Lava from Hawaii Volcano Lights Night Sky amid Warnings 

Spectators watch the lava flow down the mountain from the Mauna Loa eruption, Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2022, near Hilo, Hawaii. (AP)
Spectators watch the lava flow down the mountain from the Mauna Loa eruption, Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2022, near Hilo, Hawaii. (AP)
TT
20

Lava from Hawaii Volcano Lights Night Sky amid Warnings 

Spectators watch the lava flow down the mountain from the Mauna Loa eruption, Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2022, near Hilo, Hawaii. (AP)
Spectators watch the lava flow down the mountain from the Mauna Loa eruption, Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2022, near Hilo, Hawaii. (AP)

Waves of orange, glowing lava and ash blasted and billowed from the world’s largest active volcano in its first eruption in 38 years, and officials told people living on Hawaii’s Big Island to be ready in the event of a worst-case scenario. 

The eruption of Mauna Loa wasn’t immediately endangering towns, but the US Geological Survey warned the roughly 200,000 people on the Big Island that an eruption “can be very dynamic, and the location and advance of lava flows can change rapidly.” 

Officials told residents to be ready to evacuate if lava flows start heading toward populated areas. Monday night, hundreds of people lined a road as lava flowed down the side of Mauna Loa and fountained into the air. 

The eruption migrated northeast throughout Monday and spread out over the side of the volcano, with several distinct streams of lava running down the hillside. 

The eruption began late Sunday night following a series of fairly large earthquakes, said Ken Hon, scientist-in-charge at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. 

The areas where lava was emerging — the volcano's summit crater and vents along the volcano's northeast flank — are both far from homes and communities. 

Officials urged the public to stay away from them, given the dangers posed by lava, which is shooting 100 to 200 feet (30 to 60 meters) into the air out of three separate fissures roughly estimated to be 1 to 2 miles (1.6 to 3.2 kilometers) long. 

Volcanic gases wafting out of the vents, primarily sulfur dioxide, are also harmful. 

Air quality on the Big Island more generally is good right now, but officials are monitoring it carefully, said Dr. Libby Char, the director of the state Department of Health. 

Hon said air quality could deteriorate while the eruption lasts, which scientists expect will be about one or two weeks if the volcano follows historical patterns. 

Lifelong Big Island resident Bobby Camara, who lives in Volcano Village, said everyone across the island should keep track of the eruption. He said he’s seen three Mauna Loa eruptions in his lifetime and stressed the need for vigilance. 

“I think everybody should be a little bit concerned,” he said. “We don’t know where the flow is going, we don’t know how long it’s going to last.” 

Gunner Mench, who owns an art gallery in Kamuela, said he awoke shortly after midnight and saw an alert on his phone about the eruption. 

Mench and his wife, Ellie, ventured out to film the eerie red glow cast over the island, watching as lava spilled down the volcano's side. 

“You could see it spurting up into the air, over the edge of this depression,” Mench said. 

“Right now it’s just entertainment, but the concern is” it could reach populated areas, he said. 

Seeing Mauna Loa erupt is a new experience for many residents of the Big Island, where the population has more than doubled from 92,000 in 1980. 

More than a third of the island's residents live either in the city of Kailua-Kona to the west of the volcano, or about 23,000 people, and Hilo to the east, with about 45,000. Officials were most worried about several subdivisions some 30 miles (50 kilometers) to the volcano's south that are home to about 5,000 people. 

A time-lapse video of the eruption from overnight showed lava lighting up one area, moving across it like waves on the ocean. 

The US Geological Survey said the eruption had migrated to a rift zone on the volcano’s northeast flank. Rift zones are where the mountain rock is cracked and relatively weak — making it easier for magma to emerge. 

Lava could move toward the county seat of Hilo, but that could take about a week, Hon said at a news conference. 

Scientists hope the flow will parallel the 1984 eruption, where the lava was more viscous and slowed down. 

