Glaciers have existed on Mauna
Kea, an estimated three times
in the past 100,000 years. Since
humans first came to the Hawaiian
Islands, Mauna Kea has exerted
a powerful spiritual magnetism
and pilgrims have often made the
long climb up its steep slopes.
From the peak, the view is as
lovely as any in the world
I was invited by the locals up Mauna
Kea for the summer solstice worship
- 2006. I've never felt such cold,
but damn it was worth it
Mauna Kea is a dormant
volcano in the U.S. state of Hawaii,
one of five volcanoes which together
form the island of Hawaii. Mauna kea
means "white mountain" in
the Hawaiian language, a reference
to its summit being regularly covered
by snow in winter.
The peak of Mauna Kea
is 13,803 feet (4,207 m) above mean
sea level but 33,476 feet (10,203
m) above its base on the floor of
the Pacific Ocean. It is the world's
tallest mountain by this measure,
taller than Mount Everest which is
the highest mountain above sea level.
Pu'u Wekiu, traditionally
known as Pu‘u o Kukahau‘ula,
is the highest of the numerous cinder
cones on the summit plateau. It is
also the highest point in the state.
Mauna Kea can be reached via the Saddle
Road.
The summit plateau of
Mauna Kea is entirely above timberline,
with a landscape of mostly lava rock
with patches of alpine tundra. Snowfall
often occurs at elevations above 11,000
feet (3,400 m) during the period from
November through March. During particularly
cold and wet winters, which are usually
linked to La Niña, a snowpack
several feet (1 m) deep may remain
in the summit region above 13,000
feet (4,000 m) for weeks or months.
This permits skiing and other snowplay
activities on the slopes of the cinder
cones.
A bit lower is the area
where the endemic Mauna Kea Silversword
can be found.
Between 5,200 and 8,000
feet (1,600 and 2,400 m) there is
a band of ranch land which was formerly
koa-mamane forest but has been almost
entirely converted to pasture. This
area has suffered from heavy infestations
of gorse, an invasive species in Hawaii.
Most of the north and west slopes
are also pasture. The palila, an endangered
finch-like honeycreeper, feeds almost
exclusively on mamane seeds and lives
in mamane-naio forest on the west
slope. Large numbers of feral sheep
inhabit the upper elevations, and
have had a severe impact on the native
vegetation.
The windward (eastern)
slopes are covered in Hawaiian tropical
rainforests between about 1,500 and
5,200 feet (460 and 1,600 m). Lower
on the mountain are extensive agricultural
lands that formerly included vast
areas of sugarcane. With the collapse
of the sugar industry in the 1990s,
much of this land lies fallow but
portions are used for cattle grazing,
small-scale farming and the cultivation
of eucalyptus for wood pulp.
The summit of Mauna
Kea has been a celestial observatory
since ancient times and is considered
to be one of the best astronomical
sites in the world. For this reason
it is home to many of the world's
leading astronomical observatories.
The summit is above approximately
40% of Earth's atmosphere and 90%
of the water vapor, allowing for exceptionally
clear images of the night sky. Additionally,
the peak is well above the inversion
layer, which leads to approximately
300 clear nights per year. Also, at
20°N latitude, much of both the
northern and southern skies are visible.
The fact that it is a shield volcano
has meant that road transportation
to the summit is relatively easy.
The low population density of the
Island of Hawaii means that there
is little light pollution from man-made
sources. All of these factors have
made Mauna Kea an ideal location for
state-of-the-art astronomy.
Construction of telescopes
on Mauna Kea has been a source of
intense legal and political controversy
in recent years. Due to the qualities
listed above, it is a highly favored
location and the summit area is now
home to over a dozen telescopes. Native
Hawaiians and environmental groups
have protested that construction of
additional telescopes would cause
considerable environmental damage
and further desecrate a site of great
cultural importance. According to
legend, the summit of Mauna Kea is
the home of the snow goddess, Poliahu,
and many other deities. It is also
an important site for prayer, burials,
consecration of children, and traditional
celestial observation. In addition,
the summit area is home to a unique
insect, the wekiu bug, which feeds
on insects blown to the summit by
updrafts. The insect itself is a major
point of debate. Mercury spills (before
1995) and sewage dumps have also occurred
at the existing telescopes; these
are of particular concern because
of the unique and otherwise-pristine
underground water systems in the area.
Over the past decade,
major legal battles have raged through
Hawaii's court system over these issues.
On January 19, 2007, the Third Circuit
Court reaffirmed its decision to halt
all further development on Mauna Kea
until an appropriate Management Plan
that sufficiently addresses the environmental
damage and cultural impacts posed
by astronomical development has been
fully approved. The CMP was approved
by the state board of Land and Natural
Resources on April 9, 2009.
Despite the courts'
rulings against further development,
plans for additional telescopes have
been moving forward. Several science
institutes, in collaboration with
the United States Air Force are planning
to build Pan-STARRS, a major telescope
project. Citing the extinction of
the dinosaurs and a recent impact
on Jupiter, the telescope should be
a protection against an asteroid impact.
Opponents, however, believe the application
to be military in nature because it
would be able to track satellites.
Also the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT)
project, the single largest telescope
ever built on Earth, is currently
being proposed by a partnership including
The University of California, Caltech,
and The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.
The telescope's developers propose
to give scholarships for native Hawaiians
as compensation for some of the cultural
and environmental destruction that
the project would entail. Hearings
for this project were scheduled throughout
October 2008.[3]
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