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Hawaiian Volcano Observatory issues “Red” aviation warning relating to Kīlauea
- 8_hours_ago 8y agoVery impressive pictures: https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/kilauea_multimedia_15.html https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/kilauea_multime...
- jonknee 8y agoAnd life goes on, love this angle of ash behind golfers: https://twitter.com/GettyImagesNews/status/996538881565691910 https://twitter.com/GettyImagesNews/status/99653888156569191...
- thrav 8y agoMy wife and I just got back on Saturday from a visit. Life very much goes on. Throughout the whole week, everyone back home was freaking out / trying to make sure we were alive, while the locals all just kinda shrugged and said, “Just Pele doing her thing.”
- sandworm101 8y agoI find it hard to take a disaster seriously when people are playing golf. At what point do they start telling the tourists to leave, or at least stop arriving? I'd imagine a mass evacuation of Hawaii, or any part of it, would be a logistical nightmare.
- jonknee 8y agoThe island isn't going anywhere, they're not in any danger.
- sandworm101 8y agoMaybe not today, but the Hawaiian islands are all temporary. There is a reason they get smaller the further they are away from the hotspot. The big island is doomed. https://hilo.hawaii.edu/~kenhon/GEOL205/Landslides2/default.htm https://hilo.hawaii.edu/~kenhon/GEOL205/Landslides2/default....
- jonknee 8y agoWell on a long enough timeline we're all doomed, but that doesn't mean golf is out of the question. This eruption has been going on for decades (1983!), it's OK to live a normal life on the Big Island.
- jackhack 8y agoIn fact, one could say the island is growing.
- jcranmer 8y agoHawaii is a big island. Most of the land downwind of Kilauea is a desert in large part due to centuries-long sulfur dioxide emissions as opposed to lack of rain. Lava is currently erupting in the East Rift Zone of Kilauea. The subdivisions where the lava is fountaining have been placed under a mandatory evacuation, and travel in that region of Kilauea is now limited solely to residents. Places like Hilo and Kailua-Kona are completely unaffected, except maybe for vog and future ashfall issues. The National Guard for Hawaii is actually presently planning for a potential evacuation of Puna, since lava is currently threatening to close off all of the roads that reach those districts. The restrictions on tourists and vacationers are already in place to facilitate that putative evacuation.
- lutorm 8y agoThat's because there is no "disaster". Apart from sucking for the ~thousand residents who are living in the area where the lava is now flowing, there is no effect on the rest of the island.
- maskedSlacker 8y agoThis eruption has been going on for 35 years, and there hasn't been a mass evacuation yet. I wouldn't worry about it.
- United857 8y agoWhat does "Red" mean exactly here? All flights are grounded/need to avoid this airspace?
- goodcanadian 8y agoAll flights should always avoid volcanic ash. I don't know exactly what the colour scale means (probably higher particle density or altitude or extent), but any aircraft would be advised to avoid the plume. In this case, it is not currently interfering with usual flight paths, but the bulletin indicates that the wind direction is expected to change, so I would say it means be advised and monitor the situation.
- mhandley 8y agoThe definitions are here: http://www.wovo.org/aviation-colour-codes.html http://www.wovo.org/aviation-colour-codes.html Red means either "Eruption is forecast to be imminent with significant emission of ash into the atmosphere likely." or, "Eruption is underway with significant emission of ash into the atmosphere." In this case, the latter.
- jcranmer 8y agoKilauea has been at Orange for the past several years--the ash clouds that were generated were small, highly localized, and not really a threat to aviation. On April 30, the erupting fissure (Pu'u 'O'o) suddenly had its floor collapse, cutting off the main escape path of lava. At the same time, there was a massive surge in magma underneath the summit, which shortly thereafter shifted down the flank. The lava lake at the summit is now a crater over 300 meters deep. This means that, in addition to rocks falling into the crater and subsequently being ejected into the air in the form of fine ash, water is also intruding into the column, which raises the distinct possibility of a high pressure steam explosion. The alert level was changed because there is now a persistent, high-level ash cloud that is traveling some distance. It's not on the same scale as Eyjafjallajökull (the volcano that shut down European airspace), but it is big enough to start wrapping around the Hawaiian islands.
- raverbashing 8y agoAh volcanoes, the 3d printer of nature. Some interesting fact I found the other day: Hawaii was created by one (edit) volcanic hotspot, while the tectonic plate moved above it. And there's a line of underwater islands all the way to Siberia.
