About The Kaʻū Calendar

Saturday, February 04, 2023

Kaʻū News Briefs, Friday, Feb.3, 2023

Gabriel Cuevas teaches aikido at the historic Japanese schoolhouse at Pāhala Hongwanji where Pāhala Soto no Michi Aikido is accepting new students. See more below. Photo by Julia Neal

FREE ADMISSION FOR SCHOOL CHILDREN AND TRANSPORTATION will be provided through a $50,000 grant from National Park Foundation. The destinations are Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, Imiloa Astronomy Center and the Mokupāpapa Discovery Center Papahānaumokuākea Marine
A park ranger talks to young backpack-wearing
 school children outdoors about the native plants
 around them. NPS photo
National Monument
. HVNP is the recipient of the grant.
     To be eligible, schools must participate in the Earth, Sea, Sky field trips developed in partnership by the three East Hawaiʻi learning destinations. "Through field trips with each organization, students learn how interdependent life is on the island of Hawaiʻi, as well as how to mālama ʻāina, care for the world around us. Students are also exposed to a diverse range of scientific research happening on island and the different careers available," says a statement from Hawai'i Volcanoes.
  The program originally targeted sixth through tenth graders, but the new National Park Foundation Open Outdoors for Kids grant expands the opportunity to also include fourth graders.
    For more information on the Earth, Sea, Sky program and to schedule a fee-free field trip and transportation, email havo_education@nps.gov and see: https://go.nps.gov/free-transpo
    In addition, every fourth grader is eligible for a free park pass through the Every Kid Outdoors program. Ask at the park entrance or visit https://everykidoutdoors.gov/index.htm.

See The Kaʻū Calendar edition for February
in the mail and on stands.

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AFFORDABLE HOUSING IS A BASIC HUMAN RIGHT, according to a statement released by Gov. Josh Green' team on Friday. "That's why the Green administration is making housing a top priority, and planning to invest over $1 billion to make sure that working families can afford housing in Hawai'i."
The statement from Team Green said the governor plans for the state to invest: $1 to $12 million to increase funds for rental assistance; $400 million towards the state's rental housing trust fund; $500 million towards infrastructure improvements for developers to build affordable housing units and "much more."
    The Green Team statement says, "As long as we have a housing crisis, the Green administration will continue treating it as an emergency — and Governor Green will keep taking action. Housing affects our health, our safety, and the well-being of our entire community — that's why the Green administration will be working hard for the next four years to make housing more affordable and available to every family in our state."

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Avocado Lace Bug destroys
leaves of avocado trees.
Photo from CTAHR
AVOCADO LACE BUGS HAVE HIT KA'Ū, damaging trees and production. A presentation from University of Hawai'i's College of Tropical Agriculture & Human Resources has been posted online to show farmers and homeowners how do deal with this pest, Pseudaccysta perseae, which arrived to these islands in 2019 on O'ahu and spread to Hawai'i Island. These pests and their nymphs live and feed on the underside of the avocado leaf, in such numbers that they can look like the leaf is covered with ground red and black pepper. They are tiny, one-sixteen of an inch and smaller.
    Basics of Integrated Pest Control & Avocado Lace Bug Control Strategies is the title of the recording. Those with questions questions about ALB, pesticide use on avocado, or the materials presented can contact Amjad Ahmad at alobady@hawaii.edu.
https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/795139740

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Kalia Grace and Trevin Pasion-Saplan during an aikido
class at Pāhala Hongwanji where new students are 
being accepted. Photo by Gabriel Cuevas 
THE AIKIDO CLASS IN THE HISTORIC PĀHALA  HONGWANJI is accepting new students, under the guidance of Sensei Gabriel Cuevas. 
    Student Kalia Grace said that Pāhala Soto no Michi Aikido is a small dojo located in Pāhala town, at the end of Pa'au'au Street in the old Japanese school house on the grounds of the Buddhist tempe, the hongwanji next to the old sugar mill camp. "Soto no Michi Aikido is a place where people from all walks of life are welcome to come to participate in, and learn martial arts movements from different disciplines," said Grace.
    Classes are held twice weekly, on Sundays and Thursdays from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. "We are currently accepting new students - children, teenagers and adults. We welcome you to come by and visit with us, stay for a class, and join us if you are interested in learning aikido and other martial arts techniques," said Grace. 
    For more information contact the Sensei at 206-291-8832.

