~ NASA and the lava flow ~

Standing on the coastal flats lava tube and looking northwest up the fuming tube system on the Pulama Pali (click on it for a larger size)

Robert Simmon from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) writes articles on their website called Earth Observatory. Last week Robert contacted me for permission to use one of my lava bench collapse photos for this blog article he was writing and in the email he linked me to another piece he had just written that shows the dramatic changes to the physical landscape of the Pulama Pali over the years as seen by aerial images and with a descriptive caption. It really shows the transformation of the landscape we look at from the Kalapana Gardens flows. Robert’s article can be viewed here

The Kilauea magma pressure monitors continue recording this basic flat-lining as shown on the graph below. I guess this could be interpreted as ‘stable’, if one can assign such a thing to the ongoing eruption of a volcano.

Stable would be the word to describe the surface activity of the molten lava that continues reaching the earths surface here on the Big Island: USGS/HVO report on their update page the Kilauea crater pit vent continues displaying high lava stands; meaning the broiling lava lake about 500-feet down inside the massive crater floor hole rises up as much as a hundred feet for minutes or hours then returns to its previous level. Pu’u O`o crater has a few hot spots glowing on its floor. Lava is still flowing underground from that area through nearly eight-miles of self-created rock conduits and pouring into the ocean off a new delta located only a half-mile southwest of Kalapana Gardens. Apparently there are still random sightings of minor surface lava flows at the base of the pali and along the coastal flats.

For information on public lava viewing options you could read the bottom of this blog post here

Next Kilauea lava flow blog update will be in a couple of days unless new activity starts up-- Aloha,
Leigh