UH to offer master’s degree in geoscience

Natural hazards and climate change are two of the fields of study for a new master’s degree at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

The master’s degree in geoscience will be offered beginning in fall 2014 by the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology.

The degree is intended to prepare students to pursue a career in a variety of fields, including geological and environmental consulting, geotechnical engineering, hydrology, natural resource exploration and renewable energy development.

The program was designed in collaboration with professionals already working in geoscience fields in Hawaii. The emphasis is on applied geoscience coursework, with key courses scheduled in the evenings or remotely accessible with an eye toward helping people with full-time jobs.

Each student will complete a final work-related project with a local company or agency.

Forest burns as Kilauea lava flow persists

Kilauea Volcano’s Kahaualea 2 lava flow continues to burn through forest, sending up plumes of smoke, but scientists can see more activity through thermal imaging.

The flow, fed by the northeast spatter cone in the Puu Oo vent, extends 4.5 miles to the north but is most active about three miles northeast of Puu Oo.

Between Nov. 27 and Friday, the flow advanced 920 feet, according to the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.

A thermal image taken Friday shows the main area of activity northeast of Puu Oo, a smaller breakout north of Puu Oo, and two lava tubes.

A fissure eruption on the upper east flank of Puu Oo on Sept. 21, 2011, fed what became known as the Peace Day flow, which advanced southeast through the abandoned Royal Gardens subdivision to the ocean inside Hawaii Volcanoes National Park in early December 2011. The flows stalled and re-entered the ocean starting on Nov. 24, 2012, until activity declined and the ocean entry stopped Aug. 20.

The flow was dead by early November.

The Kahaualea flow, which started at the northeast edge of the Puu Oo crater floor in mid-January, was dead by late April, but a new flow, Kahaualea 2, became active in the same area in early May.