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KA'Ū PATROL OFFICER RODNEY KEKAUALUA, JR. has sent out a missing person's report, asking for the public’s assistance in locating 31-year-old Ashlea Graff, who was reported missing on Jan. 31. According to the Hawai'i Police Department, Graff was last seen in the Kona area in mid-October 2022. She is described as Caucasian with a small build, 5 feet 4 inches tall, 115 pounds, with brown hair and hazel eyes. Police ask anyone with any information on Graff’s whereabouts to call the police department’s non-emergency line at 808-935-3311 or Ka‘ū Patrol Officer Rodney Kekaualua, Jr., at 808 939-2520.

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POLICE ARRESTED 23 FOR DUI during the week of Jan. 23 through Jan. 29. They arrested the motorists for driving under the influence of an intoxicant. Eight drivers were involved in a traffic accident. Three were under the age of 21. So far this year, there have been 95 DUI arrests compared with 83 during the same period last year, an increase of 14.45 percent.
    After a review of all updated crashes, Hawai‘i Police Department’s Traffic Services found 76 major accidents so far this year compared with 68 during the same period last year, an increase of 10.5 percent.
    To date, there have been three fatal crashes, resulting in three fatalities, compared with four fatal crashes, resulting in six fatalities for the same time last year. This represents a decrease of 25 percent for fatal crashes, and a decrease 50 percent for fatalities. Police promise that DUI roadblocks and patrols will continue islandwide.

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COUNTY WORK ON MILOLI'I ROAD includes a recent resurfacing and the scheduling of installing pavement markings, with officers directing traffic and minor delays, next Friday, Feb. 10 from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

HVO staff and collaborators install temporary instruments to collect magnetotelluric data on Kīlauea volcano’s south
flank in 2022. At each location, electrodes, induction-coil magnetometers, and data loggers are deployed for one to two days.
Photo shows an induction coil being prepared for burial in a narrow and shallow trench to minimize wind noise. 
USGS photo by A. Ellis


A DEEP STUDY TO UNDERSTAND THE PLUMBING OF KILAUEA VOLCANO is the subject of this week's Volcano Watch, written by USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists and affiliates. The
study measures subsurface conductivity beneath Kīlauea volcano to reveal its subsurface magmatic plumbing.
    The project is permitted by Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park and various landowners and funded by the Additional Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Relief Act of 2019 (H.R. 2157). 
    The project started within Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park last summer and will be completed over the entire volcano this year.
    The technique has a catchy name—magnetotelluric (MT) sounding. It’s a passive geophysical technique that measures tiny perturbations in the natural Earth magnetic and electric (telluric) fields to map out how well the rocks beneath our feet conduct electricity.
    Last year, the team was successful in getting high-quality data at about 40 sites within Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park. This year, the team of geophysicists from the USGS Denver office will return in February to collect data at another 65 sites in the Puna District along Kīlauea’s East Rift Zone. The final phase of the work will occur in May-June when the Denver crew will collect any remaining sites both inside and outside of the National Park.
    The MT sounding method relies upon natural electromagnetic energy from a combination of solar winds (continuous flow of charged particles from the Sun) interacting with the Earth’s magnetic field and global lighting strikes. Electromagnetic energy with periods (inverse of frequency) between 1 millisecond (1000 cycles per second) to 4,000 seconds (21.6 cycles per day) are recorded at each site. The longer-period data provides a measure of electrical conductivity at greater depths beneath the ground surface.
    Why measure electrical conductivity?
    Subsurface magma, as well as the surrounding hydrothermal systems, conducts electricity very well whereas cooled and solidified lava flows don’t. The dense network of MT sites on Kīlauea will collect data that we’ll use to map the subsurface locations of magma in three dimensions. Areas of high conductivity beneath the surface will show us where magma is located beneath Kīlauea volcano including the summit magma reservoir and the pathways from there to Kīlauea’s East and Southwest Rift Zones.
    The field work will involve setting up sensors to measure the Earth’s magnetic and electric fields at each site. To get information from the greatest depths, data must be acquired continuously for 1-5 days.
    A 2002 MT study of the summit and upper East Rift Zone of Kīlauea volcano showed subsurface

