Thursday, April 13, 2023

Kaʻū News Briefs, Thursday, April 13, 2023

Miss Aloha Hula Agnes Thronas Brown, dancing Kahiko, the ancient Hawaiian hula. Photo from Merrie Monarch Festival

AGNES RENEE LEIHIWAHIWAIKAPOLIONAMAKUA THRONAS BROWN IS MISS ALOHA HULA, under the direction of Nā Kumu Hula Tracie and Keawe Lopes. She was named on Thursday, at the end of the first night of Merrie Monarch competition at Edith Kanakaole Stadium in Hilo. 
    On Friday, Hula Kahiko, ancient hula group division competition between halau will be livestreamed at www.merriemonarch.org and on K5 television at. 6 p.m. On Saturday, the Auana modern hula competition will be broadcast and streamed at the same time. 
    During the Miss Aloha Hula competition, Best Hawaiian Language Award went to Meleana Kamalani Mirafuentes, mentored by Nā Kumu Hula William Kahakuleilehua Haunuʻu “Sonny” Ching and  Lōpaka Igarta-De Vera.
Meleana Kamalani Mirafuentes won the Hawaiian Language Award.
Photo from Merrie Monarch Festival
    Other competitors in Miss Aloha Hula were Eva Rose Keaoʻōpuaikalaʻi Espinoza under Kumu Hula Keolalaulani Dalire; Jazmine Nohealani Adams-Clarke under Kumu Hula Kapua Dalire-Moe Pōhaikealoha Olikolani Artates and Kumu Hula Nāpua Greig; Breeze Ann Kalehuaonālani Vidinha Pavao under Kumu Hula Leināʻala Pavao Jardin; Tehani Kaleohoneonālani Barrett under Nā Kumu Hula Kasie Puahala Kaleohano and Brandi Nohelani Barrett; Je’ani-Jade Kalamaolaikapohakea Pavao, under Nā Kumu Hula Kunewa Mook and Kau‘ionālani Kamana‘o; Jill-Lyan Makanaokalani Mae-Ling Mamizuka under Kumu Hula Kamaka Kukona; Karlee Pōhaikealoha Rita Chong Kee under Nā Kumu Hula Haunani and ‘Iliahi Paredes; Tayla-Nohealeimamo Kamaehukauikapono Taʻuhere Vaughan-Darval under Kumu Hula Kaʻilihiwa Vaughan-Darval; and Pōlaʻa Kalaniʻelima Yim under Kumu Hula Kenneth Dean Alohapumehanaokalā Victor.
    See films, photos and much more at www.merriemonarch.org.
    On Saturday, Kaʻū will be represented by Pā'u Riders on horseback and other participants at the annual Merrie Monarch Royal Parade beginning at 10:30 a.m. in Hilo. Arts and Crafts sales and entertainment continue during Friday and Saturday at Hilo Civic Auditorium and Butler Building.

During Merrie Monarch Week, Halau Hula Leonalani, under the direction of Debbie Rider, sent keiki and youth dancers
from Kaʻū to perform for residents of the Yukio Otsuka State Veterans Home in Hilo on Wednesday. The halau also performed
at the opening of Merrie Monarch  on Sunday at Hilo Civic and at Hilo Hawaiian Hotel on Wednesday. Photo by Jack Moses


IMAGING THE UNDERGROUND AT KILAUEA'S SUMMIT is the title of this week's Volcano Watch, the weekly article and activity update written by U.S. Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists and affiliates:
    Where is magma stored beneath the surface of Kīlauea and how is it transported to the places where eruptions occur? Scientists have hypothesized the shape and size of Kīlauea's summit magma storage system for the last century, and now have an unparalleled opportunity to develop a far more detailed picture than was possible before.

Color photograph of truck
The Vibroseis vehicle that will be operating in the Kīlauea summit region throughout May 2023. The center orange-colored vibrating plate is covered with plywood and a rubber mat to protect road surfaces and the induced vibrations will be kept to minimum thresholds that can still be recorded by the seismic nodes. USGS photo

