~ The show goes on ~

CURRENT MOON

moon phase info

Tonight: Hunters Full Moon in the northern hemisphere, and Spring Full Moon in the southern hemisphere.

Ocean entry just south of some Kalapana Gardens homes by only a quarter mile. Photos above and below taken two nights ago from the Hawaii County lava viewing access road. Below is a photo I snapped looking out west across the fuming coastal flats towards the active lava tube system that has been busting out with molten lava breaks for a couple months now; off & on; the red glows are more of those breakouts.

Pele’s pulse rhythm is appearing again on the USGS deformation monitors. I find this regular pulsing of a massive magma reservoir quite interesting; like we are at times getting to hear, or watch, our earth’s heartbeat.

Kilauea eruption viewing update:
Both day and night views of our two drive-in volcanoes continue to put on a continuous display of eruptive activity that draws thousands of visitors from around the world every week.

The Halema’uma’u crater has been degassing sulfur dioxide fumes by day and glowing strongly at times after dark from lava deep within the craters pit vent. Great views of this impressive crater are from the Jaggar Museum balcony within the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, depending on the weather; and the park is open to the public 24 hours a day with a nominal entrance fee by day.

Meanwhile, down along the Big Island’s coastline, many people are still making the trek out to the end of highway 130 and on to the Kalapana access road and seeing sights like those in my photographs above. For update information on the viewing area, phone the county lava-hotline at 961-8093, or after 2:00 PM: 430-1966 or 217-2215. Changing wind directions can affect the costal viewing, phone before heading out there.

USGS images page has this nice aerial and caption below, which, even though it was taken 9-weeks ago, gives a good overview of mountain to sea eruption zone activity: USGS caption: “A wide shot of the coastal plain showing the Puhi-o-Kalaikini ocean entry in the foreground, producing a medium size steam plume. Fuming areas on the hillside mark the trace of the current lava tube, which confines the lava until it ultimately reaches the ocean. The road that abruptly ends is Highway 130, which currently hosts the County viewing area.” Click the images for larger view size.

Below, the view from the County viewing area this week: