~ Bench collapse movie clips for non-believers ~ No significant lava flow changes ~

Yesterday I re-posted a warning about the serious dangers with being close to new lava deltas, also termed lava benches. These benches are the rapidly formed lava zones that are solidifying and extending beyond land already in place: molten lava filling in along a coastline and building out into the ocean. The current Kalapana lava bench is nearly 20-acres in size. To make the dangers as clear as I can, I suggest watching this USGS time-lapse set of photos made into a QuickTime movie of a 32-acre lava bench actually collapsing… This will be a wake up call for those that ignore warnings about these events; and these events can happen over hours or seconds… (I find these QuickTime clips slow to load {very slow at the moment: one-four minutes some say} but this one is well worth the wait): East Lae`apuki Lava Delta Collapse (8.5 MB) The original clip and caption can be opened Here

Lava flow update:
No significant changes since yesterday anywhere within the eruptive zones that I am aware of. Magma pressures are bouncing up and down a bit but along normal parameters.

The small lava outbreaks near the base of the pali, in line with the lava tube system, are still active. The one remaining ocean entry south of Kalapana Gardens subdivision continues but is still much weaker than during the previous week. After dark the steam from the entry plume glows orange to red as seen from anywhere within a couple miles of that area. Daytime lava tube degassing fumes are visible from the Hawaii County lava viewing access road.

Nice day to head for the beach ;)