Kaʻū News Briefs Nov.1, 2024

Kalani Meinecke, shown here at an earlier presentation on local history, will join in the cultural festival this Saturday and the health festival at Ke Ola Pu‘uhonua grounds in Nā‘ālehu  Photo by Julia Neal

KALANI MEINECKE WILL JOIN THE HO'OKUPU HULA NO KAʻŪ CULTURAL FESTIVAL on Saturday and the health fair on Sunday to share mo'olelo of Kaʻū, says the event organizer Kumu Debbie Ryder. Meinecke is a retired professor at Windward Community College and is known as an Educational Cultural Historical Consultant. Ryder said his great grand uncle was Willie Meinecke who opened the first general store in Wai‘ōhinu in the 1880's. He was known as not only a resident but a historian of Wai‘ōhinu.
    In addition to Meinecke, this Saturday, will be hula, musical performers and cultural practitioners. Ryder said hālau are coming from afar and near and that the headliner singer will be Ku‘uipo Kumukahi. Also playing is the musical group He Mea Hou, led by Victor Chock.
    The free event begins at 9 a.m. at Ke Ola Pu‘uhonua grounds in Nā‘ālehu, with Pule and Ho‘okupu, with Ku‘uipo Kumukahi at 10 a.m. She is followed by:
    Hālau Kaleo a Keahialapalapa with Kumu Hula Naoho Kanahele, great granddaughter of Aunty Edith Kanakaole;
    Hālau Na Pua O Uluhaimalama with Kumu Hula Emery Acerat, whose ʻūniki is from the late Ray Fonseca;

Hālau Kaleo a Keahialapalapa with Kumu Hula Naoho Kanahele performs on Saturday.
Photo from Debbie Ryder

    Hālau Hula ‘O Leionalani with Kumu Hula Debbie Ryder whose ʻūniki is from the late Loea George Lanakilakeikiahiali‘i Naope;
    Ho‘omaika‘i Hula Studio with Kumu Hula Shona LamHo, an O‘ahu Hula sister of Debbie Ryder; and
    Hālauauolaokalani with Kumu Hula Moses Kaho‘okele Crabbe.
    Cultural practitioner demonstrations include: Net Making with Uncle Chucky Leslie of Nāpō‘opo‘o;
    Among cultural practices will be poi pounding and demonstrating with Bobbie Pahia from Maui and Kawehi Ryder of Pāhala; and Medicinal Awa (Kava) with Todd Reilly.
    There will also be food and vendor booths. The Saturday festival is followed by a free Kūlia I Ka Nu‘u Health Fair from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday at the same location, sponsored by Hawaiian Music Perpetuation Society. It includes La‘au lapa‘au, health screening, food demonstrations, resource provider demonstrations mele and hula.

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Borehole tiltmeter being lowered into the casing of a ten foot deep hole. USGS Photo

TILTING TOWARDS LAVA: HOW TILTMETERS MONITOR VOLCANO ACTIVITY. That's the focus of this week's Volcano Watch by USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists and affiliates:

    Over the past century, technological advancements have vastly improved volcano monitoring. One key innovation was the introduction of modern borehole tiltmeters, devices that measure very small changes in the inclination of the volcano’s surface.

    Borehole tiltmeters have been used by the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) since the early 1970s and have since become an essential part of HVO’s volcano monitoring program. An older style of instrument called a “water tube tiltmeter” goes back even farther to the 1950s. Today the modern tiltmeter network on the Island of Hawaiʻi forms part of a larger array of monitoring tools, including seismic stations, GPS receivers, gas sensors, and webcam/satellite imagery. Together, these tools help scientists keep a close eye on the changing behaviors at volcanoes that may lead to eruptions.
    A tiltmeter is a sensitive instrument designed to detect very slight changes in deformation of the ground. They are installed around volcanoes to monitor changes in the Earth’s surface caused by magma moving underground. These movements often precede eruptions, as pressure from magma pushes against the surrounding rock, causing the surface to bulge or shift slightly.

