Category: Kilauea

Exploring an active volcano

Out to the Lava… Again

It was another hike out to see the lava. Not that I really need an excuse to make this hike. This time it was to take a friend along. I have worked with Olivier for several years, between the two of us we do much of the physical maintenance on the Keck adaptive optics systems. Shortly he will be departing the island for another opportunity. Before he leaves he wanted to cross off one more item from his bucket list, seeing the lava close up.

The ocean entry at Kupapaʻu
Unlike last time we found the ocean entry was going strong, lava pouring into the sea very near where we saw nothing in December. There were multiple small entries spread along hundreds of yards of sea cliffs. On the west end of a shallow bay, we could get a decent look from promontories on the east end, upwind of the acrid plumes. Right below us was one particularly good font of lava, in reach of a modest telephoto lens.

It was still completely dark, the light of the full moon masked by the clouds. The waves were lit by the crimson glow, occasionally surging against the cliffs and hiding the lava from view. The glow also illuminated the billowing clouds of steam rising above each rivulet of lava. The scene is surreal, something that is both unexpected and somewhat difficult to believe. This is something that is outside our usual daily experience.

Pāhoehoe
An active pāhoehoe breakout at Kupapaʻu
After spending some time at the ocean entry we searched inland for a breakout we could approach more closely. A slight glow to the north indicated a possible breakout, but I had no idea if it was close or miles away. With hope we headed for the glow and got lucky. It was only about a quarter mile to the breakouts. Several lobes of lava were advancing over the slightly older flows. Dropping our gear well back from the active lava cameras were deployed. This is what we came to see and photograph, lava as close as the heat would let us get.

Olivier Martin
Olivier hiking over the lava at Kupapaʻu
For two hours we shot the breakouts. As usual, the flow would crust over, just to break out and advance again. The changing flow would provide ever different photo opportunities as the light of dawn slowly waxed. It was a cloudy day, small showers moving through, softening the dawn light and making the hot glow stand out all the more. The photos and video capture the scene, but do poor justice to the sound. The crackle of the cooling crust, raindrops hissing on the hot surface, low resounding cracks from deep in the rock under our feet.

With the day well begun we headed back to the ocean entry to shoot a few more frames in the early light. We sat on rock that was fairly warm under us, shooting the lava pouring into the waves. Relaxing a bit, digging a few bites to eat from the pack, we talked of cameras and lenses, of life on the island, a last bit of camaraderie with someone I might never meet again. We sat and just enjoyed this spectacle of raw nature. This was why we came, there is some risk in just being here, but the experience is worth it.

Getting to the Lava

Note: This post has been revised based on current conditions and access. You can see the revised post here.

Getting close to flowing lava is a great experience, but one that is fraught with risks. Sometimes the lava is relatively easy to access, near a road or developed trail. Most of the time it takes a serious hike across the old flows to get near, an arduous trip with no trail or map to guide you.

Kupapa'u Lava
An active pāhoehoe breakout at Kupapa’u

My most recent hike was my fifth trip out to the flowing lava, requiring my longest hike over the flows to date at just under three miles each way. OK, maybe I am not yet a veteran, but these trips have taught me a lesson or two. Going onto the lava is an inherently risky proposition and one must accept that risk. With a little knowledge and preparation the risks can be mitigated. Besides, the reward is spectacular!

You can take my word for it, or perhaps read the same information from someone who has been out far more than I. We will all tell much the same story.

Continue reading “Getting to the Lava”

Visiting UAVSAR

The aircraft is rather unremarkable, a standard small jet sitting among many similar aircraft at the Kona airport. It is the NASA colors and the odd pod hanging underneath that belies that this jet is somewhat unusual. This aircraft does not shuttle passengers across the country, it is home to a unique instrument called UAVSAR.

UAVSAR Aircraft
NASA aircraft equipped with UAVSAR pod
After giving the JPL staff a tour of Keck, they reciprocated and offered a tour of their aircraft. An offer that we readily accepted! After three days of watching the jet fly overhead, an opportunity to to see this aircraft up close was not to be wasted.

During this deployment the aircraft has quartered the Big Island, mapping any changes in the landscape on this volcanically active land. The acronym UAVSAR stands for Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar. As the name implies the system is designed to operate from a UAV, but it is currently installed in a crewed Gulfstream III aircraft.

UAVSAR image of Kilauea
Color-enhanced UAVSAR interferogram images of Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano, image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The system is capable of sub-centimeter accuracy, mapping the surface of our planet with a reconfigurable, polarimetric L-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR). This can reveal precise information about the shape of the land, moisture content of the soil, vegetation differences and more. Making multiple passes of the same area allows study of subtle changes in the terrain due to erosion or volcanic activity. Flying at 12,000 meters (40,000ft) the aircraft must navigate with exceptional accuracy to allow the radar to gather the data. A custom autopilot flies the aircraft through a 33 foot (10 meter) “tube” in the air between two GPS waypoints.

For this mission it is this volcanic island that is the target. As any islander knows we live on a rock that moves. The island settles into the sea, slides into the ocean, and swells where magma pushes its way into the volcano. Each year they return to Hawai’i to re-map the island, this is the fourth year they have returned to check the changes wrought by the volcanoes.

The JPL/NASA folks have completed their mission to the island for the year. Our tour was the morning they were due to depart, flying back to the Dryden Flight Research Center in California.

UAVSAR
UAVSAR radar pod
The aircraft is not as jammed with electronics as I envisioned. Boarding the plane one finds a few equipment racks and a number of comfortable seats available for the folks that have to tend the electronics through ten hour missions. It is an odd combination of custom electronics built to aerospace standards and off-the-shelf electronics fastened into the racks, including computers, monitors and ethernet routers. Much of the gear is used for simply monitoring the instrument, rather than needed for the radar. One can see how the system could be installed in a smaller UAV.

Hanging underneath the aircraft is the pod containing the radar itself. Bright white, the pod sports a flat antenna down the port side for the sideways looking beam. A trio of scoops on the front ram air through the pod to keep the electronics cool.

We chatted with the flight crew and the radar team learning about the instrument and aircraft. They travel all over the US and sometimes around the globe. They have mapped volcanoes in Alaska and Japan, glaciers in Iceland, measured oil spills, and scanned regions effected by major earthquakes. We noted that they had a fascinating job, while they said the same right back at us.

After the tour our hosts kicked us off the plane and began start-up for their hop back to the mainland. We got the data disks with the GPS data we needed for our tests and traded business cards and contact info. I will have to keep my eye out for the results of this year’s Big Island deployment.