- dboreham 8y agoSee also Yellowstone
- privong 8y ago> Hawaii was created by one volcano, while the tectonic plate moved above it. And there's a line of underwater islands all the way to Siberia. Just a quick clarification: the Hawaiian islands comprise multiple volcanoes. There's at least five that make up the Big Island (Hawai'i): Mauna Kea, Mauna Loa, Kilauea, Kohala, and Hualālai. I think what you mean is that the island chain seems to have been created by a single mantle plume / volcanic hotspot: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaii_hotspot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaii_hotspot
- raverbashing 8y agoThanks for the clarification, and yes, that's what I mean
- jcranmer 8y agoWell, there are two distinct loci of volcanoes at the hotspot: the loci that creates Mauna Loa, Loihi, Hualalai, Lanai, etc., and the loci that creates Mauna Kea, Haleakala, Kohala, Kilauea, etc. It's still referred to as one hotspot, but there may be separate mantle plumes in close proximity.
- privong 8y ago> It's still referred to as one hotspot, but there may be separate mantle plumes in close proximity. Does it need to be separate plumes or can it be bifurcation of a single plume as it passes through the crust?
- sgt101 8y agoHow do the telescopes on Mt Kea protect themselves from the ash? I know that they are on another island some distance from this volcano (I visited a decade or so ago) but does the ash cloud risk transporting damaging particulates to the special glass?
- Cthulhu_ 8y agoIsn't that an observatory like I always know them, e.g. with a roof that can close? That.
- sizzzzlerz 8y agoMauna Kea is on the big island, north of Kilauea. According to the USGS reports, trade winds are currently blowing the ash clouds south-west, away from the summits of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa. If the winds shift and start blowing north, I would expect that they'd keep the doors on domes closed. If opened, the ash would not only fall onto the scopes, it would get inside the dome, into all the nooks and crannies, and into sensitive equipment. Just having so much particulate matter in the atmosphere would make observing hard anyway so keeping the doors closed seems to be the best solution.
- danielvf 8y agoJust confirming for those that don't know which Hawaiian island is which, Mauna Kea is on the same island as the erupting volcano.
- Johnny555 8y agoFor further clarification, this island is colloquially called "The Big Island", while its official name is "Hawaiʻi" or "Island of Hawaiʻi", which causes further confusion since that's also the state's name (which consists of 8 main islands and many minor islands). So when news reports refer to "Hawaiʻi", it's hard to be certain what they are talking about without further clarification.
- crunchlibrarian 8y agoClassic HN, how is the scientific equipment holding up? Dust in nooks and crannies? Why I can't even imagine! Hmm there are humans on the island as well?
- walrus01 8y agoWhat happens when you don't avoid clouds of volcanic ash: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Airways_Flight_9 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Airways_Flight_9 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KLM_Flight_867 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KLM_Flight_867
- raverbashing 8y ago> "Despite the lack of time, Moody made an announcement to the passengers that has been described as "a masterpiece of understatement":[3]" > "Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We have a small problem. All four engines have stopped. We are doing our damnedest to get them going again. I trust you are not in too much distress"
- lightbyte 8y agoSeems like that wasn't an understatement, they didn't end up being in any distress at all. The plane landed safely and nobody was injured.
- walrus01 8y agoA 747 gliding all engines out and not immediately above an airport is kind of a major crisis. The number of times that has happened is an extremely rare occurrence.
- hansthehorse 8y agoOn average and handled correctly, a 747 at 40000 feet has about 100 miles of range, discounting winds.
- walrus01 8y agoWhich is not a lot, if the only airports within 100 miles have runways too short for a 747.
- jobu 8y agoFirst time I've ever seen the term "vog" (volcanic air pollution) https://vog.ivhhn.org/ https://vog.ivhhn.org/
- drak0n1c 8y agoGrowing up on the Big Island I remember vog as the primary allergen that people chatted about. Just like pollen allergies elsewhere.
- Casseres 8y agoIt's a common report from pilots when we solicit the weather from them. (Every hour when certain conditions are met, air traffic controllers have to solicit PIREPS - Pilot Reports). It reduces visibility similar to haze.
- Casseres 8y agoI'm an air traffic controller at HCF Center (the airspace that has this aviation red warning). I wish I was working there right now to see this firsthand, but I'm currently in Oklahoma City at the FAA center. If anyone has any questions, I'll do my best to answer them. The summary says the ash cloud is drifting southwest which would put it on the south end of the Big Island. Almost no one flies that way so it shouldn't have a big impact on aviation traffic.
- lutorm 8y agoAsh output is apparently already declining, so even though the trade winds are expected to slow it appears the NWS just canceled the ash warning: "Cancelled the Ashfall Advisory for Kau District as volcanic ash emissions at Halemaumau have decreased since Tuesday evening. However, vog will be particularly thick today on the Big Island as sea breezes and upslope flow will collect the plume over the island."