HAWAIIAN LAVA DAILY

Lava activity confined to Pu’u O`o and Halema’uma’u craters - and - lava movie update

2012-01-27T12:53:00.004-10:00

The pink is where it was just weeks ago, the red where the surface breakouts are today.

Surface flows of lava that were flowing down the Pulama Pali (again, the pinkish zones in the flow field map above), and across the coastal plains right into the ocean ended on the last day I was out there, and reported on in my New Years Eve posting.

According to USGS Hawaii Volcanoes Observatory (HVO) updates, there some surface flows 2 miles southwest of Pu`u O`o, and a new shield mound swelling with stored lava, as well as pooling inside the crater. I suspect that one day these shields will rupture and re-introduce lava down the Pulama Pali below.

Inside the Halema’uma’u the broiling lake of lava has risen to within 250-feet, or 80-meters, of the main crater floor rim, and has been exhibiting some more violent activity. One such event was documented last week and now posted on HVO’s images and worth a watch. (Their video is posted below the January 25th heading.)

Toxic sulphur dioxide fume levels have been elevated to as much as 1500 metric tons per day and those volcanic fumes, or vog as it is known as here, have been more often spreading down across the Hawaiian Island chain do to southerly wind patterns lately. In fact it is voggy where I am at now, on Cape Kumukahi; ironically, the lighthouse at the cape is where the air quality for all of America is sampled and considered the base scale for the purest air of all - well not today!

My home shook firmly but briefly earlier in the week from a 4.7 earthquake that was located midway between the Big Islands south shoreline, west of the recent surface flow, and Pu`u O`o. That event was felt far and wide on the island and was followed by something like 57 small aftershocks, the largest being around 3.0 on the magnitude scale. (Adding a quake map image in a bit)

Take a look at the difference a year has made to the extensive lava flow fields from crater to sea, as shown on these HVO maps: Here is the area one year ago-- the January 13th 2011 flow map:
January 26th 2012 flow map I posed at top: Use the Royal Gardens and Kalapana Gardens subdivisions as reference points.

The new lava movie project:

My absence of recent posts has been from both a lack of accessible lava and my complete dedication to my new lava movie.
I am very excited about this video production -- it has finally taken form and I have a pretty tight draft as of now. This movie is really powerful, fast paced and emotionally moving-- It is very near to exactly one hour in length (it would make an excellent TV special on programs like the Discovery Channel and I will be submitting it to TV outlets eventually). Film festivals for sure too.

Where the project goes from here:
I still have some very serious final editing to do, six music tracks to buy license to, and a host of other post-production hurtles to deal with, right up to Full High Definition versions for both screen and top quality DVD’s.

These challenges are all doable but what is stopping me now is funding; I simply can not move forward without help; this movie will stop as a draft on my big hard drives without sponsorship.

*This is where you can join in and become an active part of this lava production!*

--- Anyone that contributes will have the choice to be listed in the credits of the final movie— Donations over various amounts, listed down on the right of the page here, will get other special rewards like you being listed as executive producers or sponsors, receiving signed lava photos and DVD’s, get personal invites to the opening screenings, which I will attend. (The first showing will likely start at our local Palace Theatre here on the Big Island, and then to the US west coast venues).

You wouldn’t be on my site here if you also weren’t also keen on eruptive lava action and the amazing things it does while it is transforming an entire landscape and even dislocating entire communities.
Since the beginning of this blog 2 ½ years ago I have been offering Hawaiian Lava Daily to simply share with you what I am passionate about and blessed to be able do: hike, take lava eruption photos & videos, then post these images and write about it. My site has always been free of advertising because I did not want my offering to be about money, as most internet sites are; I just wanted to share these passions.

If I could, I would certainly complete this film on my own, but I can’t. So if you have enjoyed my postings, lava photos and videos, you can now share in both my passion for lava and in helping to get this super-cool lava movie out in to the world for all to enjoy. There are a few different ways you can donate; I explain them within my plea that is all down along the right of this page.

And mahalo nui loa (a big thank you) to those of you that have already chipped in!! This movie will get done yet! My goal is to have the hurdles past us and to be showing the movie and sending out DVD’s by this summer.

Pulama Pali lava flow today ~and~ 2011 lava flow, year in review

2011-12-31T22:42:00.010-10:00

Above: Pulama Pali lava breakout and sky taken late last night with a 15mm fisheye lens (click on it for large size)

I hiked to Royal Gardens subdivision, or the tattered remains of it, and talked with Jack Thompson. Above is his beautiful hand-built home, taken from the same spot as the view looking down his road remnant that leads to the active lava flow 350-feet away, and an ever present tour helicopter over the fuming lava.
And here, below, is what we can see of Jack's house from the other side of the hot lava flow at sunset last night. The lava is inside tubes and heading down to the sea. Jack's home is hard to see, but it is in the distance nearly hidden in the trees on the left, and is the same location I filmed that flow at its peak (that blog post here)

This December lava flow has just slowed down after covering miles of the coastal plains and pouring into the ocean, but late last night I witnessed an new large breakout of a`a lava on the top section of Royal Gardens about 2000 feet above Jack's house. Below is a photo of the Pulama Pali I took today with my notes indicating significant places and dates: Click on any image to open them all in larger viewer window.

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LAVA YEAR IN REVIEW, 2011:
January: Some of JANUARY 2011 highlights You can scroll down them all at once, but not all of January will show. We also lost a home to lava on the 18th.(house frame in upper left and circled in notes on aerial below:

February 2011provided some wonderful photo opportunities to me with some active surface flows: FEBRUARY postings

MARCH 2011 : On March 5th That day was the last coastal plains lava flow until the recent December Royal Gardens flow currently happening. That same day we had a major floor collapse within the Pu`u O`o Crater. Lack of acceable lava caused my blog postings to become very slim in the months following, but there were some reports:
April 2011
In June the action was inside the Pu`u O`o Crater as it also was in July & August. On August 4th, the crater floor collapsed again, spilling out volumes of molten lava fissures from its flanks.
This continued slowly expanding through SEPTEMBER, OCTOBER, NOVEMBER
And leading, finally, to the spectacular arrival of molten lava rivers down the Pulama Pali December 4th. spilling across the coastal flats at a rapid speed, and pouring into the ocean. All recorded on my five DECEMBER posts HERE

Thanks for dropping by my blog, it has been fun to share this ongoing Kilauea Volcano eruption with you,
All the best in 2012,
Aloha,
Leigh
-Oh, and this is my self portrait taken today, December 31st, 2011-- The Earth according to Leigh ;)

Lava continues dropping off cliffs into the sea in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

2011-12-18T18:35:00.008-10:00

Dawn at the ocean entry December 17, 2011

The volume of surface lava being sent from fissures at Pu`u O`o Crater through insulating tube systems seven miles south to the ocean changes daily. Yesterday I went by boat to witness this. Another long time lava enthusiast, Shane Turpin took me out on his infamous Lavakai charter boat (his link below) in the predawn light. On this page I will share a few of the images I took as well as a short 1-minute 45-second video of the scene.

VIDEO: shooting movies from a boat without any stabilization can tend to roll around a bit … so I kept it short so you won't get seasick :)

For more information about Captain Shane Turpin and his Big Island boat charter options, unique history and photos, check out his online site See Lava

Here are some more of the photos I took: [Click on any photo to open them all as a set of larger images]

You can see more images taken on this day, and last week, as a slideshow, or any other viewing option you desire, here on my new: Royal Gardens flow flow 2011-2012 online gallery.

My last two posts will show where this lava was last week: Coastal plains lava And the massive lava rivers running through Royal Gardens on the hillsides of the Pulama Pali.

Royal Gardens lava flow reaches the ocean 2-miles south

2011-12-11T02:03:00.010-10:00

Image- Royal Gardens lava fires in the distance as molten lava reaches the shoreline.

At 6:15 in the afternoon of December 9th, lava from Pu`u O`o craters ongoing eruption began flowing into the ocean about two miles south of the old Royal Gardens subdivision. This is our first ocean entry since last February (2011), and also this time it is within the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park - although very inaccessible to the public.

I spent an afternoon out there and snapped these pictures (above and more further down) and also took some video of the pahoehoe doing all it's neat surface flow tricks. Here is a 2 1/2 minute collection of those clips:VIDEO

I was tempted to stay and watch it pour into the sea, but chose to leave and hike back with the last daylight. Two other photographers, Philip and Michael, stayed behind and got some great photos & vids too. It was Phil that later notified me of the official ocean entry time. You can view his great video of when the lava first dripped off the cliffs into the sea (we had been trying to guess) - Here is Philip Ong's video

He also had sneakily snapped a shot of me all splayed out on the lava taking videos, as seen below: Yeah-- I dress pretty covered up for getting close to a volcano goddess at work…
But I also snuck a shot of Philip guessing how long the lava would take to reach the sea...

