( 2009) have evaluated historical sources, including English, Italian, and Russian literature, and compiled the geographic distribution of ice caves in Europe and Asia. In a comprehensive literature survey, Turri et al. Patches of buried permafrost were once documented near the summit of the other tall volcano on the island, Mauna Kea ( Woodcock et al., 1970 Woodcock, 1974). Many of the high altitude lava tubes on Mauna Loa have icy floors during winter months or seasonal icicles (Jack Lockwood, personal communication), but perennial ice has rarely ever been reported in Hawaii ( Pflitsch et al., 2012). At the Mauna Loa Observatory (3397 m), which is close to our study site, the average annual mean and diurnal max/min are +7, +11, and +4 ☌, respectively ( Da Silva, 2012). Mean annual temperatures are well above freezing, even on the summit ( Da Silva, 2006). Heavy storms occasionally bring snow to the tallest summits of Hawaii, but at elevations below 3350 m any snow vanishes quickly ( Blumenstock and Price, 1994). At high elevations, the climate is alpine in character and snowfall and freezing temperature are possible any time of the year. The Hawaiian chain, the most isolated islands on earth with the highest summits in the North Pacific, is located in the northern tropics, and air temperatures inside lava tubes near sea level are well above 20 ☌. on the Island of Hawaii, has a high density of lava tubes. The Mauna Loa shield volcano (19°N, 156°W), one of two summits over 4000 m a.s.l. Recently, many cave ice bodies worldwide have experienced significant mass loss ( Kern and Perşoiu, 2013). Besides the visible biomass (e.g., leaf, pollen) inside the ice, the geochemistry and the water isotopes provide information about precipitation, meltwater, and karst water composition for each year that formed ice in the cave ( Kern et al., 2010, 2011). It is well known from the analysis of ice cores and pollen ( Feurdean et al., 2011), that the ice in some caves is several thousand years old, has outlasted several climate optima, and is not a remnant of the Little Ice Age ( Silvestru, 1999). Cave ice can contain well-conserved air and sediments with plant and animal matter, so it holds information on past environmental conditions. Less impressive than the huge polar caps and glaciers and less visible than the vast ice masses above ground, the more concealed subsurface ice can be an archive for past climate conditions.
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