Daily Report 8 -- Friday 17 September 2010 -- South Point
On day 8 we set out on the road headed to South Point where we were destined to investigate yet another cone, enjoy the marvels of the green sand beach, and make a few leisure stops on the return home.
From our starting point at the parking lot (Stop 1), we hiked a couple miles along the Hawaiian coastline in order to reach another cone to investigate. Our initial survey of the cone was taken from afar (Stop 2). Through the blistering wind, heavy with ash and dust, we...
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Daily Report 7 -- Thursday 16 September 2010 -- Kaumana Caves, Kipuka Pu'u Hulu Hulu, and Mauna Loa Lava Flow Mapping
By Erica Mitchell, Megan Young, and Jorge Perez
After our near brush with death at the 'beach' yesterday, we bandaged up, saddled up, and set out for our next day of geological adventure. Putting aside our physical discomforts, we skipped along to the Kaumana Caves, headlamps and field notebooks in tow, our digital SLR cameras bouncing on our chests. In the middle of a lush rainforest, the cave opened to two entrances. We bravely delved into the blackness gingerly holding our...
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Daily Report 6 -- Wednesday 15 September 2010 -- HVO, July 2010 Lava Flows, and Littoral Cones
Today we visited three places: the Hawaii Volcano Observatory, the newest lava flows on the island, and a littoral cone on the edge of the island. We learned about the latest advances in volcano monitoring and were able to learn from a legend in Volcanology: Don Swanson. We were hoping that we might be able to see some red hot lava just breaking out of its confinement, but we were not so lucky. However, we were able to see a plume of steam and gas coming from hot lava entering...
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Daily Report 5 -- Tuesday 14 September 2010 -- Hike along the East Rift Zone
It started off as a nice sunny day as we drove and parked at the Mauna Ulu parking lot. We began our epic 12 miles death march after a round of pep talk and potty break. Less than 15 minutes into the march it started drizzling. Ka’u desert looked vast and gloomy from where we first stopped by a Kipuka. This particular Kipuka, an island of old lava filled with lush vegetation in an active flow region, was where previous volcanologists observed the massive lava flow from...
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Daily Report 4 -- Monday 13 September 2010 -- Mauna Iki and Footprints
We started the day off at the end of Hilina Pali Road where we applied our sunscreen and got our gear together for our hike across the Ka'u Desert ahead of us.
Day 4 took us on the path over the 1974 and 1959 lava flows, to look at a variety of features. Specifically, we started in the parking lot (Stop 1), and discussed regional extension that we had measured in the field exercise on day 3. Dikes of magma intruded into the subsurface beneath the rift zone. The added mass...
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Daily Report 3 -- Sunday 12 September 2010 -- Lua Manu, Hilina Pali, and highway lava cross-sections
By Erica Mitchell, Megan Young, and Jorge Perez
Hilina Pali
N19.31658°
W155.16188°
Lava Flow Cross Section
N19.30463°
W155.15086°
Rifting and Mapping
N19.30463º
W155.16188º
Lua Manu Lava Field
N19.39906º
W155.25340º
Day 3 proved to be very eventful – we visited the Lua Manu lava field, which had a plethora of shelly pahoehoe lava flows, tree castings, and lava trees. After that stop, we continued on our way to the Hilina Pali cliffs. From the overlook...
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Daily Report 2 -- Saturday 11 September 2010 -- Kilauea Iki Crater, Devastation Trail, and Thurston Lava Tubes
Today was our first full day in the field on Hawai’i. We drove to visit Kilauea Iki crater. The crater was like one large bathtub (lava lake), with bathtub rings of various lava levels left behind on the walls, and steaming vents inside. The vent of the lava fountain, also known as the throat, almost swallowed Phillip who climbed the scree slope and slid his way back down. On the Devastation trail, a large group of us got separated from Hubert and ended up walking to the end of the trail...
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Daily Report 1 -- Saturday 09 October 2010 -- Travel Day
Starting in San Diego we headed out to Hawaii and got our first glimpse of the volcano. From the steaming bluffs to the lava lake at night, our first day was a remarkable example of what is in store!
San Diego International Airport
After three days of intensive lectures in the IGPP at Scripps, some of us gathered at the airport to fly out to Honolulu.
Flying into Honolulu from the North of the Islands, we saw the majestic Mauna Loa shield far left from the airplane window. We met others...
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