The Hawaii Traveler

This week we turned our attention to volcanoes on Hawai’i, which is saying a mouthful. That’s because the entire state of Hawai’i owes its very existence to the volcano. Each island consists of at least one primary volcano, although many islands are composites of two or more–even tiny little Ni’ihau has its own volcano. The Big Island is the volcanic showoff, with five volcanoes dotting the landscape. They are: Kilauea, Mauna Loa, Mauna Kea, Hualalai and Kohala. While Mauna Loa is the largest active volcano on Earth, Kilauea produces the most lava each year.1. Name three volcanoes in the …read more

Comments Off

It’s believed that Pele is the goddess of fire, lightning, dance, volcanoes and violence. Her mythos is varied, and complicated, but she’s best known on The Big Island, where some of her best work is still on display. It’s in her honor that we test our Hawai’i knowledge this week. Answers are revealed tomorrow, on Wednesday. Here we go:
1. Name three volcanoes in the Hawaiian Islands.
2. What is the elevation at the top of Haleakala on Maui?
3. Describe the “grafitti” written on the black lava rock along the highways on The Big Island.
4. What is “vog?”
5. Are there any …read more

Comments Off

No Parking, No Duh
Photo by Flickr (Creative Commons), Fred Hsu

If you’ve just been to the islands, you most likely noticed the vog. Vog is what happens when the gases from an erupting volcano make friends with the sunlight, water vapor, dust particles and oxygen in the air. Let’s call it tropical smog, which is usually confined to the Big Island, and which doesn’t usually cause a ruckus; however, big time winds began blowing the sulfur gas and volcanic ash off Kiluea on April 8th, 2008, causing closures in and around Volcanoes National Park. Even nearby Maui …read more

2 Comments