Mauna Loa has another rift zone on its southwest flank. Lava could reach nearby communities in hours or days if the volcano erupts from this area. But Hon said historically Mauna Loa has never erupted from both rift zones simultaneously. 

“So we presume at this point that all of the future activity is going to be on the northeast rift zone of Mauna Loa and not on the southeast rift zone,” he said. “So those residents in that area do not have to worry about lava flows.” 

Hawaii County Civil Defense announced it had opened shelters because it had reports of people evacuating from along the coast on their own initiative. 

The USGS warned residents who could be threatened by the lava flows to review their eruption preparations. Scientists had been on alert because of a recent spike in earthquakes at the summit of the volcano, which last erupted in 1984. 

Portions of the Big Island were under an ashfall advisory issued by the National Weather Service in Honolulu. It said up to a quarter-inch (0.6 centimeters) of ash could accumulate in some areas. 

“Volcanic gas and possibly fine ash and Pele’s hair may be carried downwind,” Gov. David Ige said, referring to glass fibers that form when hot lava erupts from a fissure and rapidly cools in the air. The wind stretches the fibers into long strands that look like hair. "So certainly, we would ask those with respiratory sensitivities to take precautions to minimize exposure.” 

Mauna Loa is one of five volcanoes that together make up the Big Island of Hawaii, the southernmost island in the Hawaiian archipelago. 

Mauna Loa, rising 13,679 feet (4,169 meters) above sea level, is the much larger neighbor of Kilauea, which erupted in a residential neighborhood and destroyed 700 homes in 2018. Some of Mauna Loa's slopes are much steeper than Kilauea’s, so lava can flow much faster when it erupts. 

During a 1950 eruption, the mountain’s lava traveled 15 miles (24 kilometers) to the ocean in under three hours. 

Mauna Loa’s volume is estimated at least 18,000 cubic miles (75,000 cubic kilometers), making it the world’s largest volcano when measured from the ocean floor its summit. 

Tourism is Hawaii's economic engine but Big Island Mayor Mitch Roth predicted few problems for those vacationing during the eruption. 

“It will be spectacular where it is, but the chances of it really interrupting the visitor industry — very, very slim,” he said. 

Tourism officials said no one should have to change Big Island travel plans. 

For some, the eruption might cut down on some travel time, even if there is more volcanic smog caused by higher sulfur-dioxide emissions. 

“But the good thing is you don’t have to drive from Kona over to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park to see an eruption anymore,” Roth said. “You can just look out your window at night and you’ll be able to see Mauna Loa erupting.” 



SpaceX Rocket Cargo Project Puts Pacific Seabirds in Jeopardy

Sooty terns fill the skies as they return to Johnston Island within the Johnston Atoll National Wildlife Refuge to establish their breeding colony in July 2021. Eric Baker/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service/Handout via REUTERS
Sooty terns fill the skies as they return to Johnston Island within the Johnston Atoll National Wildlife Refuge to establish their breeding colony in July 2021. Eric Baker/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service/Handout via REUTERS
TT
20

SpaceX Rocket Cargo Project Puts Pacific Seabirds in Jeopardy

Sooty terns fill the skies as they return to Johnston Island within the Johnston Atoll National Wildlife Refuge to establish their breeding colony in July 2021. Eric Baker/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service/Handout via REUTERS
Sooty terns fill the skies as they return to Johnston Island within the Johnston Atoll National Wildlife Refuge to establish their breeding colony in July 2021. Eric Baker/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service/Handout via REUTERS

A project proposed by Elon Musk's SpaceX and the US Air Force to test hypersonic rocket cargo deliveries from a remote Pacific atoll could harm the many seabirds that nest at the wildlife refuge, according to biologists and experts who have spent more than a decade working to protect them. It would not be the first time that SpaceX's activities have affected protected birds. A SpaceX launch of its Starship rocket in Boca Chica, Texas, last year involved a blast that destroyed nests and eggs of plover shorebirds, landing the billionaire Musk's company in legal trouble and leading him to remark jokingly that he would refrain from eating omelets for a week to compensate, Reuters reported.

