The Kīlauea Volcano: Be a Volcanologist

Monitoring Kīlauea

Download Lesson 2

Students continue playing the role of volcanologists on the island of Hawaiʻi. They analyze new geologic data (including maps, photos, and graphs) from the first few days of the May 2018 eruption of Kīlauea in order to predict the occurrence and effects of volcanic hazards and make safety recommendations to the public.

GUIDING QUESTION

How do scientists monitor volcanoes in order to predict hazards and keep the public safe?

MATERIALS and PREPARATION

Teacher Materials

Student Materials

Resources

Prepare Lesson Materials

  1. Determine which lesson handouts you will need hard copies of, and print enough for your class. Note that the Monitoring Kīlauea Data handout can be accessed online. It is recommended that students work in groups of four if using hard copies and in pairs if using computers. If using hard copies, printing in color is highly recommended to support student analysis of data represented in maps and photos.
    • The Volcanology and Monitoring Kilauea Data handouts can be laminated for re-use.
  2. Students should continue using the Observation Journal that they started in Lesson 1. Prepare a class chart based on the table in the Observation Journal handout for use in the discussion part of the lesson (see Activity section).

Prepare the Activity Approach

  1. Determine how you will structure the Activity section of the lesson. Depending on the needs of your class, you may opt to conduct the activity with an open-ended approach or with more structured guidance. For example:
    • Have teams self-direct their pacing and decide for themselves which data to analyze first.
    • Give students more structured guidance. Encourage the class to start with the maps and images and then progress to the graph.
    • You might also assign team roles and/or designate different students within the teams to lead the team’s analysis of different pieces of data.
  2. For a self-directed approach, be prepared to monitor teams as they determine their own allocation of tasks, pacing, and process for recording data.

OPENING

Review Lesson 1 Key Ideas

  1. Remind students that in the previous lesson they began working as volcanologists on the island of Hawaiʻi to help determine ways to keep the public safe from volcanic hazards. Have a few students share the predictions that they made and the course(s) of action that the class recommended (monitoring, issuing an alert, and/or evacuating areas around one or more of the island’s volcanoes).
  2. Next, reveal that United States Geological Survey (USGS) scientists working on the island of Hawaiʻi responded by closely monitored the Kīlauea area. As a result, an alert was issued in anticipation of a possible eruption. Areas of Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park around Kīlauea were closed due to potential volcanic hazards. Point out that the scientists also continued to monitor the other active volcanoes on the island, although less closely than Kīlauea.

Discuss Interpreting Data from Photos and Maps

  1. Show the first image in the Monitoring Kīlauea visuals, which is the May 2, 2018 Map visual. This is a USGS map of the southeastern portion of the island of Hawaiʻi.
  2. Have a couple students point out something they notice. For example, you may have students locate:
    • The area of increased earthquake activity recorded from April 30 to May 2, 2018 (marked by a dotted oval and the label “Approximate Zone of Increased Seismicity April 30 – May 2”)
    • Middle East and Lower East Rift Zones (the elevated ridge of land that runs along the southeastern coast, a few kilometers inland from the ocean)
    • Neighborhoods where people live, such as Black Sand Beach Subd., Leilani Estates, and Kaohe Homesteads
    • Puʻu ʻŌʻō crater (at the edge of Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park on the west end of the Middle East Rift Zone)
    • Areas marked in light pink and in dark pink, which represent previous lava flows (in the Middle East Rift Zone, starting near Puʻu ʻŌʻō crater)
  3. Review that the class’s previous observations were of activity that took place during March, April, and early May 2018.
  4. Display the Eruption in Leilani Estates photograph, which shows the Kīlauea Volcano eruption on May 3, 2018. While displaying the image, read aloud the description, which provides an overview from the U.S. Geological Survey of news about the eruption:
    On May 3, 2018, a new eruption of Kīlauea Volcano began in the Leilani Estates neighborhood located in the lower East Rift Zone. Lava, hot water vapor, and gas fumes started spewing into the air from a newly-opened crack in the earth, and lava flowed slowly outward about 10 meters from this fissure.

Introduce Today’s Goal

  1. Remind students of the unit Guiding Question:

    How do scientists monitor volcanoes in order to predict hazards and keep the public safe?

  2. Explain that students will work in their teams from the previous lesson to investigate and interpret data from maps, photos, and a graph. As in Lesson 1, they will organize their notes in their Observation Journal.
  3. Explain that students should use the Observation Journal to:
    • Describe and predict volcanic hazards.
    • Make recommendations to keep the public safe.
  4. You may want to record these tasks on the board or somewhere else easily visible to students for reference.

ACTIVITY

Introduce the Activity

  1. Ensure students have their Observation Journal handout from the previous lesson. Tell students to gather in their pairs or teams of four.
  2. Ensure that each team has a copy of the Volcanology handout (from Lessons 0 and 1). These handouts provide information that teams can reference as needed to help make sense of and analyze the volcano data. Point out the Lesson 2 section and review the topic question on each page:
    • How does surface temperature help scientists predict changes in volcanic activity?
    • How can scientists predict where lava will flow?
    • How can the lava lake provide clues about an eruption?
  3. Provide each team with a copy of the Monitoring Kīlauea Data handout (print or online), which includes:
    • Photos and maps (including thermal maps) of the Lower East Rift Zone of Kīlauea Volcano from May 4–9, 2018
    • Graph of Kīlauea Volcano summit lava lake levels, with data from April 29–May 6, 2018, and predictions through May 13, 2018
  4. Remind students that if they come across unfamiliar concepts or vocabulary terms, they can refer to the Volcanology handout.
  5. You may want to conduct a quick class brainstorm regarding possible ways to organize the data in students’ Observation Journal—for example, by:
    • Date
    • Type of hazard (e.g., fissures, lava flows, toxic gases, explosions)
    • Location/area (e.g., volcano summit, East Rift Zone)
  6. Encourage students to work together with their team to share information and discuss their ideas. Remind students to record their observations, analysis, and recommendations in the table in their Observation Journal.
  7. If you feel that students need additional guidance, provide some guiding questions such as the following to help teams analyze the data:
    • What can you understand from looking at each map, graph, or image? What information can help you interpret the data?
    • What hazards are currently present? What types of damage are they causing?
    • Where are the hazards located?
    • How would you describe the severity of the hazards you observed?
    • How do the locations or severity of the hazards change over time?
    • What patterns do you notice in the data?
    • What new or future hazards do you predict, and why?

