[ VOLCANO WATCH ]

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UH-developed system
tracks fires, volcanoes

ERUPTION UPDATE

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By Helen Altonn
haltonn@starbulletin.com

All fires and volcanic eruptions going on in the world can be seen every day on a Web site designed by University of Hawaii researchers.

They developed a computerized method of searching data from an instrument on the satellite Terra, launched in December 1999 as part of NASA's Earth Observing System.

It has revealed volcanoes erupting in the South Pacific and around the world that the scientists were not aware of, said Luke Flynn, assistant researcher in the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology.

"We're getting great insight into how much activity there is and where it is happening," he said.

On Feb. 6, for instance, satellite data showed a big eruption in Africa's Nyamuragira volcano that the researchers would not have been able to track because the site is not well monitored, Flynn said.

With images from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer on Terra, the Hawaii scientists were able to determine the extent of the eruption, how big it was and how long it lasted.

The spectrometer scans the earth searching for hot spots created by lava flows, lava domes, eruptions and forest, industrial and oil fires.

Even a fire caused by burning of dead cows with foot-and-mouth disease was identified from the images by an investigator in England working with the UH group, Flynn said.

He said the data give "a new, globally fresh image every day of all the activity all around the world."

Even though Kilauea is well studied and the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory "does a great job," sometimes, Flynn said, "it is difficult to pin down where the active lava flows are each day."

Now, he said, "We do get an image of Kilauea, or an idea of where active lava flows on Kilauea are, every day."

Additionally, Andy Harris, also an assistant researcher at the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, has thermometers sitting on the rim of Pu'u 'O'o Crater measuring the temperature of the lava lake surface, Flynn said.

"It's sort of like the way a thermometer works in your ear, except these measure the temperature of the lava lake surface."

The observatory has provided equipment so data can be transmitted by radio from the thermometers to a computer at the observatory, then distributed to the UH and Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, Flynn said.

"It's a pretty neat system."

Besides the spectrometer data, the researchers receive information from other instruments on Terra and from other satellites, Flynn said.

Working with Flynn besides Harris are Eric Pilger, Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology electronics engineer, and Robert Wright, a former UH postdoctoral researcher who now teaches at Brunel University in London and returns here for two months every year.

The group identified activity at Popocatepetl, a volcano near Mexico City, with a monitoring system using the satellite spectrometer data, Wright said.

The volcano was quiet for 70 years until 1994 when it became active again, he said. Since then a series of lava domes have been growing within the summit crater, and explosions have occurred within the lava domes, he said.

The researchers became interested when tens of thousands of people were evacuated at Christmas because of the heightened activity.

Wright, who also works with the University of Mexico geophysics department, said the volcano's behavior appears to be changing. The researchers are using data from different satellites to try to understand how it behaves when the lava domes are growing, he said.

For more information, visit the institute's Web site at hotspot.higp.hawaii.edu.

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[ERUPTION UPDATE]

Lava flowing from
Pu‘u ‘O‘o vent

Eruptive activity of Kilauea Volcano continued unabated at the Pu'u 'O'o vent during the past week.

Lava moves away from the vent toward the ocean in a network of tubes and descends Pulama pali in two separate areas.

Small surface flows, primarily ooze-outs from inflated areas, are occasionally observed in the coastal flats.

Lava continued to enter the ocean in the area east of Kupapa'u throughout the week. The public is reminded that the ocean entry areas are extremely hazardous, with explosions accompanying frequent collapses of the new land.

The steam cloud is extremely hot, highly acidic and laced with glass particles.

There were no earthquakes reported during the week ending July 26, but nearly a dozen earthquakes, one with a magnitude of 4.1, were located at the undersea Lo'ihi Volcano.

VOLCANO WATCH The Star-Bulletin introduces "Volcano Watch," a weekly column written by scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. The writers will address the science and history of volcanos in Hawaii and elsewhere. It also will include a short, separate update on eruption activity on the Big Island.