Mauna Kea – Page 14 – A Darker View

PPT in the News… Again

It was a last minute request. OK, not actually the last minute, but two days is not much lead time to plan a public outreach event.

Fortunately there was not much to arrange, a single solar telescope and the standard table setup we keep packed and ready to go, all we had to do was show up. Drive up to the Pōhakuloa Training Area to join in their Earth Day events. There would be several hundred students from local schools, tables and displays from other organizations, a good outreach opportunity.

Pōhakuloa Solar Telescope — A solar telescope set up at Pōhakuloa Training Area for Earth Day.

In ten years of driving past the front gates of PTA, I had never been inside. Why not, just an easy drive from Waikoloa, and I have a telescope that will do the job perfectly.

It seems odd that a military base would celebrate Earth Day. What do attack helicopters, live munitions, and troops have to do with the environment? The answer should not be that surprising… Military bases are often large effective nature reserves.

Large areas of land, much of which sits unused and undisturbed, are closed to public access. An active range needs huge safety and buffer zones around the firing ranges. Of the 133,000 acres that makes up PTA, only a small percentage is directly impacted by the training activities. The rest is home to a endemic and endangered species, closed to any activity that can disturb the land.

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The TMT Contested Case Winds Down

We are now in March, looking back to October when the TMT contested case began. Five months of hearings endlessly repeating the same details about every aspect of the case.

Yes… My patience has run out long ago.

Retired Judge Riki May Amano presides over the TMT contested case hearing

After all that has been said and done it is clear that the actual substance of the case could have been thoroughly discussed in a couple weeks, not five months.

Among the endless hours of testimony there have been occasional moments of fireworks. We have heard wild theories, mangled science, inexcusable ignorance, evidence of unemployment claims fraud, and several very likely incidents of outright perjury by telescope opponents.

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To Play in the Snow

There are days when it seems like the entire island population comes to Mauna Kea. This is certainly the case on a snow day, the first day the road is open after a fresh snowfall will see a crowd of folks ascending to the summit to play in the snow.

Loading Snow — Loading pickup trucks with snow for export from the mauna.

This winter the snow came for Christmas, several feet of snow just before the holiday. MKSS was able to plow through the snowdrifts and open the road for the public on Christmas Eve. The result was predictable, hundreds drove up to the snow to enjoy a white Christmas.

One local tradition is the hauling of snow from the summit to the beach. On some days dozens of pickup trucks can be found on the summit, or filled with snow making their way down the mountain road. The snow will be the basis of parties and games on the beach or in green tropical lawns. Online you can find photos of snowmen under palm trees or snowball fights and smiling keiki on Hilo yards.

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TMT Opponent’s Alternative Facts

A number of other commentators are noting the use of alternative facts by telescope opponents. While I have commented a few times here on DV about the issue, it is heartening to note that I am not alone in this.

Ahu — An ancient ahu (shrine) at 11,000ft on Mauna Kea

Environment Hawaii has published a number of articles that cover the ongoing TMT contested case. The latest is quite critical of Sierra Club Director Marti Townsend’s recent testimony. The article is quite forthright in noting a list of factual errors in her testimony.

Many of the witnesses have testified on cultural and religious issues, no problems here, these are personal matters where there is no objective truth. But over and over we have seen witnesses make very specific physical and scientific claims that are simply wrong. It will be interesting to see how these inaccuracies are addressed in the findings of the hearing officer.

No, Mrs. Townsend, there are no glaciers on Mauna Kea. There used to be, about ten thousand years ago, but they are gone now.

Distanced from Reality

On Monday I tuned back into the TMT contested case hearing, it is a soap opera that has become rather addictive over the last few months. I will often keep the video feed up in the corner of my monitor, attempting to pick up the more interesting bits through the day.

Mr. Lee claims to be a papakilohoku, a star priest, I tuned into his testimony with some interest. As an amateur astronomer who has spent countless nights under the stars observing with hand made telescopes, or simply my unaided eyes, I am very familiar with the sky. I hoped he would relate some interesting Hawaiian sky lore while on the stand, a new legend or two. What I heard instead was a mangled version of astronomy that would embarrass any ancient Polynesian navigator.

Mr. Michael Lee was offered as a witness by Harry Fergerstrom, one of the more extreme participants in the ongoing contested case hearing. It is no surprise that this witness would espouse some of the more interesting claims made against the TMT project. I expected some wild claims, I was surprised at just how wild.

