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Dr. Kenna Harmony Rubin

@kennarubin.bsky.social

3K followers 2.4K following 300 posts

#science #volcanoes #ocean #deepsea #coral #climate #geochemistry #geology #data Media inquiries✔️, Prof & past Assoc Dean URI Oceanography; past U Hawaii Dept. Chair; Scripps Inst. alum 🚫 pers DM 🦋🌋🪸⚒️🧪 🌊📷💙 Ancestry: 🇱🇻🇱🇹🇺🇦 https://linktr.ee/kennarubingeo

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Dr. Kenna Harmony Rubin @kennarubin.bsky.social · Jan 12

A little introduction to me. I hope you will follow and interact. Some links in the Alt-text. Sorry I didn't think to do this post back when I created the channel 🧪

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Dr. Kenna Harmony Rubin @kennarubin.bsky.social · 2d

Cool stuff. Another characteristic of Nakapuu lavas, which are also some of the youngest of the koolau shield, is that it has among the highest SiO2 of any hawaiian tholeiites. We used to use a lava from over by the lighthouse as an internal standard in the lab when I was working at UH.

Dr. Kenna Harmony Rubin @kennarubin.bsky.social · 4d

Those quick flashes are stobe lights for digital stills. We never saw lightening per se. But viewed from 50m above, using Jason's former support vehicle Medea, and with all ROV lights off, we could see bright flashes from the sea bed... Probably hot gas discharges.

Dr. Kenna Harmony Rubin @kennarubin.bsky.social · 4d

In this time of US federal gov't shutdown, let's remember that public funding (NSF, NOAA, ONR) made that view possible. Fieldwork is often unpredictable, humbling, exhilarating and unforgettable.. and necessary in so many science disciplines. (3/3) 🧪🌊🌋

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Dr. Kenna Harmony Rubin @kennarubin.bsky.social · 4d

In 2009 we watched molten flowing lava, explosive flashes, and a car-sized rock tumble past the camera at #WestMata submarine volcano, on a live feed from WHOI’s ROV Jason (~1,200 m below). This was a major scientific first. (2/3) 🧪🌊🌋

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Dr. Kenna Harmony Rubin @kennarubin.bsky.social · 4d

🧪🌊🌋 Many scientists have a single field moment that changes how they see their work. Mine is in this video clip. What’s yours?

Video source is in the clip - see more below (1/3)

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Dr. Kenna Harmony Rubin @kennarubin.bsky.social · 10d

It a real experience when you see, feel, smell, and hear lava flowing. I hope you get it soon.

Dr. Kenna Harmony Rubin @kennarubin.bsky.social · 11d

🧪🌋 What does one of the Kilauea #Volcano active vents look like between dramatic high fountaining eruption episodes happening roughly weekly in 2025? At night, you can see the conduit is a fuming, glowing-orange hole in the ground with magma 100s of m beneath the surface, waiting to repressurize.

Zoomed in view visable ar 3:37 am hst on 27 Sept 2025 (date and time stamps are in the upper left corner of the image) on the USGS V1cam Pan and Tilt camera, live at Kīlauea volcano, Hawaii (west Halemaʻumaʻu crater) | U.S. Geological Survey https://share.google/lvjOmXsEQOsplvAUX

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Dr. Kenna Harmony Rubin @kennarubin.bsky.social · 11d

I sorta feel the same about my first intro. I'd worked almost exclusively at basalt rift-zone and hotspot volcanoes when we detected signs of a submarine eruption in 2008. Part of the pitch to NSF to fund our 2009 response was that boninites could be there, so I studied up, and it became a real gift

Dr. Kenna Harmony Rubin @kennarubin.bsky.social · 11d

West Mata 🌋 shots 4 #FieldPhotoFriday, described in ALT text. AI calls me an “Oceanographer 🌊 passionate about volcanoes, deep-sea science 🧪, community engagement & inclusivity,” then asks: “Are volcanoes just angry mountains? Is the government hiding underwater volcanic alien civilizations?” Hmm 😜!

Annotated views from my research on submarine volcanic eruption and eruption products at West Mata volcano, Tonga, showing a few of the many styles of activity we see at this small yet very active volcano, and a current image of me :)
Sources for all images: Kenna Harmony Rubin

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Dr. Kenna Harmony Rubin @kennarubin.bsky.social · 13d

Me too! But don't give up hope. An event, or tours, may still happen. We have had things on and off the schedule because a lot is in flux at GSO and URI. New will spead fast if there will be something.

Dr. Kenna Harmony Rubin @kennarubin.bsky.social · 14d

🧪 Spiritual #sunrise at Puʻu Moaʻulanui heiau in 2018, on Kahoʻolawe’s summit, looking toward Haleakalā #volcano. I joined a small Univ. of Hawaiʻi team exploring ways to enable immersive student #sustainability training through the restoration of these sacred lands. #HandsOnLearning #Fieldwork

View to sunrise at Haleakalā (literally the “House of the Sun.”). Maui, from Puʻu Moaʻulanui heiau (temple) on the wind-swept summit of Kahoʻolawe. Captured during a 2018 visit with University of Hawaiʻi professors brainstorming student sustainability training by restoring sacred lands after more than a century of misuse. Photo (c) 2018 Kenna Harmony Rubin Photography

Close up view of Kahoʻolawe's summit Puʻu Moaʻulanui heiau (a Hawaiian altar) at sunrise, captured on a magical morning (after a not so comfortable jeep ride) during a 2018 visit with University of Hawaiʻi professors brainstorming student sustainability training by restoring sacred lands after more than a century of misuse. Photo (c) 2018 Kenna Harmony Rubin Photography

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Dr. Kenna Harmony Rubin @kennarubin.bsky.social · 17d

🧪🌊 R/V Endeavor, so central to the @urigso.bsky.social mission, returned home one last time, closing out 49 remarkable years of seagoing research with well-earned cheers for an amazing ship and crew. Is the ship's retirement a hint of broader things to come?

A packed pier as seen from Mosby center at R/V Endeavor's last homecoming on 20 Sept. 2025. Photo by @kennarubin.bsky.social

R/V Endeavor executes its last approach to its mooring at the GSO pier on 20 Sept. 2025. Photo by @kennarubin.bsky.social

A packed pier with onlookers, mostly from the local community, at R/V Endeavor's last homecoming on 20 Sept. 2025. Photo by @kennarubin.bsky.social

R/V Endeavor tied up at the dock amid much fanfare during its last homecoming on 20 Sept. 2025. Photo by @kennarubin.bsky.social

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Dr. Kenna Harmony Rubin @kennarubin.bsky.social · 19d

🧪🌋⚒️A day later and #Kilauea #Volcano eruption Episode 33 in Halema'uma'u is really going strong now. Watch the high fire-fountaining feeding surface follow live, at one of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory webcams, courtesy of #USGS. This screen shot is from V2 cam: www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiyt...

High fountains as seen live on USGS's V2 pan and tilt camera now. source: frame grab from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiyttmA7YkA

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Dr. Kenna Harmony Rubin @kennarubin.bsky.social · 19d

enjoy.... well, enjoy everything but the VOG I suppose.

Dr. Kenna Harmony Rubin @kennarubin.bsky.social · 20d

🧪🌋⚒️Hawai‘i’s Pele is at it again! #Kilauea #Volcano Episode 33 began on Sep 17 & overnight brought low fountaining & lava overtopping the vent. Live frame grabs from USGS webcams 3 AM HST 18 Sep 25. Ongoing eruption started Dec 2024 & has periodic day-long pulses. Cam locations & link in ALT text.

Low fountains and lava overflow, as seen live on USGS's V1 camera (east Halemaʻumaʻu crater) now. source: https://www.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/summit-webcams live feed

Tephra spatter, s seen live on USGS's V3 camera (south Halemaʻumaʻu crater) now. source: https://www.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/summit-webcams live feed

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Dr. Kenna Harmony Rubin @kennarubin.bsky.social · 20d

Beautiful. Thanks!

Dr. Kenna Harmony Rubin @kennarubin.bsky.social · 21d

uh... one small typo in my original post.. images are arranged by order of "decreasing: cooling rate.

