U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PHOTO
A 16-inch-tall lava formation, looking like a dragon seen from its rump, blew smoke as it formed on Kilauea volcano's east rift this week. Such fanciful shapes help avoid stuffiness in science, said geologist Don Swanson.
Whimsical names
keep track of
lava landscapeGeologists keep pace with
a changing Kilauea rift
HILO >> The son of Cookie Monster is gone, but weird new beasts keep popping up.
This isn't "Sesame Street." This is science as done by the geologists of Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.
Saturday will mark the 21st anniversary of eruptions that created a vast lava desert on Kilauea's east rift. To keep track of places among the rocks, scientists have taken to giving features whimsical names, which show up in chief scientist Don Swanson's daily Internet updates.
"I try to keep it loose and interesting," Swanson said. "Scientists don't have to be stuffy and formal guys all the time."
One of the most enduring sites has been the Cookie Monster, originally a big, red mouth of lava rock near Puu Oo vent. New flows have distorted the mouth so many times that Swanson now says it is "the son of the son of the son of Cookie Monster."
Swanson's daily updates are at hvo.wr.usgs.gov/kilauea/update/main.html.
A recent one mentioned the Beehive (it looks like one), Dave's Pit (named for geologist Dave Sherrod) and Drainhole, all inside Puu Oo.
An endearing one is Humble Vent, named "because it's very tiny," Swanson said.
Another feature is still called West Gap Pit, although it has filled with lava so many times it is now a hill.
U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PHOTO
A natural lava sculpture formed by Kilauea volcano this week looks like a red-eyed rhinoceros head, but geologists have not named it yet because such shapes often crumble away. They have given fanciful names to longer-lasting shapes, such as the "Cookie Monster."
Constantly being created and crumbling away are hollow stacks called hornitos, Spanish for little ovens.
Some, like recent rhinoceros and dragon shapes, have twisted forms that local geologists call carlitos, after a former staff geologist.
Why? "The incident doesn't bear repeating," Swanson said.
Swanson visits these places almost every day of the year, driving through the dark from his home in Hilo to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, then continuing down Chain of Craters Road to start hiking before 5 a.m.
That driving gives him lots of time to observe the moon, which he also writes about.
Taking his cues from the Internet version of the Old Farmer's Almanac, Swanson notes the full moon in January will be the Wolf Moon, to be followed after February's Snow Moon by the March Worm Moon.
Swanson also notes holidays such as Friday's Boxing Day.
To an American, the day after Christmas seems like a strange day to celebrate prize fights. But Swanson grew up in Washington state, next to Canada and close enough to British influence to know the Commonwealth holiday refers to giving gifts in boxes.
The Old Farmer's Almanac advises that the custom was originally to give servants money in earthenware boxes.
There is no word on whether geologists' whimsy will adapt the custom to Hawaii by making the boxes out of lava.
