Sunday, April 06, 2008
The Vog
Its not so bad this morning. We had some precipitation last night; I won't call it rain because it accummulated less than a tenth of an inch, but it helped clear the air for now. We can see it, downhill, blocking our view of the ocean. We cannot even make out the coastline, the world just sorta ends about 1000 feet lower than us. It will come up the hill as the sun rises, warming the air, and sucking it upward. When it gets here, you taste it first, then the nose reacts, some run, others clog. Next, the eyes water and burn, and the throat gets dry. Finally, at its worst (so far, anyways) you start to feel it sucking the moisture right out of your skin.
Its kind of like walking in to an unventalated dressing room full of talcum powder and pancake makeup.
Periods of volcanic outgasing are relatively short, give or take a century. However, it is the wind patterns that determine where the vog goes and how it disperses. Unfortunately, the wind has been blowing it right to us. Tolver has gotten ill from the air. So, we are trying to get out from under it for at least a few hours each day, but the plants are not so lucky. As the air gets full of SO2 and ash it starts to suck the moisture right out of everything.
Kilauea Volcano is active at two locations. At the summit, the Halema`uma`u vent continued erupting ash. At the coast, lava continued to flow through lava tubes into the ocean at the Waikupanaha and Ki ocean entries. Actually, its been flowing into the ocean at one place or another, on and off, ever since we got here; that doesn't seem to be the problem. The new vent that has opened in Halema`uma`u is releasing a huge plume of gas and fine rock dust. When we left the house yesterday morning to drive to Puna to deliver flowers and play volleyball, we found the cloud of vog to just get thicker until you reach a point upwind of the summit. The Ka'u desert is saturated, and the sleepy little town of Pahala looks like Los Angeles on a bad smog day.
More than one person yesterday told me that I looked a little "under the weather." As we drove back home last night, we couldn't see it, but the symptoms come on, slowly, one at a time. Already, this morning, I feel the pain in my chest, the dryness of my hands, the taste in my mouth. We have lots of friends on the upwind side of the volcano, so we will probably head over back over there as soon as we can.
Its kind of like walking in to an unventalated dressing room full of talcum powder and pancake makeup.
Periods of volcanic outgasing are relatively short, give or take a century. However, it is the wind patterns that determine where the vog goes and how it disperses. Unfortunately, the wind has been blowing it right to us. Tolver has gotten ill from the air. So, we are trying to get out from under it for at least a few hours each day, but the plants are not so lucky. As the air gets full of SO2 and ash it starts to suck the moisture right out of everything.
Kilauea Volcano is active at two locations. At the summit, the Halema`uma`u vent continued erupting ash. At the coast, lava continued to flow through lava tubes into the ocean at the Waikupanaha and Ki ocean entries. Actually, its been flowing into the ocean at one place or another, on and off, ever since we got here; that doesn't seem to be the problem. The new vent that has opened in Halema`uma`u is releasing a huge plume of gas and fine rock dust. When we left the house yesterday morning to drive to Puna to deliver flowers and play volleyball, we found the cloud of vog to just get thicker until you reach a point upwind of the summit. The Ka'u desert is saturated, and the sleepy little town of Pahala looks like Los Angeles on a bad smog day.
More than one person yesterday told me that I looked a little "under the weather." As we drove back home last night, we couldn't see it, but the symptoms come on, slowly, one at a time. Already, this morning, I feel the pain in my chest, the dryness of my hands, the taste in my mouth. We have lots of friends on the upwind side of the volcano, so we will probably head over back over there as soon as we can.