Dr. Kenna Harmony Rubin @kennarubin.bsky.social · 21d

Class today was about submarine lava‐flow morphology. wearing my first true autumn outfit of the season. These flows can be even more variable than those on land, thanks to factors like depth, viscosity, effusion rate, & seafloor slope (details in caption). Images: dx.doi.org/10.5670/ocea... 🧪🌋🌊⚒️

Four examples of typical submarine lava-flow morphologies, arranged clockwise by decreasing cooling rate, with me in the center showing off my new shoes today. The rate and geometry of cooling reflects things like how fast the lava is effusing from the vent, how fast it is moving across the sea bed (e.g., from slope variations), and the viscosity of the magma. All images show very young submarine lava flows, from my collaborative research with other submarine volcanologists. Most images are from: http://dx.doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2012.12
Upper left: Turbulently emplaced, curtain-folded sheet flows
Upper right: Collapsed lobate lava with solidified interior lava drips
Lower right: Newly erupted pillow lavas abutting older, sediment-coated pillow lava
Lower left: Young pillow lavas forming on a steep slope

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Dr. Kenna Harmony Rubin @kennarubin.bsky.social · Sep 2

🧪🌊 Last week's joyous pre-semester selfies + some science 😉

40 yrs of university teaching, leadership & peer-reviewed research in topics like volcanology, deep-sea, coral reef, & environmental chemistry, taught me that girly scientists can be trusted academicians 🏳️‍⚧️, even in a world of so much hate.

A fun post with some of Kenna Rubin's recent outfits and research:
A. on the sides: 2 pictures of the girl scientist from 28 Aug & 29 Aug 2025, trying to decide if it is still summer, or early autumn in New England.
B. In the center (1) Tall, thin, spindly black smoker chimneys emit unusual fluids at Earth’s deepest known hydrothermal vent field, 5000m below sea level (2) Alvin samples a hydrothermal vent site 2500m deep on the East Pacific Rise; (3) Hawaii's Kilauea volcano erupting at night, as seen from the USGS V2cam, at 5:29 AM HST 22 April 2025; (4) ROV Subastian sampling arm taking specimen of a large Ice Age coral head at 150m depth in Hawaii. on Schmidt Ocean Institute #SeaLevelSecrets Expedition. All full image captions and sources are available in other posts this past year on this feed. (1)&(2) ©Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

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Dr. Kenna Harmony Rubin @kennarubin.bsky.social · Aug 30

Beautiful! I mostly focus on current eruptions, but also to inform how we interpret deposits and landscapes from the past, volcanic ecosystems development, sea water chemistry.. all that fun stuff.

Seeing an eruption while it's happening, even on land, uniquely illuminates the rock record.

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Dr. Kenna Harmony Rubin @kennarubin.bsky.social · Aug 30

What's more spectacular than actual (not ai) images of active, deep, submarine #volcanic #eruptions ? Happy to announce I'm teaching the inaugural iteration of Submarine Volcanoes this semester at URI, a course I taught many times at Univ. of Hawaii. I love sharing and talking about this content 🧪🌊🌋

Submarine volcanic eruption sampler plate from my and others research, opn access at Rubin, K.H., S.A. Soule, W.W. Chadwick Jr., D.J. Fornari, D.A. Clague, R.W. Embley,
E.T. Baker, M.R. Perfit, D.W. Caress, and R.P. Dziak. 2012. Volcanic eruptions in the deep sea.
Oceanography 25(1):142–157, http://dx.doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2012.12.

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Dr. Kenna Harmony Rubin @kennarubin.bsky.social · Aug 26

Any experience with Beehiiv, Ghost or Medium?

Dr. Kenna Harmony Rubin @kennarubin.bsky.social · Aug 26

Welk, they can't stop a person redirecting followers to a new platform if it came to that. I am most interested in reach, not monetization.

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Dr. Kenna Harmony Rubin @kennarubin.bsky.social · Aug 26

I will research more. But substack has diverse viewpoints and good exposure. Unfortunately, nearly every major platform in the US now "platforms" fascists. It's the world we live in.

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Dr. Kenna Harmony Rubin @kennarubin.bsky.social · Aug 26

I’m launching a Substack on solutions to the changing HigherEd landscape & decline of American universities. Looking to do anon. topical interviews, esp. around leadership & admin failures/successes, budget corporatization, mission creep, content politization, etc. DM me 2 🗣 #AcademicSky #EduSky 🧪

A foggy day obscures the view of a university building as a metaphor for the lost focus of many American universities. Photo (c) Kenna H. Rubin, 2025

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