    A collaborative research project—the Kīlauea Seismic Imaging Project—is about to start and it will help reveal subsurface structures beneath Kīlauea's summit region. This project is funded by the National Science Foundation and the USGS Additional Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Relief Act of 2019 (H.R. 2157, provided in response to Kīlauea's 2018 lower East Rift Zone eruption and summit collapse).
This image shows how the Vibroseis vehicle will work in Volcano throughout May,
 as it collects data for  a new model of the lava chambers below the summit of Kīlauea. 
Image from Wikipedia
    The project will operate almost like a human CT scan. During a CT scan, your body enters a tube so that X-rays can travel through your body at different angles. From the X-rays, cross-sectional images are created of the features within your body, which are used collectively to make a three-dimensional model of your body.
    During the Kīlauea summit imaging project, seismic waves moving through the ground will be used to generate images of the subsurface that together will create a three-dimensional model of Kīlauea's summit magma storage geometry.
    HVO has a permanent monitoring network of several seismometers at the summit of Kīlauea that detect natural earthquakes, but more seismometers are needed to collect data at a higher resolution for this project. An additional 1,800 small earthquake-detecting devices, called seismic nodes, will be temporarily placed on the surface of Kīlauea's summit region in the next two months.
    After the seismic nodes, which will blend into the natural landscape, are deployed, a large vehicle will slowly traverse roads near Kīlauea's summit in May. The vehicle, called a Vibroseis, will create tiny seismic signals. The Vibroseis is operated by engineers and field crews from the Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure experimental facility at the University of Texas at Austin, which is supported by NSF.
    The nodes will capture the signals generated by the Vibroseis. The time that it takes the signals to reach the nodes and the way they change before reaching the nodes are important because seismic waves behave differently if the material they are traveling through is solid rock, semi-solid mushy material, or molten magma.
The Vibroseis vehicle that will be on the roads at Volcano will help to crate a new model for the 
lava chambers beneath Kīlauea summit in order to understand such events like the one  shown
here. (A) Precollapse lava lake on May 6, 2018. The lake surface had fallen ~650 ft since the onset
 of the eruption. (B) Aerial photograph looking west across Kīlauea’s summit on June 12, 2018, after
 the onset of caldera collapse. Partsof the crater floor had subsided as much as ~600 ft as intact 
blocks. (C) Estimatedmagma storage zone that partially collapsed to form the caldera. View is to the
 southeast. Photos by K. R. Anderson, USGS.
    The vast amounts of data collected will be analyzed to outline where the base of Kīlauea contacts the underlying ocean floor, the location of major faults and fault blocks, where bodies of magma are stored beneath the surface of Kīlauea, and how those bodies connect to the rift zones.
    The data will also produce a new velocity model for Kīlauea's summit region. Velocity models describe how fast earthquake waves move through subsurface regions and the model will allow for more accurate analyses of earthquakes and their locations in the future.
    During April-June this year, you might see USGS scientists deploying or retrieving these seismic nodes across the summit of Kīlauea volcano. Most of the work will be done from the ground, though there will be several days of helicopter-supported work.
    We appreciate your patience if you experience any delays due to the Vibroseis vehicle slowly moving on roads in the region, including roads within Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, portions of Highway 11 near Kīlauea summit, and segments of Wright Road and Haunani Road in Volcano Village. Unless you are close to the Vibroseis, you will not be able to feel the tiny vibrations or hear the whining noise the vehicle makes as it operates.
    Results from this research project will be invaluable for assessing the ever-evolving hazards and future volcanic activity at Kīlauea. The work is being conducted under a research permit from Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park and with permission from the State of Hawaii Department of Transportation, Highways Division, and Department of Public Works, County of Hawai'i. If you have any questions about the project, please email askHVO@usgs.gov. More details and updates on the progress of the Kīlauea subsurface imaging project can be found here: https://www.usgs.gov/supplemental-appropriations-for-disaster-recovery-activities/science/2019-kilauea-disaster-2.

POLICE ARRESTED 13 during the week of April 3 through April 9. Hawai`i Island police arrested them for driving under the influence of an intoxicant. Two of the drivers werei n a traffic collision. One was under age 21.
    So far this year, there have been 279 DUI arrests compared with 306 during the same period last year, a decrease of 8.8 percent. Hawai‘i Police Department’s Traffic Services Section reviewed all updated crashes and found 260 major crashes so far this year compared with 197 during the same period last year, an increase of 32 percent.
    To date, there have been five fatal crashes, resulting in six fatalities, (Rvsd. 02/07/23: one fatal crash reclassified—manner of death was due to natural causes) and (one fatal crash had multiple deaths); compared with 10 fatal crashes, resulting in 12 fatalities (one of which had multiple deaths) for the same time last year. This represents a decrease of 50 percent for fatal crashes, and 50 percent for fatalities.
DUI roadblocks and patrols will continue island wide. 


Kaʻū hosted and took down Lapahoehoe High on Thursday night. Photo by Julia Neal
IN BOYS VOLLEYBALL,
KA'Ū BEAT LAPAHOEHOE IN THREE STRAIGHT SETS 25-18, 25-9 and 25-12 on Thursday night at Robert Herkes Kaʻū District Gym.       Under coach Josh Ortega, Tyson Junior Kuahuia-Faafia nailed 11 kills, 3 aces and 1 block. Adahdiyah Ellis Reyes came up with 7 kills. Patrick Riehle made 5 kills and 1 ace. Karsen Polido-Tuaifaiva achieved 5 kills and 2 aces. Vladimir Fedoruk managed 4 kills 3 aces. CyZeiah Silva-Kamei had 2 aces, Kayson Pagan 1 kill.

UPCOMING TROJAN SPORTS for Track & Field, Boys Baseball, Girls Softball and Boys Volleyball, under Athletic Director Jaime Guerpo:
      In Boys Varsity Volleyball, under Coach Josh Ortega, Trojans host Ka Umeke on Monday, April 17 at 5 p.m. On April 21 through April 26 are playoffs and championship games.   
       In Girls Softball, under Coach Donovan Emmsley, on Saturday, April 15, Kaʻū hosts Kohala at 1 p.m.. BIIF playoffs for Girls Softball start Monday, April 17 with finals ending on April 29.
    In Boys Baseball, under coach Rolland Alcoran, on April 15, Kaʻū hosts Kohala 11 a.m. BIIF playoffs for Boys Baseball start April 17 with finals ending on April 28.
     In Track, under Coach Tolu Rasmussen, Trojans head to Kealakehe for islandwide competition on Saturday, April 15 at 2 p.m.. The Freshman-Sophomore Invitational is on Saturday, April 22 at 9 a.m. at Kea'au. BIIF Trials are Friday, April 28 at 2 p.m. at Kea'au, followed by Finals on Saturday, April 29 at 3 p.m. Kea'au.




 

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OUTDOOR MARKETS

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

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 Kona Dr. Drive and Hwy 11, near Thai Grindz. Masks mandatory. 100-person limit, social distancing required. Gate unlocked for vendors at 5:30 a.m., $15 dollars, no rez needed. Parking in the upper lot. Vendors must provide their own sanitizer. Food vendor permits required. Carpooling is encouraged.