large eruption will likely be accompanied by a large earthquake. So we have prepared for earthquake by having tents, sleeping bags, storing water and all the other basics that we always kept in California. The vog has not been a problem or hardship to us in Hilo, compared to the people getting huge amounts of vog in living in Pahala, Oceanview and the Kona area. The threat of a tsunami hitting Hilo is more of a concern to us than a volcanic eruption. The recent predictions of a large earthquake on the West coast of the mainland has a great potential impact on Hilo. But even so, we watch our neighbor volcano closely. UPDATES ON THE VOLCANO Hawaii County Notification on August 4, 2008 Big Island residents were told today to not rely on the county for official evacuation warnings before taking precautions and escaping from toxic fumes from the volcano. Hawaii county's Civil Defense Director says he believes teh sulfur dioxide alert system is inadequate and too slow. Here is a blog entry about vog in Wood Valley near Pahala on the Big Island and the difficulty it is for this resident. Richard Ha's latest blog entry has some dramatic photos of Kilauea lava flowing into the ocean. New Kilauea Volcanic Explosions July 7, 2008 A fountain of lava spewed over 40 feet high in a Kilauea breakout about 2 miles east of the Pu'u'o'o vent and 6 miles from the ocean. Since the breakout, sulfur dioxide emissions have doubled mostly impacting the Kau district and Kona.
Here is USGS film of the surprise lava fountain on July 6. It takes a while for the movie to load, but it is worth the wait. Five breaks in the lava tubes connected to the Pu`u `O`o vent have occurred, likely due to increased lava flow that overflowed the tubes. The video shows other lava breakouts, all potentially new vents on Kilauea that may emit toxic gasses and lava in concert with the Pu'u'o'o vent and Halema'umanu vents already going off. A close-up of the fountaining lava starts in the middle of the video. Seeing it is another reminder to me that our nearby volcano is very alive and powerful. Sulfur dioxide emissions and lava flows to the ocean continue. You can see the Halema`uma`u vent in Kilauea caldera from several locations in Volcanoes National Park. You can view the lava flow into the ocean with the crowds by driving through Puna to the end of the road where a Hawaii County lava viewing area has been set up in Kalpana. The Pu`u `O`o vent is off limits to visitors.
Videos of the Volcano from Volcanoes National Park in April 2008 This is a video of the volcanic activity from the Volcano House viewing area:
This is a video of the volcanic activity from the Jaggar museum lookout.
If you have comments or suggestions send them to info@hiloliving.com Copyright 2008
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