Posted on 05/07/2008 2:27:13 PM PDT by sushiman
OCEAN VIEW, Hawaii - For eight years, Tony and Sam Bayaoa have grown thousands of bright red, yellow and pink protea flowers on their farm. Then in March, Kilauea volcano opened a new vent and began spewing double the usual amount of toxic gas.
Now about 70 percent of their crop is dried, brown and brittle.
"The first reaction was — did someone poison the plants?" said Tony Bayaoa, whose two-acre farm is 35 miles from the volcano. "I've lost my livelihood."
Big Island crops are shriveling as sulfur dioxide from Kilauea wafts over them and envelops them in "vog," or volcanic smog. People are wheezing, and schoolchildren are being kept indoors during recess. High gas levels led Hawaii Volcanoes National Park to close several days last month, forcing the evacuation of thousands of visitors.
Residents of this volcanic island are used to toxic gas. But this haze is so bad that farmers are thinking about growing different crops, and many people are worrying about their health.
Kirk Brewer, 33, an electrician who moved to the Big Island in 2006 from Southern California, blames his headaches and wife Tracy's itchy skin, sore throat and runny nose on the vog.
"It's a bummer when you go to the other islands and see how clear and blue it is, but we'll just deal with it," Brewer said.
When educator Ann Peterson of Kona went the bank last week, she and the teller were making the same noises in their throats. They looked at each other and said in unison, "Vog!"
Kilauea on the Big Island has been erupting continuously since 1983. But in mid-March, a new vent formed at the summit, giving Kilauea two large sulfur dioxide outlets instead of one.
Sulfur dioxide, a pollutant that is also generated by burning coal and oil, can lead to asthma and other respiratory illnesses and aggravate lung and heart disease. When combined with dust and sunlight, it makes vog. Mixed with atmospheric moisture, it produces acid rain.
Exceptionally thick gray-white vog has hovered over parts of the Big Island for weeks, particularly those areas downwind of the crater. The wind has blown vog to Oahu, some 200 miles to the north, bathing Honolulu in a light haze. (The vog is no threat to the U.S. mainland, some 2,500 miles away.)
Some crops are doing fine. Coffee and macadamia nuts, two of the Big Island's mainstays, appear unaffected. Koa and ohia trees are healthy, but eucalyptus leaves are turning brown, as are Asiatic lilies.
Protea may be the hardest hit, though experts don't know why. The hand-size blossoms are used in tropical floral arrangements and are a $1.8 million-a-year business in the islands.
Kelvin Sewake of the University of Hawaii College of Tropical Agriculture said he is not sure if it is the gas or acid rain that is killing the plants. He said Big Island protea growers have always suffered sulfur dioxide "burns," but he has never seen it this bad.
Dan Wegner, the biggest protea farmer in Ocean View, with about 15 acres, said he usually records $70,000 in annual sales. This year, he is not sure if he will reap half that.
"This is taking my viable business right now and putting it right in the dumper. I don't know what I'm going to do," Wegner said. "It's frightening."
One reason the vog is worse is that the new vent is farther inland than the older Puu Oo vent on the mountain's seaside slope. While gas from the Puu Oo vent often blows out to sea, the new plume is more likely to hit farms and communities in concentrated form.
The county has issued only two temporary, voluntary evacuation advisories for Ocean View and Pahala, which have a combined population of just over 4,000. The vog that has settled over the Big Island has little or no odor.
The emergency room at Ka'u Hospital in Pahala is seeing an average of three people a day — up from two — with symptoms such as coughing and shortness of breath.
Dr. Cliff Field, ER director, said he is more concerned about the potential long-term harm. Large amounts of vog may cause emphysema and chronic lung disease over time. Still, he questioned whether living next to Kilauea is any worse than living in a city like Los Angeles.
Sally Ancheta of the American Lung Association of Hawaii said people should stay inside when the vog is bad. But she added: "I would not recommend anybody leaving. It's too good of a place to live."
No, it’s not volcanic gases causing the problem, it’s Global Warming! Just ask Algore, he’ll tell you it’s true.
And you know that it is Bush’s fault, too! /sarcasm
And you know that it is Bush’s fault, too! /sarcasm
VOG = Global Cooling. I’m sure of it.
Oh, I forgot: It's Bush's fault!