I love all the endlessly crazy shapes this stuff can create! - Pele's handiwork as they say around here.>

In the days ahead we will find out if this flow will establish itself thru insulating tube systems, or be severed of lava by a plumbing system collapse, or possibly stop flowing due to a large, or sustained drop in magma pressures beneath Kilauea Volcano and the Pu`u O`o crater a little over seven miles uphill to the north. (You can always follow their daily updates here)

A few hardy souls made it to the leading edge of the lava streams. (CLICK ON ANY IMAGE HERE TO OPEN THEM ALL LARGE)

Below: Royal Gardens as seen from the coastal flats -- Jack Thompson's house, the reddish square near the middle of the forest and left of the dense smoke, has survived this flow so far-- as it should be! This is also the exact location of where I filmed those wild lava rivers!

**** So this will be my last report on the new flow for awhile. I do not plan to make regular trips across many miles of old, raw & wild lava fields just to check on this newly established ocean entry. But I will report any substantial changes to it.
>>> I am also working an a serious feature lava flow movie -- The story is nearly formed-- tons of hynotizing molten lava footage, edited and ready to go! -- Hey, if any of you know of a movie producer, or someone willing to finance this movie, please email me. I am also hoping to get certain well known composer (already picked) to lay the soundtrack -- but need help to do that too. Thanks for any suggestions! ****

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Public lava viewing options:
The Kalapana Gardens Civil Defense Lava Viewing Area is still operating daily from 2PM to about 9PM at the very end of Highway 130. As of this writing: by day the distant Royal Gardens lava fumes and smoke from burning brush and trees can still be seen, and by night some red-orange lava glow is visible there too. But unless there are new breakouts on that pali, this view of the active eruption may fade from sight in the days ahead. Even the ocean entry steam plume will be too far away to be seen on most days, assuming it continues being feed by lava there.

There may also be views of the lava on the coastal plains from the lower section of the Chain of Craters Road, in the national park, some 4 1/2 miles away from the active lava.

Also, I believe there are one or two die-hard lava tour outfits still offering to take fit individuals the nearly seven-mile roundtrip lavascape hike the new ocean entry. Ask around in Kalapana

Video footage of Royal Gardens lava flow

2011-12-07T12:16:00.012-10:00

This video below is a compressed look at what I witnessed at the forest remnants of Royal Gardens subdivision, filmed over a 16-hour period there, December 4th overnight to the morning of the 5th. The helicopter you see rising out of the burning forest is carrying Jack Thompson from his isolated home at 5:30 PM Sunday.

The vid:

All of these images come alive in the video ~~
A new thrust of A`a
Click on
any image to see them all larger.

Fields of pahoehoe

A massive set of A`a lava rivers pouring down the pali, dwarfing the forest beyond

pahoehoe on the right side and A`a on the left

EDIT December 9th: I am adding these excellent USGS/HVO aerial images to give a broader persecutive to where I recorded the video and photos: Where the lava is coming from: The Pu`u O`o Crater - These first two photos were taken the day after I filmed the event, Dec. 6th, 2011:

The image below shows exactly the area where I recorded the lava flow: specifically the entire top third of this terrain:Eruptive lava has radically changed the landscape in just 24-hours.

And here is another USGS image of the area taken on Dec. 2nd as lava as just beginning to enter the forests. The dotted lines were added by HVO to indicate where the molten lava was at that point in time:

If you would like to read my account of filming this event, I have a brief story here on my Flickr site.

~~ See my previous post for some other images and info ;)

East side Royal Gardens leveled by rivers of lava – Jack Thompson airlifted out

2011-12-05T17:44:00.021-10:00

As I arrived yesterday afternoon to this last large remnant of the once expansive Royal Gardens subdivision, rivers of lava had already severed access to the kipuka itself, and to Jack Thompson’s home.

