Mt. Fitzherbert

Aerial views taken on 2005-Jun-09

Potential ash hazards: Wind forecasts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), coupled with eruption models, show that any ash clouds that rise above the crater rim today would drift eastward.

Recent observations: Yesterday's gas-sensing experiment was partly successful. After scientists spent two hours hauling equipment and setting it up on the east crater rim in clear conditions, the crater clouded in and remained so for much of the day. Scientists were able to get only one preliminary set of data with the new infrared spectrometer. The results were encouraging and showed that the technique will work, but they weren't sufficient to provide quantitative measurement of gases. The instrument has to go back to our Hawaiian Volcano Observatory for awhile, but we will retry the experiment later in the summer. Concurrent measurements of gases using our usual airborne techniques were likewise foiled by weather. Good photographs of the new lava dome taken yesterday morning will be available on our web site today.