Photo showing releveling maintenance being conducted on an analog tiltmeter located near Uēkahuna bluff at the

summit of Kīlauea, within Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park. USGS image by M. Warren

    Imagine a carpenter’s level laid on the ground at Kīlauea, oriented radially away from Kaluapele (the summit caldera). As magma enters the magma reservoir beneath the cand the volcano inflates, the end of the carpenter’s level closest to the caldera is raised upwards, and the bubble in the level moves inward and upward. Tiltmeters work in much the same way, only with much higher precision. HVO tiltmeters detect changes as small as five nanoradians—that’s less than one millionth of a degree—or the equivalent the Uēkahuna bluff being raised in elevation about the thickness of a human hair relative to the center of Kaluapele. This level of precision makes them invaluable for tracking subtle changes in volcanic activity and providing early warnings to scientists.More than a dozen borehole tiltmeters are strategically installed on Kīlauea and Mauna Loa at key locations across the volcano summits and calderas. These areas are of particular interest because they are most likely to experience significant ground deformation during periods of volcanic unrest and before an eruption onset.These tiltmeters operate continuously and produce one data point every 60 seconds, transmitting data in near real-time to HVO. This data is critical for early detection of volcanic activity. For example, when magma begins to rise toward the surface, it can cause noticeable tilting of the ground, which is recorded by the tiltmeters. By analyzing multiple monitoring datasets, scientists can determine where magma is moving and whether an eruption may be imminent.

On the right, a tiltmeter is ready for installation in a shallow borehole. On the left, the tiltmeter is located at the bottom of a 3 to 4 m (10 to 15 ft borehole lined with a metal casing. The tiltmeter is surrounded by sand to secure it within the borehole so that it does not touch the casing. USGS photos

    Borehole tiltmeters need routine maintenance including changing batteries and upgrading the radio telemetry used to send the data back to HVO. Each tiltmeter also has a limited range of tilt over which it can accurately record deformation. For example, our analog tiltmeters, such as the instrument at Uēkahuna bluff at the summit of Kīlauea, need to be manually leveled in their boreholes if deformation exceeds 300 microradians. Then, the tiltmeter will need time to “settle” from the physical disturbance before the data can be used quantitively—although they remain qualitatively useful, providing indications of short-term volcanic processes. Other digital tiltmeters, however, can be leveled remotely with no interruption in data quality.

    Tiltmeters have been particularly useful in tracking changes as Kīlauea's summit inflates and deflates, and large changes can indicate that magma is migrating. Kīlauea’s tiltmeter network provided valuable information about magma moving from the summit to the middle East Rift Zone during the several intrusions leading up to the most recent eruption in and near Nāpau Crater from September 15–20, 2024.
    Mauna Loa has also been under close surveillance by HVO’s tiltmeter network. Although less active than Kīlauea in recent decades, Mauna Loa is still capable of producing hazardous eruptions. In the months leading up to and in the hours during the initial onset of the 2022 Mauna Loa eruption, tiltmeters played a critical role in helping scientists track unrest and heightened summit deformation.
    Tiltmeters are a crucial component of the volcanic monitoring network in Hawaii. By detecting subtle changes in ground inclination, they provide early warning signals of volcanic unrest and help scientists to better understand the behavior of Hawaii’s dynamic volcanoes.

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VOLCANO ACTIVITY UPDATES: Kīlauea is not erupting. Its USGS Volcano Alert level is ADVISORY. Over the past week, earthquake rates beneath Kīlauea summit and upper-to-middle

Recent earthquakes on Hawai'i island, including a
swarm offshore at the underwater seamount Lo'ihi,
also called Kama'ehualanaloa. USGS map
See https://www.usgs.gov/observatories/hvo

East Rift Zone were on par with the previous week. About 30 earthquakes were located beneath the summit, and about 200 were located in the upper-to-middle East Rift Zone.                  Ground deformation rates show slow inflation at the summit with continued slow magma accumulation near the September 15-20 middle East Rift Zone eruption site. Future intrusive episodes and eruptions could occur with continued magma supply. The most recent measurement of sulfur dioxide (SO2) emission rate at the summit was 60 tonnes per day on Sept. 17, 2024, and SO2 emissions were not detected at downwind of the eruption site on Monday, Septe. 23.
    Mauna Loa is not erupting. Its USGS Volcano Alert Level is at NORMAL.

    No earthquakes were reported felt in the Hawaiian Islands during the past week.
    HVO continues to closely monitor Kīlauea and Mauna Loa.
    Please visit HVO’s website for past Volcano Watch articles, Kīlauea and Mauna Loa updates, volcano photos, maps, recent earthquake information, and more. Email questions to askHVO@usgs.gov.

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