I was mostly shooting video, but below is the only still shot I grabbed of the chopper coming into to take Jack off his property and out of the lava zone at 5:30 PM yesterday - in the sky, upper left. (lava rivers are partially obscured from this angle). His house is beyond view, back in beyond the smoky forest. (According to helicopter pilots this afternoon, Jack’s home was still intact; and from my vantage point on the ground the lava was still roughly just a couple of hundreds yards east of his place.)
[Click on any image for a larger view size of all these photos]. The lava in this photo had already come through hours before my arrival, but as the images show, that was just the first wave – Once the molten lava found the very steep pali just to the left, more rivers of pahoehoe and large A`a mounds advanced aggressively into the night and today.

Large advancing mounds and thrust-fronts of moving A`a take all in its path:

At dusk last night the scene along the forest was one of fast lava rivers and devastation to the forest, lava rivers and the burning forest raged throughout the night:

This shows just how steep the pali’s (cliffs) are where all this lava was pouring off of - both the slower A`a (foreground) and super-fast pahoehoe - these rivers are much larger than appear here.:

Below: With open ocean in the distance, we look down on massive fields of A`a continuing to grow onto the coastal flats far below, as seen from the top of the pali. There are actually some people in the photo's mid-upper left side for perspective.Well it took nine months to the day for Pele to deliver surface lava back to the coastal plains, but she did so in her fiery style!!

See my previous post for more background information as to location.

I am now working on movie footage and will post a few clips on here in the next day or two.

Lava enters Royal Gardens area

2011-12-03T21:25:00.003-10:00

It has taken many weeks to reach the Pulama Pali region, but it has. Small sections of kipuka forest are slowly burning as molten surface lava enters these remnant portions of the old Royal Gardens subdivision and has proceeded within it, as shown in the USGS/HVO photo above. (click for larger size)

I have not made the hike to it yet – it’s a bit more of a trek than the event warrants-- but soon. There remains one occupied home in the mostly lava covered subdivision, that of Jack Thompson, who has miraculously escaped numerous lava flows on all sides of his beautiful home, long ago severing any road access. This flow will be his next major test. He has a couple of things on his side: history sparing it and this present flow has some old lava mounds above and adjacent to his property that may fend off the lava as it flows down hill near him. You can see Thompson’s home in the upper-center of the pear-shaped forest patch in the photo above (redish). Also in the photo, the approaching active surface lava is outlined, by the USGS, with white dots. (Read their full caption information here

The USGS/HVO has also posted updated flow maps of the eruptive zone, reposted below and with more information on their link above. USGS/HVO Maps and caption: Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō and Episode 61 flow field: December 2, 2011

The pulsing type rhythm of the magma pressure below Kilauea has continued as demonstrated in the two graphs below: from November 22nd to today. Deflation/Inflation Tilt Graph

Short video of Halema`uma`u crater fumes and glow

2011-11-26T19:07:00.006-10:00

Taken at the same time I shot the still photos for my last post yesterday ~~

Oh, and very near the end, when I am zoomed in on the crater vent after dark, you will see a Hawaiian owl, called an pueo here, soaring across the top portion of the scene :)

All my lava related videos are on my YouTube channel here KumukahiHawk

My other random videos are on my Vimeo site here

Thanksgiving at Halema’uma’u

2011-11-25T11:00:00.007-10:00

One out of five people apparently enjoy the daytime view of the fuming crater :)

After sharing a Thanksgiving dinner with friends at Kipuka Puaulu (Bird Park) just down the road from Halema’uma’u, I drove to the Jaggar Museum where the best view of the crater is and took these photos to share with you.(Click on any photo for a larger view)

Dusk allows for the first look at lava glow reflected up into the toxic fumes for this tour group sitting along the upper drop-offs near Jaggar.

I love the leaning weathered ohia lehua trees that sparsely dot the massive crater.

March 19th, 2008 is when this active vent blasted its way through the main crater floor leaving a hole about 165 feet across. At that time molten lava was a long way down from the edge at around 650 feet below of the new vents rim. These days the broiling lake of lava inside there is holding at around the 250-foot mark but has been as high as within 135 feet of the vents rim, and the width of the nearly vertical walled vent is now 500-feet across! Infation/deflation magma pressures deep within Kilauea volcano fluctuate often, pushing up or draining down the lava lake inside.

After dark, back at the Jaggar balcony overlook. (Hawaii Volcanoes ational Park is open 24 hours a day, but the Kīlauea Visitor Center hours are 7:45 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. daily. and the Jaggar Museum 8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. daily. ph#(808) 985-6051.

