
Elegy for a vent in a Hawaiian volcano - pseudolus
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/a-prolific-vent-in-a-hawaii-volcano-blew-for-35-years-it-has-just-stopped/2019/02/08/d4e7e6be-2aec-11e9-b011-d8500644dc98_story.html
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i386
Two years ago I had the pleasure of flying over Pu‘u‘O‘o on Kīlauea in a
helicopter. One of my best memories in Hawaii, second to getting married ;)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7k2hIvC1quE&feature=youtu.be](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7k2hIvC1quE&feature=youtu.be)

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breck
I visited the Big Island in November. Probably every tourist, myself included,
asks the rangers if there _really_ is no magma, even though there are new
signs everywhere stating this fact. But there really isn't, anywhere on the
island, for the first time in 35 years.

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throwaway5752
Kilauea is a fascinating volcano, and
[https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/geo_hist_summar...](https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/geo_hist_summary.html)
is a great resource.

This is probably related to last summer's eruptions
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_lower_Puna_eruption](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_lower_Puna_eruption),
same system but downrift)

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jcranmer
It's all effectively the same eruption.

A brief history: in 1983, Kilauea started erupting out of Pu'o 'O'o. That
eruption sent out multiple flows of lava, mostly south to the ocean, but one
flank did threaten the access road to lower Puna--before dying within a few
hundred feet of the road. In 2008, lava returned to the summit at Halemaumau
crater, once again creating a lava lake there. Then, in April 2018, the big
earthquake caused the lava to cease at both Halemaumau and Pu'o 'O'o. About a
week later, lava came out in lower Puna, although the fresh Pu'o 'O'o lava
didn't arrive until June I think. Meanwhile, the draining of the summit caused
it to start collapsing in a periodic series of explosions.

To give a sense of how impressive the 2018 episode was, here's a link to the
monitoring data for Kilauea:
[https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/monitoring_data...](https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/monitoring_data4.html)
\-- the spike in earthquakes and deflation is the 2018 eruption stuff that
made the news big time.

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bitL
Dunno, looks like the chamber is slowly refilling as the surface slowly moves
upwards, so it's likely just end of one cycle. Last year those lava shots were
breathtaking and lasted unexpectedly long, increasing surface area of Big
Island considerably, so it might take a while until it reaches surface again.

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DoreenMichele
_“Leaving us with more questions than answers may be the greatest gift of this
eruption,” Caplan-Auerbach wrote on Twitter._

Lovely _true scientist_ sentiment.

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mtnGoat
All I get is a paywall. Seeing as im in hawaii on vacation this is interesting
to me, wish i could actually find this useful. ;(

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xvf22
[https://outline.com/VdGHt6](https://outline.com/VdGHt6)

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kristianp
Elegy? Is that American for "Eulogy" or a different word?

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i386
Elegy is a poem of lament, where as Eulogy is writing about something or
someone who has died. Eulogy would suit this piece better.

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labster
You don't have to be so elegiac about the title.