Organize, Analyze, and Interpret Data

  1. As teams work, circulate to monitor progress and support students in interpreting the data. As necessary, remind them to refer to the Volcanology handout to help them make sense of new terms and concepts; also remind them to record their observations, analysis, and recommendations in their Observation Journal.
  2. Engage with teams and monitor their understanding by posing further probing questions, such as:
    • What are some volcano hazards that you notice in this [map, photo]?
    • What do you notice about the progression of fissures from May 4th to later dates?
    • What information have you found that can help you predict what might happen next with this Kīlauea volcano eruption?
    • What can you understand from looking at the graph of the lava lake level? Where can you find information to help you interpret the graph?
    • Based on the data your team has looked at, what areas do you think are at risk for volcanic hazards or eruptions? Why?
  3. As you monitor the investigation, take notes about students’ work in order to prepare for class discussion. For example, make note of unique and/or pervasive:
    • Ways teams organize their data
    • Observations about the maps, photos, or graph
    • Insights about the meaning of the data
    • Recommendations for keeping the public safe

Discuss Data Analysis and Recommendations

  1. Have students reconvene for a whole-class discussion. As students share ideas that they recorded in their Observation Journal, encourage other teams to ask clarifying questions. If audience members disagree with some aspect of the presenters’ interpretation, have them provide an argument explaining their alternate explanation.

  2. Complete a class chart to record students’ ideas. A completed class chart might resemble the following.
Our Observations Our Analysis Our Recommendations
Lava flow
  • New fissures are appearing in the Leilani Estates area of the East Rift Zone.
  • Thermal maps show hot areas spreading from around Fissure 8 on May 6 and around Fissure 15 on May 9.
  • The lava is covering and burning the areas near the fissures.
  • There are cracks in some of the roads such as Pohoiki Road.
  • The fissures are spreading in a line toward the northeast and southwest.
  • Lava flows are a hazard to people living nearby and downhill.
  • More fissures might continue to appear in the same directions.
  • New fissures or lava flows might happen near the cracks.
  • People who live in Leilani Estates and areas downhill should evacuate.
  • Roads in Leilani Estates should be closed.
  • People who live in areas to the northeast and southwest should be alerted.
  • Areas in the East Rift Zone and down the lines of steepest descent should be monitored or closed in those directions.
Summit lava lake
  • The lava lake level is dropping.
  • The lava lake level might continue to drop. If it goes below the water table, there could be an explosive eruption. It is predicted to happen around May 11.
  • The drop in the lava lake level might mean more magma is moving down the rift zone.
  • The area around the lava lake should be closed to the public.

REFLECTION

Summarize

  1. After completing the class chart, review some of the main points that students made. For example, you might say:
    • We noticed a series of fissures opening up in the Leilani Estates area and spreading in a line to the northeast and the southwest. The East Rift Zone area should continue to be monitored for new fissures. We recommended that the Leilani Estates area and other places downhill from that area be closed and evacuated because they are at risk of being burned and damaged by lava flows. We also noticed that the lava lake level at the summit is dropping and it might go below the water table. We predicted that this could cause an explosive eruption, so people should stay away from that area.
  2. Review some of the technologies and methods—thermal imaging, seismographs, GPS stations—that scientists use to monitor volcanic activity. Discuss how this information helps them make predictions, based on which the public can be advised about how to stay safe. Explain that the class will now look at an alert and evacuation plan that scientists and officials created in response to the Kīlauea eruption.

View Hazard Documentation

  1. Project the Hawaiʻi Volcano Hazard Update visual (adapted from the official daily updates produced by the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory for May 4 to May 9, 2018). Read the update aloud, or have a student do so. As you read, have students consider how the information in the update compares to their own data analysis.
  2. Then show the Evacuation and Road Closure Map visual. Explain that the County of Hawaiʻi maintains an alert page on its website; information on this page includes civil defense messages and maps of hazards and evacuations. The website helps to provide important safety information to the public. The Evacuation and Road Closure Map is a reproduction of the 2018 Lava Information Map from the county website in mid May 2018. Have students identify the areas of mandatory evacuation, road closures, and other map features. Note that the pink areas represent all lava flows since the eruption began, including those that are no longer active.

Formative Assessment

  1. Ask students to record responses to the following:
    • How does technology help scientists keep the public safe and informed about hazards? Describe at least two ways.
  2. You may ask students to record their reflections on a separate piece of paper to turn in or in another location, such as a science journal, according to your class routines.

EXTENSION

Explore Additional Emergency Resources

  1. Show students the Hawaiʻi County Civil Defense Alert Archive website. Choose an alert to read together and ask students to listen for:
    • Data and observations from scientific monitoring (such as sulfur dioxide levels, earthquake occurrences)
    • Decisions or advisories that were made based on the data (such as evacuations)
  2. Show students the FEMA.gov web page about the Kīlauea eruption. Point out the features and services offered, such as:
    • Assistance for residents to access disaster recovery centers
    • News releases
    • Links to county alerts, healthcare resources, etc.
Developed by Learning in Motion 2018
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.