A VOG SEASON IN HILO?

We woke up this morning with burning eyes and runny noses to see Hilo Bay completely obscured by the Vog. At swimming, everyone was complaining about feeling lethargic and struggling with their laps. “Vog” is a term used in Hawai‘i to describe the hazy conditions caused by volcanic gases being emitted into the air and mixing with water vapor and very small particles, primarily sulfur compounds and sulfur dioxide. The main sources are from the Halema‘uma‘u and Pu‘u ‘O‘o vents on Kilauea volcano which are spewing white clouds with glowing red embers.

Kilauea volcano is extremely active right now. The toxic volcanic gas emissions increased significantly after the March 19, 2008 Halema’uma’u explosive event and have resulted in parts of

the island being declared a disaster area due to Big Island famers and flower growers losing their crops. Some towns have become almost uninhabitable for people with respiratory problems and the county has notified island residents that they should not wait for an evacuation order if they feel ill from the volcanic output.

Normally, the trade winds blow the Vog south and west towards Guam. Towns in the district of Ka’u have been dealing with the worst of the vog since the onset of the increased activity, but the trade winds blow some of the Vog around behind Mauna Loa which builds up over the western side of the Big Island on the Kona and Kohala coasts as well. When the trade winds are blowing, the wind off the ocean keeps Hilo and most of the eastern side of the island free of Vog.

The trade winds blow 92% of the time during the summer but start to diminish in the winter when trade wind activity is only 40% of the time in January.

Before this last eruption the last major Vog releases were in the early 1980s and they did not last more than 3 weeks. The current intense Vog emissions have been going on for 9 months.
As we head into a quarter with fewer days of trade winds, we are preparing for a season of intense Vog in Hilo. We have noticed on days that Hilo gets high Vog readings; Kona is usually getting some relief. We get our Vog readings from the EPA air quality site. We also monitor the discharge of volcanic gasses by looking at the USGS real time volcano cameras and the current seismic activity on the Big Island on the USGS recent earthquakes site.


We are preparing in advance for Hilo’s Vog season. We have our SO2 detector nearby and our stash of gas masks and our predetermined route out of town if the detector goes off. We have a HEPA air filter to help with headaches and lots of green tea to help our sore throats. We are making a list of things we want to do on the western side of the Big Island since we have been avoiding it since last February due to their Vog problems. Kona has awesome snorkeling and we have been eager to check out some hiking trails in Kohala.


We may be completely wrong on our prediction of Hilo’s Vog Season as we are not Volcanologists. The county has limited resources for dealing with the impact of the volcanic gasses and lava flowing into the ocean and rarely updates their Civil Defense web site. The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory has daily updates, photos and videos of the volcanic activity but does not address the activity or health impacts outside the National park.
So this is just our best guess in the spirit of being proactively prepared while living so close to an erupting volcano.

THE SHAME OF DOWNSIZING

Since moving to Hilo, Hawaii we have had a lot of visitors from the mainland. This summer, when we proudly showed off our little rental in Hilo with its marvelous view and our new laid back life, we couldn’t understand the expressions on many of our visitors’ faces. It was definitely not envy; it seemed more like surprise, but not in a good way. We couldn’t figure it out.

It wasn’t until we recently read an article about how stressful it is for people to downsize, particularly those under 55 years of age. The older set have social acceptance for downsizing as a part of preparing for or actually retiring. But for those under 55, downsizing has the stigma of career or financial failure.

It was then that we realized our visitors were reacting to how tiny our Hilo house is in comparison to the house we owned in California and they felt embarrassment for us. We realize now we were experiencing the effect of the “shame of downsizing”.

When we meet new people, many ask within the first moments of the conversation, “When are you going to buy a house?” The persistence and tone of the questioning makes it seem a lot like “renters” are in different and lower social class than house owners. After owning houses for over 25 years, it is a huge relief to not spend countless hours and money maintaining a house. We knew that owning a house improved your credit score but we hadn’t realized that house ownership was such a status symbol.

In our case, we are choosing to downsize our life by getting rid of our house and most of our stuff. This choice has allowed us to fulfill our dream of living in Hawaii .

But a lot of people right now are being forced to downsize by having their stuff repossessed and their houses taken away. Instead of a gradual and controlled downsizing, families are finding themselves living in cars and tents a few weeks after living in a large house in suburbia. We can’t even imagine how stressful, upsetting and terrifying that experience must be on families in that unfortunate situation. In our case, we can chuckle about people’s reaction to our downsizing. But we feel sorry that those enduring forced downsizing and having to adjust to a harsh new lifestyle must also bear this extra social stigma.

Since the world financial system started collapsing in October, we have had follow up conversations with folks on the mainland that are now beginning to see the merits of early downsizing.

