Jim Kauahikaua

MEDIA RELEASE

Scientist-in-Charge Jim Kauahikaua of the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory will tell the story of volcanologist Frank Perret and how his early observations of Kilauea’s lava lakes and fountains are relevant to today’s summit eruption.

Frank Alvord Perret

The program begins at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 25 in the Kilauea Visitor Center auditorium.

Fresh from volcanic eruptions in the Canary Islands and Italy, Perret came to Hawaii in 1911 at the request of Thomas A. Jaggar.

After raising funds to establish a scientific observatory at Kilauea Volcano in 1909, Jaggar himself was unable to immediately relocate to Hawaii.

Although Jaggar is credited with founding the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory in 1912, it was Perret who, in 1911, actually set the stage for the next 100 years of continuous volcano monitoring.

This is the final of three After Dark in the Park programs in January that celebrate Hawaii Island’s second annual Volcano Awareness Month, an initiative spearheaded by scientists of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.