Seismological Society of America 2007 Annual Meeting, Hawaii

April 11-13 2007, Hilton Waikoloa Village

Aloha!

Hawaii Volcano Observatory, April 14 (Saturday) - $100

Circle island tour will depart Hilton Waikoloa Village at 8:00 am. The tour will take you to Hawaii Volcano Observatory for a behind-the-scenes tour guided by HVO personnel, and followed by a tour around Crater Rim Drive. A box lunch is included. Time permitting, comfort stops are planned for Parker Ranch, Rainbow Falls, and Pulaluu Black Sand Beach. Drop off at the Hilton will be 6:00 PM. Cost: $100 per person. Maximum: 50 persons.

Mauna Kea Summit Tour & Stargazing, April 14 (Saturday) - $140

Tour will depart Hilton Waikoloa Village at 3:30 PM. First stop is the Onizuka Visitor Center for acclimatization and boxed dinner. Sunset at the summit will be followed by stargazing until 9:00 PM. Drop off at the Hilton will be 10:30 PM. Dinner, refreshments, and the use of a heavy jacket are included.

The University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy currently oversees thirteen working telescopes near the summit of Mauna Kea (White Mountain). Nine of them are for optical and infrared astronomy, three of them are for sub-millimeter-wavelength astronomy and one is for radio astronomy. They include the largest optical/infrared telescopes in the world (the Keck telescopes), the largest dedicated infrared telescope (UKIRT) and the largest submillimeter telescope in the world (the JCMT). The westernmost antenna of the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) is situated at a lower altitude two miles from the summit.

Because of the altitude (13,796 feet/4200 metres), the following persons should NOT participate in this tour: pregnant women, children under 16 years of age, persons with heart or respiratory problems or high blood pressure, anyone who has been scuba diving within 24 hours of the tour, or other conditions that limit physical activity. Participants will be required to sign a waiver of liability for the Mauna Kea tour. Cost: $140 per person. Maximum: 28 persons.

Pacific Tsunami Warning Center Tour, April 15 (Sunday) - $10

THIS FACILITY IS ON OAHU (transportation from the big island is NOT provided). Tour will depart University of Hawaii at Manoa at 9:00 AM. Established in 1949, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Ewa Beach, Oahu, Hawaii, provides warnings for tele-tsunamis to most countries in the Pacific Basin as well as to Hawaii and all other US interests in the Pacific except Alaska and the U.S. West Coast. Those areas are served by the West Coast / Alaska Tsunami Warning Center in Palmer, Alaska. PTWC is also the warning center for Hawaii's local and regional tsunamis. Cost: $10 per person. Maximum: 10 persons.

Contact Person:

Dr. Patricia Cooper

School of Ocean & Earth Science & Technology

University of Hawaii at Manoa

1680 East-West Road, POST 802

Honolulu, HI USA

Tel: (808) 956-9513

Fax: (808) 956-9152

cooper@soest.hawaii.edu