Coastal lava action continues

Conditions are about the same as yesterday’s posting:
Coastal viewing prospects:
Highway 130 at Kalapana Gardens area - park and walk one mile to end of newly lava covered (May 5th) road. Along the walk out and back the steam plume from the distant ocean entry lava can be seen and after dark it glows orange-red; long lines of degassing lava fumes coming down the hillsides by day – red orbs lined-up by night; at roads end the still-warm lava on the road can be felt and is still radiating hotter close by; occasional yellow flare-ups witnessed in the distance as lava torches trees and vegetation further into the active flow field. Offered at the parking area only: security personnel, vendors, water and port-o-potties available; at roads end there are barricades and security personnel.



Active pahoehoe breakouts continue along with swelling of the hot flow fields at many locations of the April-May surface flow. The coastal entry points are still emptying a lot of lava into the sea as new deltas area being rapidly built. The entire length of the ocean entry and all land adjacent to it inland is quickly becoming unstable and should be kept well aware of from now on:
HAZARD ALERT: The lava delta and adjacent areas both inland and out to sea are some of the most hazardous areas on the flow field. Frequent delta/bench collapses give little warning, can produce hot rock falls out to 400 m (quarter mile) inland and in the adjacent ocean, and can produce large local waves and scaulding water. The steam plume produced by lava entering the ocean contains fine lava fragments and an assortment of acid droplets that can be harmful to your health. The rapidly changing conditions near the ocean entry have been responsible for many injuries and a few deaths.

USGS lava flow map gives a good indication of the active lava zones:

Below is the timeline links to my posts for this April-May flow:
You can watch the May 5th feature Hawaii-News-Now story of the lava coming onto the end of highway 130 by clicking this link here

Click on this link for a complete blog summary of this entire April, 2010 surface flow of lava; from mountain to sea: (scroll to the bottom and read each post running up for a chronological timeline)

And my most recent days postings for May, 2010

I will keep this as my main posting update layout in the coming days, adding new headings and images as lava events warrant.