A zoomed in look at the entire vent and reflective lava glowing off surrounding rock walls

Molten lava again visible from Big Island coastal community

2011-11-21T10:01:00.019-10:00

USGS/HVO images page caption states, "This photograph, looking east, shows a large skylight on the lava tube that is supplying lava to surface flows north of Royal Gardens subdivision. The tube trace, which heads southeast, is marked by the line of fume sources in the upper right portion of the image. The surface flows, out of view in this image, were 1.1 km (0.7 miles) north of the uppermost street in Royal Gardens today." Closer look at that huge skylight: photos courtesy USGS. Click any images for a larger size in new window.

Residents of Kalapana Gardens community have been notifying me that in recent days they can see, after dark, surface lava just above the area that once was the Royal Gardens subdivision. (The subdivision has been repeatedly inundated with lava flows since the early & mid 1980’s; only one home, apparently still occupied, remains intact.) Coastal lava abruptly stopped flowing on March 5th this year when a violent fissure erupted southwest of Pu`u O`o crater, which also significantly collapsed inside. The crater rebuilt its floor, collapsed again with another fissure rupture in August, and rebult again, only this time the fissures have been draining more steadily from the most recent southeast crater flank.

Leading easterly from that fissure on the southeast flanks of the Pu`u O`o crater, active lava tubes have been formed, insulating and carrying the lava further towards the coast. As depicted in the tilt graphs below, an up tick of inflation/deflation magma pressure cycling has likely helped to create this situation. Below - Nov. 9th to the 16th:and today's graph: 14th to 21st -nearly consistant day and a half pulses for the past two weeks or so - more closely spaced than previous weeks/months, which were averaging around 2 to 3 days per D/I cycle.

Current USGS/HVO flow maps, below and last updated on November 21st, show in red the new advancement of the lava, which is reported to be pahoehoe on the leading edge. This leading front is now about 3 ½ miles, or 5 kilometers, from Pu`u O`o and about a half mile north by northwest of Royal Gardens, and also about a half mile east of the national park boundaries. This puts the distance to the nearest coastline at around 4 miles or 6 ½ kilometers. Click on images for large size

If this flow of lava continues on its present track it will soon begin reaching the steeper terrain of the Pulama Pali, which could escalate advancement if magma pressures within Kilauea remain in this more compact cyclic pattern, or simply has a prolonged-sustained rise; time will tell.

As always, you can keep informed on Kilauea’s volcanic activity by following the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory updates and associated links.

Wild weather week! My house gets pounded at night by lightning storm! (video)

2011-11-05T13:38:00.014-10:00

Starting with the above Jack-O-Lantern Halloween sunrise October 31st, and the spectacular sunset of the same day (at page bottom below), we experienced heavy rains on all the Hawaii islands the following four days, culminating in a spectacular thunderstorm the dark wee hours of Friday morning November 4th. (two Video choices below)

Friday’s radar image and advisories:This is hours BEFORE it got serious! The sidebar on the weather site had with it a long list of weather warnings.

Below is a video I just made of the lightning, winds and rains lashing my home. Underneath is my commentary to go with that

Turn your audio up and go for the storm ride!

A second version below is Fast and furious with some different footage! -

WHAM-BAM 90- seconds version of LIGHTNING STORM Hawaii from Leigh Hilbert on Vimeo.

At 4:00 AM Friday morning November 4th, 2011, as with many people on the east side of the Big Island, a sharp Ka-Boom of thunder and brilliant flashes of light abruptly woke me. I leapt out of bed and in the dark grabbed my camera and began filming the storm.

My home is three stories high with my bedroom -loft at the top above the ohia trees, from there I have a 360 degree view from ocean to mountain, with Cape Kumukahi and its lighthouse just to the northeast. (the lighthouse light & tower can be seen in lower left corner of the last flashes at the end of the video.

As I filmed off my decks on each floor, a serious set of thunder cells pilled one atop the other while the wind gusted up faster, the rains came harder (dumping six-inches here in ten hours!) and the sky lit with many-hued lightning flashes nearly continuously all to the sharp claps and heavy booms of rolling thunder.

This was not a short-lived event, lasting about three hours in all; though I think I slept through the early stages. The National Weather Service in Honolulu had the day before forecast for East Hawaii Island "A slight chance of thunder storms" ... I think the video footage tells the real story!