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A Little Snow…

Icy Sunrise — The Sun rising over an icy snowfield along the summit road of Mauna Kea

Light Snow — A light snowfall atop the summit of Mauna Kea

SMA On Ice — The SMA (Smithsonian Submillimeter Array) under a heavy coating of ice and snow with Haleakalā in the background

Snowy SMA — The SMA antennas in snow and fog

Snow Day — Looking across at the Keck 1 dome from the top of Keck 2 with Mauna Loa in the background

Snowplow — An MKSS snowplow clears the road atop Mauna Kea

Fresh snowfall blankets the summit of Mauna Kea

Abandoning the Summit — Abandoning the summit as weather conditions deteriorate and the snow begins to fall

Fesh snowfall from the top of the Keck 2 dome

Arrival — We arrive to eight inches of snow at the telescopes

Shoveling Snow — Mike Dahler clearing snow from the edge of the Keck 2 shutter

A Bit of Snow — The twin domes of Keck after a bit of snow on the summit of Mauna Kea

IRTF Snow 3Mar2015 — Snow falling around the IRTF telescope on the afternoon of March 3, 2015

Snow — A touch of snow and ice atop Mauna Kea this morning

Snowy Summits — A fresh snowfall blankets the summit of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa

A Little More Snow — April storm brought enough snow to cover the slopes of Mauna Kea

A Summit Road — Six inches of snow on the road as we approach the summit of Mauna Kea

Nearly There — Keck 2 appears out of the fog and snow as we are nearly there

Snowy Arrival at the Summit — The crew arriving to a summit to find several inches of fresh snow

Fresh Snow — Fresh snow atop Mauna Kea, the first good storm of 2013

A snow covered summit road — Getting to the summit over a snow and ice covered road in heavy fog

Snowy Keck 1 — Keck 1 looms in the fog and snow

Snow Gallery

This winter has already seen quite a bit of snow atop our tropical summit. It seems appropriate to put together a few recent snow photos…

OLI Hawaii — Recent snowfall atop Hawaiian summits as captured by NASA’s OLI imager aboard Landsat 8 on Dec 25th, 2016

Snow at Keck Observatory atop Mauna Kea — A summit covered with snow to greet us on a recent morning up top.

Mauna Kea Blizzard — A snowstorm continues for a second day atop Mauna Kea, December 2, 2016

Snow Drifts in Hawaii — Substantial snow drifts in front of the Keck Telescope, December 19, 2016

Heavy Ice — Heavy ice on the weather mast of Keck Observatory, December 19, 2016

A shot from a UKIRT webcam of the Hoku Kea student observatory

Yeah, this is going to be a problem… Eric gives scale to a rather large snowdrift in front of Keck Observatory

No View — The Keck 1 breakroom windows feature the view of the inside of a snowdrift

The MKSS snowplow crews remove snow from in front of Keck Observatory atop Mauna Kea

The MKSS snowplow crews remove snow from in front of IRTF Observatory atop Mauna Kea

Deep drifts in front of Keck Observatory cut through by the MKSS snowplow crews

The summit road choked with deep snows — It will be a fair bit of work to clear the road to the summit

The MKSS snowplow crews remove snow from the roads atop Mauna Kea

Subaru Observatory looms out of the fog and snow

Snow along the road as we approach the summit of Mauna Kea

Mountain Traffic — Winding our way down the mountain with snow day traffic

No View

Normally the Keck 1 breakroom windows feature a great view of the Kohala, and of Maui and Haleakalā beyond. Not lately…

Tropical Snowplow

Professional versus Layman

With a few notable exceptions the petitioners in the ongoing TMT contested case hearing are lay people with no background in astronomy or the natural sciences around which much of the testimony concerns. Sometimes this disparity results in innocent misunderstandings, something to be expected. Unfortunately in this case these misunderstandings are all too often used to justify ugly insinuations or even accusations of misconduct by telescope opponents.

The Thirty Meter Telescope — An artist concept of TMT at night, with the laser guide star system illuminated.

It is usually the terminology that starts these misunderstandings… During cross examination of master navigator Chad Babayan petitioner Mehana Kihoi asked, “Do you have a degree in astrology, Mr. Babayan?” You could see a moment of confusion on Mr. Babayan’s face “Astro?” Not deterred she asks again, “A degree in astrology?” There is only one response to this… “No, I don’t.” Mr. Babayan answers. This is not the only time that the pseudoscience of astrology has been confused with astronomy in these proceedings. The vast difference between the two completely escaping the notice of so many laypersons.

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