What’s Pele up to?

March 18th, 2008

If you thought the lava at the new viewing site was all volcano goddess Pele was up to these days, you’d be mistaken. Tucked away inside the park at Halema’uma’u Crater, she’s been up to some work there as well. A new sulfur vent opened up last week which has scientists puzzled because the plume is glowing in the dark at night. They have searched records to see if this has happened before and if it has, it wasn’t documented. Despite five to ten small earthquakes reports per hour, the folks at the observatory say an eruption is not imminent as it would produce closer to 40 earthquakes per hour.

If you are planning a visit to the park and were looking forward to cruising Chain of Craters Road or seeing Halema’uma’u crater, you’re out of luck for now. This area had already been closed for a month due to increased sulfur dioxide in the air but once the new vent opened, the levels skyrocketed to very unhealthy levels prompting the park to prepare evacuation plans if needed.

Comments

1 Comment so far

Sheila on March 19, 2008 6:51 pm
It seems that Pele is really up to something. I wonder what it is? The VOG on the Kona side seems voggier than normal. I’m not sure if it is related to the new gas vent at Halemaumau or not.