The Air Force announced in March that it has selected Johnston Atoll, a US territory in the central Pacific Ocean located nearly 800 miles (1,300 km) southwest of the state of Hawaii, as the site to test the Rocket Cargo Vanguard program it is developing with SpaceX.

The project involves test landing rocket re-entry vehicles designed to deliver up to 100 tons of cargo to anywhere on Earth within about 90 minutes. It would be a breakthrough for military logistics by making it easier to move supplies quickly into distant locations.

According to biologists and experts who have worked on the one-square-mile (2.6 square km) atoll - designated as a US National Wildlife Refuge and part of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument - the project could be too much for the island's 14 species of tropical birds to withstand.

Roughly a million seabirds use the atoll, home to a variety of wildlife, throughout the year, up from just a few thousand in the 1980s. The bird species include red-tailed tropicbirds, red-footed boobies and great frigatebirds, which have eight-foot (2-1/2 meter) wingspans.

"Any sort of aviation that happens to the island is going to have an impact at this point," said Hawaii-based biologist Steven Minamishin, who works for the National Wildlife Refuge System, part of the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

"The biggest issue this will bring is the sound of the rocket flushing birds off of their nests and having them so anxious and unsure as to not return to their nest, resulting in a loss of generation," said University of Texas wildlife biologist Ryan Rash, who spent nearly a year on Johnston.

The project would involve construction of two landing pads and the relanding of 10 rockets over four years.

The Air Force and SpaceX are preparing an environmental assessment of the project in the coming weeks for public comment. The assessment is a requirement under a law called the National Environmental Policy Act before the Air Force can proceed with the project, which it wants to start this year.

The Air Force in a Federal Register notice in March said the project was unlikely to have a significant environmental impact but noted it could harm migratory birds.

A spokesperson for the US Air Force said it is closely consulting with the Fish and Wildlife Service, as well as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Marine Fisheries Service, "to assess impacts and develop necessary measures for avoiding, minimizing and/or mitigating potential environmental impacts."

Space X did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Musk is serving as an adviser to President Donald Trump as they work to downsize and remake the federal government and eliminate thousands of employees.

'ALL THAT'S LEFT'

In the Pacific, where unpopulated land is scarce and threatened by sea level rise, the birds depend on Johnston for their nesting and survival, according to the biologists interviewed by Reuters.

This makes the protection of these birds essential, said Desirée Sorenson-Groves, president of the National Wildlife Refuge Association, a nonprofit group focused on protecting US National Wildlife Refuge System.

"These little remote oceanic islands are all that's left for them," Sorenson-Groves said. "We've invested a lot of money as a country to bring back wildlife to these places."

Johnston Atoll, closed to the public, is administered by the Air Force and managed by Fish and Wildlife Service. The island was used for nuclear testing from the late 1950s to 1962, and to stockpile chemical munitions including Agent Orange from 1972 to 1975.

The Air Force completed a clean-up of the atoll in 2004, and it has served as a haven for nesting seabirds and migrating shore birds since. Visits by people to the island have been highly controlled to avoid disturbing the birds.

The Fish and Wildlife Service led an effort to eradicate yellow-crazy ants, an invasive species, on the atoll after it was declared a refuge, sending crews for six-month stints starting in 2010 and ending in 2021. Crews brought their clothing in sealed bags, had their equipment frozen and sanitized, and used separate island shoes to prevent new species from invading the atoll, said Eric Baker, a Fish and Wildlife Service volunteer and wildlife photographer who spent a year on Johnston.

"The basic rule was cause no or as little disturbance as possible," Baker said.

Baker said he is worried that the SpaceX project will undo all the painstaking conservation efforts over the years.

"The nests and the birds there are just going to be kind of vaporized," Baker said.