Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Lava activity has slowed but is stable; from craters to coast

Above: Setting full moon looks like a big star with the fisheye lens I used for this pre-dawn photo of the coastal plains flow front early this morning.
I always like to these pahoehoe roping & banding breakouts. ~~~
That lens does exaggerate the flow front activity though; breakouts were small and sparse across a widespread area below the Pulama Pali and out towards the ocean a mile or so. The eastern edge is close to three miles from Kalapana Gardens. This front remains about a mile from the sea and is not advancing much at all these days; especially since the recent drop in magma pressures in Kilauea Volcano’s chambers.
You can see the ups & downs and stabilizing of these magma pressures on the USGS/HVO Deformation (magma deflation- inflation) graph
USGS/HVO has been reporting the lava level inside the summit crater dropped to about 175 feet below the Halema`uma`u crater floor but rose back to about 100 feet during these deflation-inflation periods. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ And finally:
We had a treat last night as the full moon rose over Kalapana Gardens: Rain showers moved through and when the bright rising moon shone on them we got to witness a double rainbow. Or ‘night-bow’ as locals sometimes say.
~~~ Click on any image to open a new view window and larger sizes ~~~

5 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. Que buenas capturas...!!!
    Te saluda Rocket Power

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  3. We would like to hike out right next to the lava. We did this about 10 years ago from the national Park side.

    Can you do it from the kalapana viewing area?

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  4. Hello, Im a digital media student and would like to ask permission to use one of your lava pictures for a portfolio project. Is this possible?

    Sincerely
    Alan Sparks

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for asking about use of one of my lava images Alan. Would you please email me about this and provide a few more details about how this portfolio project works and where the image would be displayed.
      EMAIL: leigh.hi1@hawaiiantel.net

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