Hawaiī

One of the most coveted and contested astronomical sites on the planet—the summit of Hawaii’s massive mountain Maunakea—will soon be governed by a new group of stewards comprising Native Hawaiians, cultural practitioners, and representatives of the state and other institutions. On July 7 Governor David Ige signed into law HB2024—a bill mandating that control over the mountain’s summit be transferred from the University of Hawaii, which has held the master lease to those lands since 1968, to an 11-member “Mauna Kea…

For the first time, scientists have taken a proper look at an ultra-low velocity zone. These enigmatic pockets of rock sit close to the Earth's core, about 3,000 kilometers (1,864 miles) below the surface.  At that depth they're obviously difficult to study, but we know they're there because of the way seismic waves flow through Earth. These zones get their name from the way seismic waves slow right down as they pass through them.Up until this point, images of these zones have been grainy and hard to analyze – but the…

By Sara E. Pratt, NASA Earth Observatory May 13, 2022April 15, 2022Since May 2018, when Kīlauea’s lava lake last drained, the summit crater has filled with water, erupted again, boiled off the water, and refilled with lava.Four years ago this month, Hawaiī’s youngest and most active volcano unleashed its biggest eruption in at least 200 years. The Lower East Rift Zone (LERZ) eruption at Kīlauea, which began on May 3, 2018, destroyed 700 buildings and forced thousands of residents to evacuate. Scientists are still…