Geotripper on How to Plan a Perfect Volcanic Eruption, Hawai’i Style!

So that you wish to show a volcanic eruption to your area geology course, and are not sure the best way to proceed? Let the crew (of 1) right here at Geotripper allow you to to plan out the perfect eruption expertise to your college students! There are a number of vital steps and issues:

1) Choose a volcano

It is a fairly vital first step. Some volcanoes might be very harmful, and we at Geotripper really feel that security is a massively vital consideration. Now we have chosen the Large Island of Hawai’i for our demonstration, as eruptions there TEND to be on the quiet aspect, though there are vital exceptions.

2) Do a website analysis

Take a hike out to the potential eruption website. That is form of crucial, as a result of we wish to select a website that’s remoted and away from buildings and populated areas. But we additionally need the positioning to be seen as soon as the eruption begins, since that is the entire level of planning such issues.

Mountaineering out to the Ka’u Desert (“Footprints Path”) on Could 29, 2024

3) Seek the advice of with the native volcanic deities:

As soon as once more a crucial issue. One does not conduct eruptions with out the permission and cooperation of the deities that inhabit the place. In our present instance we’re coping with Pele, often known as Pele-honua-mea (“Pele of the sacred land”) and Ka wahine ʻai honua (“The earth-eating girl”). 

A aspect be aware: the gist of this put up is tongue-in-cheek, however I take Pele fairly critically. Check out my interaction with a mysterious woman on the flanks of Kilauea a couple of years in the past. Who was she??

4) Begin the Discipline Journey

Taking twenty college students to the Hawaiian Islands for 2 weeks isn’t any small process, and we right here at Geotripper strongly recommend planning the journey many months upfront of the eruption. Bear in mind to contemplate such logistics as motels, transportation, airline flights, meals, and group interpersonal interactions.

5) Educate your college students on the fundamentals of volcanoes and vulcanism

There are a lot of methods to do that. Certainly one of my favorites is to pay a go to to the 
Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (at the moment primarily based in Hilo, Hawai’i after their unique residence getting ready to the Kilauea caldera was broken by an eruption in 2018). Our knowledgeable host supplied a superb introduction to the strategies and know-how of volcano monitoring.

6) Subtly put together the group for the expertise of the eruption

This step requires some public relation expertise. We do not wish to have the expertise spoiled by excessive expectations and the like. We would like our group to be each shocked and ready when the eruption occurs. There are a selection of the way to do do that. As an example, have them take a look at seismic information and see in the event that they discover the uptick in earthquakes in latest days. Ask a Hawaii Volcanoes Nationwide Park ranger main questions like “why did you shut the Devastated Space Path yesterday?” You can also make jokes, like “Would not it’s attention-grabbing if an eruption had been to occur whereas we’re on the journey?”. Do not overdo it, although.

7. Conduct the Eruption

In some ways that is the simplest step, for the reason that Earth does all of the work. In the event you prepare for the eruption in a single day, you may plan on an early departure from the resort to beat the vacationers to all one of the best overlooks. In case you have ready in the way in which that we have now put forth right here, your college students might be duly impressed even when they cannot stick issues into the lava circulation and even see spewing lava. Seeing the ash and steam rising from the distant rift zone might be greater than sufficient!

Oh, I see a hand within the again…what was your query? How can we truly trigger the eruption to occur on the good time? Oh, it is form of difficult. We do not actually have time sufficient to elucidate…

Go to the nationwide park customer middle and hold round for awhile. Get interviewed by the native information media. Use the restrooms. Then proceed on the remainder of your journey, questioning how you will ever high this expertise!

The eruption itself was considerably of a shock. There had been upticks within the seismicity and uplift in some close by areas, however the exact spot the place the rift opened up was surprising. It was a really short-lived eruption, lasting solely about 12 hours, and the amount of lava was restricted. You’ll be able to see the USGS assessment of the eruption right here: https://www.usgs.gov/observatories/hvo/science/recent-eruption.

All issues thought-about, it was one of the vital satisfying moments of my educating profession… 

This is my video of the eruption from the positioning of the previous Jagger Museum and Hawaiian Volcano Observatory: https://vimeo.com/959288135?share=copy

This is the direct entry: