There were no volcanoes where I grew up Our family lived in a quiet little town in rural New England where the cows outnumbered the people I was the eldest of three children and spent my childhood exploring the forests and fields My favorite pastime Does this look like a future volcano researcher was sitting safe and dry on our porch watching violent summer thunderstorms rage through the Connecticut River Valley Our springer spaniel Dinney would cower under my chair in fright but the louder the thunder and brighter the lightning the more thrilled I was In school I loved earth science and biology but my guidance counselor suggested I take typing classes and become a secretary That didn’t interest me Fortunately I was artistic so instead I majored in creative arts painting photography and writing To this day I still can’t type This photo was taken in the cow pasture behind my parents house No volcanoes there 8 I’ve always been artistic Now I use my camera instead of a paintbrush In the 1970s I moved to Boston and worked for magazine and book publishers But something was missing in my life Although getting out into the countryside helped I finally decided I had to make some changes I wanted to learn about the earth and the sky and the stars where they all came from and where they were going At age 32 I went back to college My teacher Stephen James O’Meara opened my eyes to science when he described how our
solar system was shaped by geological forces One of the most dynamic forces Steve said was volcanism I pictured Earth with its 1500 or more volcanoes spewing lava as it spun dizzily around our sun Steve studied volcanoes to learn how planets formed and to search for clues that might help predict when a volcano will erupt here on Earth So far no single scientific method can accurately predict deadly eruptions Any new discoveries would be What can I say I like silly things important scientifically and could save lives Katia Krafft The two most important influences on my work have been my husband and research partner Steve O’Meara and a volcanologist named Katia Krafft Katia got her first taste of volcanoes as a teenager when her family visited Italy’s Stromboli volcano She was determined to become a volcanologist a scientist who studies Earth’s volcanoes and did Along the way she met and Steve’s daring tales of exploring erupting volcanoes held married another volcanologist Maurice Krafft me spellbound When he passed around a piece of rough hardened lava I held it tight closed my eyes and imagined myself climbing an erupting volcano in an exotic foreign country Now that sounded like a good job for me Weeks after class ended Steve and I had dinner He described how he’d once jumped over a moving lava flow to save his life I could barely believe what I was hearing Asleep that night I dreamed of volcanoes On December 23 1986 around noon my office phone rang It was Steve Donna have you ever seen an erupting volcano No of course I hadn’t I’m on my way to Kilauea and need a field assistant Kilauea Hawaii When do we leave I said aloha to my magazine boss and was on a plane to Hawaii before sunset that same night Katia’s delicate appearance belied her physical strength and courage Between 1971 and 1991 she dodged lava bombs at Iceland’s Eldfell volcano walked giant earth cracks at Hawaii’s Mauna Loa volcano climbed into erupting Piton de la Fournaise volcano on Reunion Island and inhaled lung searing gases at countless volcanoes She even rowed a raft across an acid lake at Indonesia’s Kawah Idjen volcano taking samples until the acid ate away the skin on her hands After twenty years at nearly 200 erupting volcanoes Katia seemed invincible But on June 3 1991 while photographing eruptions at Japan’s Mount Unzen volcano Katia and Maurice were engulfed and killed in a pyroclastic flow See page 31 I was shocked by the news In some small way I hope that Steve and I are able to carry on and contribute to the kind of work that was important to the Kraffts Krafft Photo Researchers Inc 9
My First Volcano At noon on December 24 1986 Steve and I strapped ourselves into a helicopter without doors and bounced on air drafts over a sizzling Hawaiian lava lake Lava oozed out of the vent filling a huge depression to overflowing and creating a lava lake The lava gushing into the lake from the vent caused sloshing waves As our pilot tilted the chopper to give us a better view I clutched at the seat cushion for fear I would slide across the smooth leather and right out the open door Below us a red lake the size of two football fields bubbled like a pot of oatmeal Only this wasn’t oatmeal It was burning hot molten lava The lake had formed when a new vent called Kupaianaha had burst open on the east side of Kilauea volcano A vent is an opening through which a volcano erupts lava and ash from inside the Earth Hovering over Kupaianaha lava lake was the scariest thing I’d ever done until we landed near it Explosive Facts Name of volcano Kilauea Location Hawaii U S A Status active Type shield volcano Height 1222 m 4009 ft Known people killed about 120 10
Closer to the lava lake things got even scarier The lava bubbled up cooling into flying spatter and cinders 11
