A mixed crowed gathered at the Military Camp’s largest presentation room inside HAVO this morning for the first day of a series of trainings in a two-week sequence. Today, we had two main topics

1) The Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. I was aware of the “Northwestern Hawai’ian Islands” within the Archipelago (reaching as far out as Midway, at which point their orientation changes a little due to plate tectonic changes and move more northerly towards Russia as the Emperor Seamounts, as they have eroded already below sea level)., but I was unaware that they have such a realm of cultural and biological importance that they are now fully protected, off-limits really to everyone without a permit, and that the refuge is really really big – larger than 46 of the United States combined. Don’t worry about the name, it is really hard to pronounce but in the end you’ll get there. At least that’s what I am telling myself, as I may have to do that every once in a while, although they are really a different agency and people coming here to the park may not necessarily make a connection to the outer islands. Very useful and interesting information, though, and certainly high on a wish list of “things to visit that are off-limits”.

2) Volcanology. Obiously, Kilauea as well as the rest of the Big Island’s mountains are volcanoes. In fact, Kilauea is considered the most active volcano on earth (at least by the Americans), and the two other main Big Island’s volcanoes, Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, considered the world’s tallest. Now that does not mean they are the world’s highest (in terms of pure elevation, that will be Mount Everest). But this is comparing a small child standing on a large barstool being higher than its father besides. In fact, the base of the Mauna Kea is so far below sea level that it is indeed a massive structure compared to Mount Everest, which is much steeper (and therefore much less voluminous) and has a base which starts much higher up – probably in the mid 10’000s of feet or so. As a side note to those like me used rather to SI units than imperials, there are actually a bunch of people up here who calculate in meters and stuff – it’s the USGS volcano observatory people and the science staff that are really good at this, and they also gave an active and memorable lecture out in the field. It was very interesting to review the hotspot / plate tectonics connection and discuss something that I reviewed from a famous paper back at my ETH days, looking at the relative motion of the Emperor Seamount chain and the Hawai’ian Islands (including underwater volcano Loihi who will probably not form a new Hawai’ian island some 700’000 years into the future), e.g. Ritsema and Allen (2003): The elusive mantle plume. And: Davies (1992): On the emergence of plate tectonics.
We were outside for some time looking at pumice and Pele’s Hair and other eruptive material. Kilauea is effusive (Lava) for only some 40% of its time and explosive (pumice, tephra, bombs etc.) for some 60% of it, but some other geologists and myself we discussed whether it is really 60% or rather 1% or 0.1% and then quiet (neither lava nor eruption) for the rest of the time, which probably would make sense also.
The HAVO’s best volcanic ejecta outcrop to prove how explosive (in Hawai’ian volcano standards at least) Kilauea really can be is located right next to their main research building inside the crater. Yup, most of HAVO is actually located INSIDE the (outer) crater, while Halema’uma’u and the lava lake are located beyond the inner, lower and partially collapsed crater rim. So when people find out that they are approaching an active volcano when visiting the Jaggar Museum and Volcano Observatory, you need to tell them that they have been INSIDE the volcano as soon as they had entered through the main gate…