Kilauea, on Hawaii’s Big Island, is the world’s most active volcano.  Its latest eruption began in 1983 and it hasn’t stopped since.  Since that time it has created 544 acres of new land and has consumed 200 homes. But as we watch nature’s own fireworks display and witness the devastation wrought by flowing lava, we’ve also been able to observe a process that’s central to life on these islands.  The most spectacular moment of creation is when lava pours into the ocean creating new land, and it is here that filmmaker Paul Atkins finds himself getting a shot few have ever filmed — the cataclysmic meeting of 2,000-degree lava and 75-degree ocean water — a sight to behold. Buy the DVD. This film premiered March 29, 2008.

Ejecting fire, molten rock, giant boulders and poisonous gases, the volcano can be a hazard for researchers, homeowners, plants and animals, but it doesn’t just leave destruction in its wake. Twists and turns in the lava’s flow leave some patches of original ecosystems, called kipukas, undisturbed. These oases of life provide a haven to many rare creatures — including the Hawaiian state bird, the Nene — but remain in constant danger from the volcano and from invasive species. Below the surface, inactive lava tubes provide homes for many unique species of darkness-loving creatures called troglobites.

At the end of its journey, the lava meets the ocean. Braving an extremely hot sea, filmmakers record the birth of new land and the incredible phenomenon of pillow lava – a bizarre and truly magical sight to behold.

Violent and beautiful, destructive and creative, Kilauea: Mountain of Fire explores the incredible power of the volcano and the challenges of life in its shadow.

Kilauea: Mountain of Fire premieres Sunday, March 29 on PBS.

Humpbacks travel between Hawaii and Alaska every year, guided by their internal compass. The krill-rich waters of Alaska’s Alexander Archipelago are the whales’ summer feeding grounds, an environment very different from the calving grounds they have left behind in Hawaii. Here, more than the water temperature changes, the behavior of the whales changes, as well. While fiercely competitive in the breeding season in Hawaii, fighting for mates and protecting young, the opposite is true in Alaska. Whales cooperate, working in teams to gather food in the most efficient way possible. When the summer ends and the food is gone, mother and baby will head back to Hawaii again.

The young humpback calf has only a year to learn the subtleties of whale society before she is left by her mother to continue her education on her own, learning from observation and experience. It’s an incredible journey between two strikingly different environments that reveals the true complexity of the fellowship of the whales.

NATURE’s Fellowship of the Whales premieres Sunday, November 15 at 8pm (check local listings).

Photo © 2008 (Peggy Stap / Hawaii Whale Research Foundation) under NMFS Research Permit No. 587-1767-01

The Hawaiian chain of islands, made up of six main islands plus two smaller ones, stretches for more than 1,500 miles through the heart of the Pacific Ocean. It is a place of idyllic beauty. But it is also a land of volcanic fury, raging mountaintop blizzards, dangerous rockslides, monster waves, and even tsunamis. Buy the DVD. This film premiered on January 9, 2005.

The Hawaiian chain of islands, made up of six main islands plus two smaller ones, stretches for more than 1,500 miles through the heart of the Pacific Ocean. It is a place of idyllic beauty. But it is also a land of volcanic fury, raging mountaintop blizzards, dangerous rockslides, monster waves, and even tsunamis.

Kilauea, on the Big Island of Hawaii, provides the most dramatic display of volcanic power. The volcano’s newest cone, Pu`u `O`o regularly spews molten rock and its steady flow of lava in the past two decades has added more than 500 acres to the island.

High above the sea at nearly 14,000 feet is Mauna Kea, which rises above 40 percent of the Earth’s atmosphere, making for ideal stargazing. The summit of Mauna Kea is usually barren and dry, but in the winter the crest experiences blizzards with winds that whip up to 70 miles an hour.

When a blizzard rages on Mauna Kea, chances are good that down at sea level, it’s pouring. Torrential storms are common and can be very destructive. On Oahu, one community found itself in peril after tons of rock rolled down from the hills above. A veil of steel mesh was used to contain the hillside. It will keep the rocks in check for now, but erosion is an inevitable part of the natural order.

On the north shore of Maui waves that originate as far away as Siberia sometimes rise to as much as 70 feet as they break here, earning both the waves and the beach the nickname “Jaws.” Monster waves like these are seen rarely, but lifeguards are vigilant in their efforts to spot them because they can swallow a person in an instant. Still, surfers come from all over the world for a single ride on these shores that may last less than half a minute.

Far deadlier than the waves at Jaws are tsunamis. These fast-moving walls of water are triggered by earthquakes or landslides and have killed more people in Hawaii than any other natural disasters.

NATURE’s Violent Hawaii reveals a tropical paradise shaped by the most brutal forces of the natural world.

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