FOLLOWUP TO: A LETTER FROM HILO HAWAII TO THE INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMY COMMUNITY

Dr James disagreed with our summary of his presentation and discussion afterward in our previous blog. Here is his comment:

My name is David James, and I am the Director of the Hoku Ke`a telescope, and it was I that gave that AstroTalk a few weeks ago.

I am so sorry that you mis-understood what I said concerning both the size of the building and the relationship of the new telescope to the local community.

What I actually said, was that the building footprint was **not** changed or increased because it was against the law for one, and the Office of Mauna Kea Management and the University of Hawai`i at Hilo's planning offices had informed us that we were **not allowed** to change the footprint of the Observatory by one single millimeter -- which we did not !!
The mountain rangers, and Mr Ed Stevens, stopped by the construction site regularly to make sure that we were adhering to the regulations and laws, which I am happy to say, that we did.

The new building is EXACTLY the same size as the old one (which house the 24-inch AirForce telescope). If you want independent verification of this, you may contact the local contractor, Mr Gerald Yamada, or the project manager Mr Dan Kaniho (kanihod@hawaii.edu).
Second, I did **not** say that there were not PhD graduates among the locals, nor did I imply any disdain for the locals whatsoever.

What I did say, was that in astronomy in particular, and in the physics sciences, people of Hawaiian descent are very under-represented, and I wanted that position to change. I did however report that there was not one single PhD-level astronomer or Professor of Hawaiian heritage in any US college or University, which unfortunately is true.

In fact, I specifically came to the UHH to help provide an educational resource to our local students, with the direct goal of getting more local students into jobs which demanded strength in physics and mathematics. I am also applying for National Science Foundation money to provide stipend-support for internships specifically designed for people of Hawaiian descent, so that we can work together to provide more science/mathematics education to our local kids. I want the UHH to be able to boast the claim of the first professional astronomer/professor at the PhD-level, of Hawaiian heritage, in an American college or University.

If anyone would like to discuss these issues with me further, please contact me, and I will gladly listen to your opinions and thoughts,
david.james@hawaii.edu

Aloha
David

Dr. James's claim that "there was not one single PhD-level astronomer or Professor of Hawaiian heritage in any US college or University, which unfortunately is true." was quickly disputed by Lizard King. Apparently, unknown to Dr. James, he has at least one colleague that is Hawaiian and has a PhD at the UH Institute of Astronomy. Dr. Paul Coleman is a published Astronomer teaching at the University.

Here are the details from Lizard_King:

In response to David James comments about Hawaiian Ph.D.s in Astronomy, this announcement from UH Institute for Astronomy:
Dr. Paul Coleman (Institute for Astronomy) "Kanaka Maoli Astronomy: Then and Now" Bishop Museum, Wednesday, April 21, 2004, 7 p.m., Atherton Halau

The University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy (IfA) is pleased to announce that they are co-sponsoring, together with the Bishop Museum, a public talk entitled "KANAKA MAOLI ASTRONOMY: THEN AND NOW". The talk, which is about Hawaiian Astronomy, will be given by IfA faculty member Dr. Paul Coleman. It is one of several special events that have been planned to celebrate "Astronomy Week in Hawaii" which began on Sunday April 18 with an Open House at the Institute for Astronomy and ends on Saturday April 24 at AstroDay 2K4 at the Prince Kuhio Plaza in Hilo.

The talk will be held at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday April 21, 2004 in the Atherton Halau at the Bishop Museum. Prior to the talk the Bishop Museum will run Planetarium shows beginning at 5:30 p.m. Refreshments will be served after the talk.

Dr. Coleman, will speak about the ancient, as well as modern, Hawaiian traditions concerning astronomy in Hawaii. He will also talk about the history of European astronomy in Hawaii beginning with Captain James Cook, who visited our islands to observe the transit of Venus.
Dr. Coleman, who is a native Hawaiian, was born on Oahu and is a graduate of St. Louis High School. He received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Pittsburgh, while working for the National Radio Astronomy Observatory. "

Let us hope his Ph.D. thesis was better researched than his ad hoc remarks about native Hawaiian scholarly achievements. Or maybe he just assumed Hawaiians were too dumb to get a Ph.D. in Physics. Geez, they both work for the same organization, how can somebody be so obtuse?

For us “locals” in Hilo it is hard to understand how a PhD scientist could make an “unfortunately it is true” statement about Hawaiians. Did he research it? When a scientist makes a claim about something being “true” it has extreme credibility as we trust that the scientist researched the facts before making a strong claim, even a ridiculous one such as this.



We remain supporters of Astronomy and the University in Hilo. We think the AstroTalk series and AstroDay are awesome and greatly contribute to the community and understanding of Astronomy. Our request continues to be that the new and visiting Astronomers respect the residents of the island and follow the laws that protect our environment and precious mountain.