In 1984, the volcano Mauna Loa erupted in Hawaii, sending ribbons of lava winding down its slopes. Geologist and former pilot David Pieri of the California Institute of Technology’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory wanted to get measurements and observation of every part of the lava flow to predict its ultimate route and length. However, he only had one way to see the lava: with a helicopter. “I remem...

Introduction: In 1997 the Galileo spacecraft observed a huge eruption at Pillan, on the jovian satellite Io, which emplaced at least 56 km of lava which covering more than 5000 km in less than 200 days [1-3]. By considering varying effusion rate QF following the treatment of Wadge (1981) [4], we estimate peak values of QF in the range 1.87 x 10 to 5.94 x 10 m s. This is in the range proposed fo...

[1] Bathymetry data collected with a multibeam echo sounder around Pico Island, Azores (Portugal), reveal a remarkable series of lava flows on the island’s shelf with a variety of pristine structures that suggest how lava behaves on entering water. Many flows are dendritic in plan view, some with channels and tumuli. Dendritic geometries are interpreted to arise from flow fronts repeatedly arre...

Dome-forming eruption is a frequent eruptive style and a major hazard on numerous volcanoes worldwide. Lava domes are built by slow extrusion of degassed, viscous magma and may be destroyed by gravitational collapse or explosion. The triggering of lava dome explosions is poorly understood: here we propose a new model of superficial lava-dome explosivity based upon a textural and geochemical stu...

The primary objective of this study was to map the distribution and abundance of firetree (Myrica faya) in the state of Hawai`i. Reconnaissance data were used to map 85,912 a (34,365 ha) of infestation throughout the State. Infestations of 72,265 a (28,906 ha) occur on the island of Hawai`i, 4,770 a (1,908 ha) on Maui, 2,518 a (1,007 ha) on Lana`i, 435 a (174 ha) on O`ahu, and 5,925 a (2,370 ha...

Nucleotide sequences of mitochondrial genes (ND1, ND2, COI, and tRNAs) were determined for 38 samples representing 15 taxa of tropidurid lizards from the Galapagos Islands and mainland South America. Phylogenetically informative characters (759 of 1,956) were analyzed under Bayesian, maximum likelihood, and parsimony frameworks. This study supports the hypothesis that tropidurid lizards dispers...

Surface roughness has a strong controlling influence on radar scattering and other types of remote sensing observations. We compare field measurements of surface topography and dielectric constant for a range of lava flow textures to aircraft multipolarization radar observations at 5.7. 24, and 68 cm (C, L, and P band) wavelengths. The roughness is found to vary with scale in a self-affine (fra...