conductors in three distinct areas within 3 km (2 mi) of the surface. One was beneath Kīlauea caldera, a second was 1.5 km (1 mi) south of the caldera, and a third was beneath and to the south of Puʻuʻōʻō on the middle East Rift Zone.
    The conductive zones south of the summit and Puʻuʻōʻō were within fault zones that may have held electrically conductive saline or hydrothermal fluids. The conductive bodies below the summit and Puʻuʻōʻō likely represent the magma conduit from the summit reservoir to the East Rift Zone that fed the ongoing eruption in 2002.
    The 2022-2023 MT project will cover almost the entire surface of Kīlauea volcano and allow us to see more detail about the subsurface plumbing of the Southwest Rift Zone and the lower East Rift Zone that fed the 2018 Puna eruption. These data, combined with the data from an airborne electromagnetic and magnetic survey flown last year should give us a very detailed ‘CAT scan’ of the volcano. We hope that the subsurface plumbing that fed the 2018 Puna eruption will be mapped in detail.
    Over February, and May-June this year, you might see USGS scientists installing these MT sites across Kīlauea volcano. We appreciate Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate, the State of Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, and Kapoho Land and Development Company, and various other land owners who have granted us permission to access these locations. More details and updates on the progress of the Kīlauea subsurface conductivity project can be found here https://www.usgs.gov/supplemental-appropriations-for-disaster-recovery-activities/science/2019-kilauea-disaster.

VOLCANO ACTIVITY UPDATES: Kīlauea is erupting. Its USGS Volcano Alert level is at WATCH. Kīlauea updates are issued daily.
    Kīlauea volcano's summit eruption in Halemaʻumaʻu crater within Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park
Ongoing eruption at Kīlauea's summit around 7:30 a.m. Feb. 2, looking south/southeast.
Lava lake activity continues, and a large overflow from the central pond was active
 during the morning overflight. USGS image by K. Lynn
 continues. Activity is concentrated in a large lava lake in the eastern half of the crater, as well as a smaller 
lake to the west, in the basin of the 2021–2022 lava lake. Summit tilt has shown gradual deflation over the past week with at least one deflation/inflation event. Summit earthquake activity remains low and eruptive tremor (a signal associated with fluid movement) is present. A sulfur dioxide emission rate of 3,000 tonnes per day was measured on Jan. 20. For Kīlauea monitoring data, see https://www.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/past-week-monitoring-data-kilauea.
    Mauna Loa is not erupting. Its USGS Volcano Alert Level is at ADVISORY. Mauna Loa updates are issued weekly on Thursdays. Webcams show no signs of activity on Mauna Loa. Seismicity remains low. Deformation rates show inflation somewhat above background levels, but this is not uncommon following eruptions. Sulfur dioxide (SO2) emission rates are at background levels. For Mauna Loa monitoring data, see: https://www.usgs.gov/volcanoes/mauna-loa/monitoring-data.
    There were three earthquakes with 3 or more felt reports in the Hawaiian Islands during the past week: a M3.2 earthquake 9 km (5 mi) E of Pāhala at 31 km (19 mi) depth on Jan. 30 at 10:02 p.m. HST, a M3.1 earthquake km (5 mi) E of Pāhala at 31 km (19 mi) depth on Jan. 30 at 2:57 p.m. HST, and a M2.7 earthquake 3.1 km (1.9 mi) NNE of Hōlualoa, Hawaii, United States at 13 km (8 mi) depth on Jan. 27 at 5:39 a.m. HST.

