Ho, Ho, Ho! -- Let's Watch the Volcano Blow!

Let's see.  How can 2020 get even worse, you know, just to end on the lowest note possible? Oh, I have it.  Let's have Hawaii''s most active volcano blow!

And that's what happened a few days ago on Sunday, 12/20/20, about 9:30 am HST.  Kilauea has been quiet for about two years, after putting on a spectacular but devastating show for several months in 2018. It finally exhausted the available magma supply and just shut off. Period. Nothing. The best part for us, living as we do nearly 100 miles away, was the sudden clearing of the "vog" (volcanic fog) from our skies.  For nearly two years now we've enjoyed clear air, beautiful views of the coastline and of the ocean horizon, just long enough for memory-challenged humans to think this was "normal."

Actually, Kilauea has been erupting more or less continuously (in geologic terms) for thousands of years and it will continue to do so for thousands more. That is normal, as is the presence of varying amounts of vog throughout the time humans have been in the islands, about 1000 years.

Very soon after the last eruption stopped, volcanologists began recording seismic activity indicating magma moving up to refill the reservoirs under Kilauea. In November this increased dramatically and at a more shallow depth.  Other measurements, like the swelling of the summit ground, were consistent with an imminent eruption, which indeed has happened.  In other words, scientists weren't surprised, though one of the usual indicators was missing -- an uptick in the emission of volcanic gases as the magma got higher and under less pressure. 

If you've seen the photos and videos of the activity, it is very impressive.  Don't book a flight, though, because visitors can't really get that close. To be clear, the eruption is taking place only at the very summit, inside the crater within the summit caldera, called Halema'uma'u. This was a rather small crater until 2018 but when the eruption stopped, it collapsed when all the lava drained away. expanding and deepening dramatically. For about a 1/ 1/2 years ground water oozed into the bottom, forming a lake that was about 100 ft. deep.   Not now.  Lava draining into the bottom of

the crater quickly turned it all into steam in a very dramatic plume of steam, ash, and volcanic gas.  The gas is mostly SO2, which combines with moisture in the air to form vog -- which is essentially airborne sulfuric acid.

So for a while we get to breathe not only Covid19 virus particles but also traces of sulfuric acid.  Wait -- I think our stable genius president might just recommend this as a way of getting rid of the virus.  Seems logical, right, that even a virus can't stand up to acid in your lungs.  Be patriotic, breathe deep! How bad can sulfuric acid be for your lungs?

No estimate on how long this will last is yet available, but I'll be optimistic and say that since the available magma isn't all that great,  it might be pretty short-lived. Of course, this could be in geologic time, not human time. And I could be just blowin' my own smoke here.

In the meantime, a greater immediate threat to us is the volcano we actually live on, Hualalai.  It is active and past due for an eruption and is being closely monitored. Oh damn, I shouldn't have said anything -- I just thought of a way 2020 could get way worse!!