Day 4 – 12 October 2007
Madison
SNI participant
The KMC (Kilauea Military Camp) is at an altitude of about 4,068 feet (1240 m). You can see the geothermal vents from the road. The caldera is eleven miles (17.7 km) around. The layers from successive lava flows are visible. We went to the sulfur banks then, and you could see the sulfur steam coming from the vents. The sulfuric crystals were green and had a very low melting point.
We then went to the Thurston lava tube, where the lava had flowed and the shell had hardened, the middle had remained liquid, and when there was no more lava, only the shell remained. Ropey lava is called pahoehoe, and the sharp, jagged lava is called a’a.
We went to Mauna Kea then and drove to the summit, stopping at intervals to do the GLOBE protocols. The top was very cold and incredibly dry, at most 3.9 degrees Celsius, but with the wind chill, probably much colder. The Keck, Subaru, and NASA observatories were there.
Connor
SNI participant
After many hours of driving we got to the top of Mauna Kea and got to talk to an astronomer working with one of the many telescopes at the top. After we asked the astronomer questions and watched the beginning of the sunset we drove back down to the visitors center where we watched a star show (Where a guy points at stars with this cool flashlight and explains to the watchers what constellation they are from or what type of star they are) Afterwards we went back to the KMC for some sleep.