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FREE FOOD
St. Jude's Hot Meals are free to those in need on Saturdays from 9 a.m. until food runs out, no later than noon. Volunteers from the community are welcome to help and can contact Karen at pooch53@gmail.com. Location is 96-8606 Paradise Circle Drive in Ocean View. Those in need can also take hot showers from 9 a.m. to noon and use the computer lab from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Free Meals Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays are served from 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Nā'ālehu Hongwanji. Volunteers prepare the food provided by 'O Ka'ū Kākou with fresh produce from its gardens on the farm of Eva Liu, who supports the project. Other community members also make donations and approximately 150 meals are served each day, according to OKK President Wayne Kawachi.

OUTDOOR MARKETS
Volcano Evening Market, Cooper Center, Volcano Village, Thursdays, 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., with live music, artisan crafts, ono grinds, and fresh produce. See facebook.com.

Volcano Swap Meet, fourth Saturday of the month from 8 a.m. to noon. Large variety of vendors with numerous products. Tools, clothes, books, toys, local made healing extract and creams, antiques, jewelry, gemstones, crystals, food, music, plants, fruits, and vegetables. Also offered are cakes, coffee, and shave ice. Live music.

Volcano Farmers Market, Cooper Center, Volcano Village on Sundays, 6 a.m. to 10 a.m., with local produce, baked goods, food to go, island beef and Ka'ū Coffee. EBT is used for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly Food Stamps. Call 808-967-7800.

Ka'ū Kākou Market, Nā'ālehu, Wednesdays, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Contact Nadine Ebert at 808-938-5124 or June Domondon 808-938-4875. See facebook.com/OKauKakouMarket.

Ocean View Community Market, Saturdays and Wednesdays, 6:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., corner of Kona Drive and Highway 11, where Thai Grindz is located. Masks mandatory. 100-person limit, social distancing required. Gate unlocked for vendors at 5:30 a.m., $15 dollars, no reservations needed. Parking in the upper lot only. Vendors must provide their own sanitizer. Food vendor permits required. Carpooling is encouraged.

FREE FOOD
St. Jude's Hot Meals are free to those in need on Saturdays from 9 a.m. until food runs out, no later than noon. Volunteers from the community are welcome to help and can contact Karen at pooch53@gmail.com. Location is 96-8606 Paradise Circle Drive in Ocean View. Those in need can also take hot showers from 9 a.m. to noon and use the computer lab from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Free Meals Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays are served from 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Nā'ālehu Hongwanji. Volunteers prepare the food provided by 'O Ka'ū Kākou with fresh produce from its gardens on the farm of Eva Liu, who supports the project. Other community members also make donations and approximately 150 meals are served each day, according to OKK President Wayne Kawachi.

OUTDOOR MARKETS
Volcano Evening Market, Cooper Center, Volcano Village, Thursdays, 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., with live music, artisan crafts, ono grinds, and fresh produce. See facebook.com.

Volcano Swap Meet, fourth Saturday of the month from 8 a.m. to noon. Large variety of vendors with numerous products. Tools, clothes, books, toys, local made healing extract and creams, antiques, jewelry, gemstones, crystals, food, music, plants, fruits, and vegetables. Also offered are cakes, coffee, and shave ice. Live music.

Volcano Farmers Market, Cooper Center, Volcano Village on Sundays, 6 a.m. to 10 a.m., with local produce, baked goods, food to go, island beef and Ka'ū Coffee. EBT is used for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly Food Stamps. Call 808-967-7800.

'O Ka'ū Kākou Market, Nā'ālehu, Wednesdays, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Contact Nadine Ebert at 808-938-5124 or June Domondon 808-938-4875. See facebook.com/OKauKakouMarket.

Ocean View Community Market, Saturdays and Wednesdays, 6:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., corner of Kona Drive and Highway 11, where Thai Grindz is located. Masks mandatory. 100-person limit, social distancing required. Gate unlocked for vendors at 5:30 a.m., $15 dollars, no reservations needed. Parking in the upper lot only. Vendors must provide their own sanitizer. Food vendor permits required. Carpooling is encouraged.