Monday, August 2, 2010

~ Threatened homes still stand - deflation and ocean entrys helped ~

I am writing from Kalapana Gardens, from a friend's home, these homes above are a part of his view after sunset last night.

Below: Ocean entry coastline at 5:30 AMI hiked around the entire coastal flats lava plain, including the two ocean entry’s. The western most entry runs a great distance along the coast and continues spreading.

Above: most active ocean entry area with river breakouts like this in places.

The most western coastal ocean entry; the new benches are getting quite large in some sections. In this image you can see where recent lava started dripping over the pali then stopped - leaving rock-drips ;)

For those that know the old Fisherman's Road that intersected old 137 from the side of 130, well that road is still intact for about 300-feet on the makai end. The ocean entry lava has spread down the coast to the blowhole right next to the end of fisherman’s road.

And speaking of fisherman-- This guy below found one very hot fishing spot!!

... And speaking of 130 & 137, there is still pavement there at what was the turn but molten lava is breaking out across that and will consume it by days end.

I went by the three houses that I had circled in my previous post as being 'imminently threatened' by advancing lava; and at that time they truly were. But Pele gave them a break and has not advanced much further; good thing too, two of the homes had molten lava within 100-feet of them. The lava in front of their homes is still very hot and looked to be still inflating a little.

And speaking of inflating, the Kilauea deformation monitors have registered strong inflation since 10:00 AM yesterday, but that appears to be leveling off right now... Continued inflation could possibly re-energize the flow-front near the Kalapana Gardens homes. The ocean entry lava flows are now relieving the coastal flats of some of the insulated and stored lava, further reducing the advance near the community.

2 comments:

  1. I appreciate the timely updates. If I haven't mentioned it before, I've added you to the Geotripper.blogspot.com blogroll. I'll be on the Big Island in two weeks, hope things will have calmed down enough to pay a visit to your booth in Kalapana!

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  2. Amazing photos, Leigh! My day is not complete without your daily update. Having walked that coast line gives me added appreciation. Mahalo.

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