At the same time the place is a big ol' volcanic cone with roots all the way down to the mantle. It oozes all sorts of gases, including CO2, constantly and in ever greater volumes.
The Mauna Loa Observatory (MLO) is an atmospheric baseline station on Mauna Loa volcano, on the big island of Hawaii. Since 1957 MLO has been continuously monitoring and collecting data relating to atmospheric change, and is known especially for their continuous monitoring of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels. The observatory is under the Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory (CMDL) which is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
No bad data here!
I understand that the trade winds - which normally would blow the vog out to sea - aren’t what they used to be , and that climate change could be the reason .
No cynics here eh?/sarc.
Clearly volcanos should be outlawed. Of course, then only outlaws would have volcanos....
susie
Recall when they figured out that the glaciers on Kilamanjaro weren't melting any faster than normal, they simply weren't being replenished because all the trees at the base of the mountain had been cut down and insufficient moisture was rising to the top to be turned into snow.
Here we have survey teams measuring gas emissions from all the way down to the mantle and just 100 feet away they're measuring CO2 in air supposedly "pristine" in nature ~ whatever that means.
Same people seem to be taking the measurements.
I once complained because the highway project nearby had not yet poured the sidewalk we'd been promised under one of the overpasses.
I gave the highway engineers a precise description and a picture.
They acted quickly ~ the next day after reading my letter they sent out a "sidewalk pouring team" to stake out the pathway.
They immediately staked out an entirely new sidewalk next to the existing one on the East side of the road, ignorning the West side where the walk was supposed to go.
I saw one of the workmen scratching his head at what they'd done.
Still, it took another complaint to the highway folks to get the sidewalk placed on the right side of the road.
It is my impression that the people taking the CO2 and rare gas measurements on top of Mauna Loa must, at times, find it necessary to stop and scratch their heads in wonderment at what they're doing and how Algore is misuing the information!
Recall when they figured out that the glaciers on Kilamanjaro weren't melting any faster than normal, they simply weren't being replenished because all the trees at the base of the mountain had been cut down and insufficient moisture was rising to the top to be turned into snow.
Here we have survey teams measuring gas emissions from all the way down to the mantle and just 100 feet away they're measuring CO2 in air supposedly "pristine" in nature ~ whatever that means.
Same people seem to be taking the measurements.
I once complained because the highway project nearby had not yet poured the sidewalk we'd been promised under one of the overpasses.
I gave the highway engineers a precise description and a picture.
They acted quickly ~ the next day after reading my letter they sent out a "sidewalk pouring team" to stake out the pathway.
They immediately staked out an entirely new sidewalk next to the existing one on the East side of the road, ignorning the West side where the walk was supposed to go.
I saw one of the workmen scratching his head at what they'd done.
Still, it took another complaint to the highway folks to get the sidewalk placed on the right side of the road.
It is my impression that the people taking the CO2 and rare gas measurements on top of Mauna Loa must, at times, find it necessary to stop and scratch their heads in wonderment at what they're doing and how Algore is misuing the information!
A couple of years ago I spent a day hiking around out on the lava flows where they reach the sea. The vast majority of people who die out there die of asphixiation. The day I was there the wind was howling steadily so there were no worries.
It was exciting to stand right next to lava as it came out of the Earth. I was amazed at how hot it really is. The heat on your face is proportional to the area of red lava exposed. A 1 or 2 foot square of red exposed lava will let you get within about 10 feet before your hair starts to krinkle.
The Vog is from Sulfur Dioxide, which blocks sunlight and causes cooling (but the quantities from Kilauea, and Chaiten - at the moment - aren’t enough to matter.)
There are lots of lava fields around southeastern Idaho. Craters of the Moon is one big area. There are also places along I-15 (mile marker 100-105) where the lava oozed directly upward out of the earth to create large lava fields.
I have yet to get near any fresh, hot, red lava. That must be quite a sight up close.
“I would not recommend anybody leaving...”
Probably what some said when they lived downhill Mt. Vesuvius.
Anybody remember the show WOG, World of Giants?
One of the threads notes that the Amazon is going to dry up because of lack of rain brought on by cleaning of sulfur dioxide from coal power plants.
Maybe we could start a sulfur dioxide exchange market.
Hawaii to Brazil?
SO2 credits. Think of the fortunes waiting to be made!!
Algore has the Carbon Credit exchange sewn up. But the Sulfur Credit exchange is just waiting to be exploited.
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