Although miles away from the volcanic volatility, the University of Hawaii at Hilo is playing a supporting role in the response to the eruption in Puna.
In addition to opening its doors to the U.S. Geological Survey’s recently relocated Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, university staff and students are assisting in research efforts.
Ken Hon, interim vice chancellor for academic affairs and a professor who has taught volcanology for 20 years in the school’s geology department, said UH-Hilo has had a long-standing cooperative agreement with USGS and HVO.
In support of the volcanic activity studies, Hon said, “specifically, we are using an analytical lab in the geology department to analyze the chemistry of the different lava flows coming down,” as well as tracking the changes in the chemistry of those flows.
Hon said that can give researchers some idea of whether the lava was stored lava, in place as much as 50-100 years ago, or newer lava, which is hotter.
Geology department Chairman Steve Lundblad and another group of students had been measuring around the Puna Geothermal Venture power plant “the change and shape of the ground” to look for things such as magma movement, he said.
And Ryan Perroy, an associate professor in the department of geography and environmental science, who oversees the Spatial Data Analysis and Visualization Lab, is using drones over the eruption area to collect data for HVO and Hawaii County Civil Defense, Hon said. In an email, Perroy specifically mentioned the lab’s aerial system mapping capabilities.
“We’re working closely together to provide timely information to the incident commanders on the ground in terms of lava activity and movement,” he said. “We also provide data and imagery to Civil Defense that gets incorporated into damage assessment and property loss.”
In a follow-up interview, Perroy said his group worked with Civil Defense monitoring the Pahoa lava flow several years ago, and when the current eruption started, he received a call from Civil Defense “to see if we could help out and provide some support and imagery of the flow as it advanced.”
Perroy said they’ve been mapping out the lava’s flow front and also have done some flights for damage assessment. But in the past two weeks, they’ve mostly been flying at night to, again, provide assistance and support, he said.
Typically, there aren’t manned aviation operations at night, he explained, but by flying after dark, they’re able to provide from an “eyes in the sky perspective” about how things are changing overnight.
“We’re working, again, to provide this information to Civil Defense and USGS, (so) we can have a better handle on what’s happening out there to keep people safe.”
From the data, volume, area of the lava coverage and the rate at which it is advancing can be calculated.
Perroy said he has a number of students working on the project who are getting “excellent and very unique experience” mapping active lava flows. Employees also are assisting.
Perroy’s team is collecting visual and thermal imagery.
“For the students, this is just a very interesting opportunity for them to see how the technology that we use can be directly applied in a situation like this to help the community and that the geospatial skills they are developing have a lot of value for a response of this type,” Perroy said.
Using these skills in an active lava setting might be “a little more rare,” Perroy said, because “typically our students are working on problems of local environmental significance like sea level rise or erosion or invasive species.” However, the same skill sets and applications of technology and spatial data used for those issues “can also be used in this context.”
The university offered HVO work space after the eruption forced the evacuation of its facilities, which sit on the rim of the Kilauea caldera, at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
About two dozen park staffers, including USGS personnel sent to the island to respond to the eruption, relocated last month. UH-Hilo “offered them our geology department,” said Hon, a move that “luckily” coincided with the end of the school year.
According to Hon, the collaboration between USGS, HVO and UH-Hilo is “one of the things that make our department a really special place. It’s also a really good thing for the community because HVO has been very interested in training people who have grown up here … interested in mentoring and training these kids to become scientists.”
It’s “nice to have that kind of cooperation,” he said, and it’s also great for students to be involved “in some meaningful response to the community, give (them) opportunity to give back to the community and just see how you bring a team of people together during a disaster to respond to it to help people in need.”
Email Stephanie Salmons at ssalmons@hawaiitribune-herald.c0m.