Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Deflation returns ~ Surface flows continue

As the graph above reveals, deflation returned within the magma chambers beneath Kilauea crater and Pu`u O`o at 5:30 PM yesterday.

The USGS/HVO map of recent earthquakes on the Big Island continues recording lots of small tremors; some possibly related to the onset of magma deflation:

For an in-depth report for the volcano you can read through today’s USGS/HVO report here. They talk about rock falls within the Halema’uma’u crater pit vent and related earthquakes, as well as their take on the eruptive zones and sulfur dioxide emission rates, etc.

I was unavailable for any first-hand accounts last night, or for posting this blog at my usual 10 to 11:00 AM time this morning. In fact I may be less & less available to write this blog in the days and weeks ahead because I am starting on some other projects that will use up a lot of energy and time. One of those projects is a large photo assignment I have given myself… But I will try to keep posting a little bit of lava activity and other news as often as possible, or at least provide outside links for some information as I did above.

I did get one report from a friend who is a vendor at the county viewing area and he said the lava glow coming down the pali had diminished somewhat from the night before. Added to his report and the current deflationary stage we are now into, we could see an even further reduction in visible lava-glow activity at night in the days ahead.

The Halema’uma’u has still been displaying some variable pit vent glow after dark, as seen from the Jaggar Museum overlook lanai.

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