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Halloween:
Sunset sky on Halloween this week. To go along with my sunrise shot at top of page, the sunset that same day wash pretty cool too: The above shot was taken with a fisheye lens about ten minutes before the one below-- cool lacy blueish clouds in the middle of the bottom shot. Both images were from my home. Click any mage for larger size in separate window.

Inflation – Deflation roller coaster & Rain-bows & voggy crescent moon

2011-10-30T10:20:00.010-10:00

The above image is from two days ago, and below is this morning’s; already switching back to inflation after a steep pressure drop.

On the ground this roller coaster of a magma pressure graph has been consistently translating into a rise & fall of the broiling lava lake deep within Halema’uma’u crater in Kilauea Caldera, as well as surface flow lava outbreaks inside and around Pu`u O`o crater.

Pu`u O`o continues sending lava off its east flank during inflation cycles, then mostly crusting over during deflation. These rapid cycles have prevented further advancement down slope over the past weeks/months.USGS:View looking southwest at the east flank of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō. The Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō cone is at the top of the photo. USGS/Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) have been getting some great aerial photos of the activity on Pu`u O`o. The aerial posted here is from their Images page, where they also give detailed descriptions for each image.

Meanwhile, down here along the lower Puna coastline, we have had some occasional heavy rain showers produced from an upper level cold front arriving from the north of the islands. Below is the sun setting as a rain shower lands on my home: The heavy showers also gave us morning and afternoon rainbows as compensation for the minor flooding. Here is this mornings offering:Photos taken off my lanai looking west: click on any one of them to open all these photos in a new & cool larger view window.

A few days ago, zoomed-in from the same vantage point, I also managed to get a lucky shot between the clouds of the crescent moon setting into the Kilauea degassing lava fumes with the planets Venus and Mercury just after sunset.

Unusual set of earthquakes near Mauna Kea Summit

2011-10-19T16:24:00.007-10:00

Starting with a 4.5 magnitude, in the past two hours there have been over 23 earthquakes in a tight cluster located about six miles west-northwest of the summit of Mauna Kea. The depth of these quakes seems to average about 12 miles.
So far, besides the 4.5 there has been a couple over magnitude 3.0, with most around 2.3 or so (see complete list below). One small quake was very near Mauna Kea summit itself. 530 people reported feeling the 4.5
Mauna Kea is categorized as a dormant volcano, having last erupted about 4,500 years ago. However, Mauna Kea is likely to erupt again someday.

Also, perhaps unrelated, there was a short sharp drop on the deformation tilt graph monitior for Kilauea (upper right corner) that at a glance looks to be closely timed to the current quakes, though it is hard to be precise without a closer timeline.

You can keep track of these quakes and any new ones on the Hawaii Island Earthquake Map HERE.

CURRENT LIST OF QUAKES:
map 2.3 2011/10/19 16:14:31 19.844N 155.546W 14.8 8 km ( 5 mi) WNW of Mauna Kea Summit
map 2.0 2011/10/19 15:48:54 19.880N 155.548W 17.6 10 km ( 6 mi) NW of Mauna Kea Summit
map 2.2 2011/10/19 15:42:19 19.895N 155.554W 17.2 11 km ( 7 mi) ENE of Waiki`i
map 2.3 2011/10/19 15:29:13 19.881N 155.547W 17.0 10 km ( 6 mi) NW of Mauna Kea Summit
map 2.5 2011/10/19 15:24:05 19.875N 155.537W 17.9 9 km ( 6 mi) NW of Mauna Kea Summit
map 2.1 2011/10/19 15:22:20 19.890N 155.545W 17.6 11 km ( 7 mi) NW of Mauna Kea Summit
map 2.7 2011/10/19 15:11:01 19.863N 155.533W 17.0 8 km ( 5 mi) NW of Mauna Kea Summit
map 2.1 2011/10/19 15:04:37 19.880N 155.545W 18.0 10 km ( 6 mi) NW of Mauna Kea Summit
MAP 3.3 2011/10/19 14:59:00 19.884N 155.539W 19.5 10 km ( 6 mi) NW of Mauna Kea Summit
map 2.4 2011/10/19 14:57:03 19.855N 155.542W 14.8 8 km ( 5 mi) WNW of Mauna Kea Summit
map 2.6 2011/10/19 14:48:01 19.881N 155.541W 16.7 10 km ( 6 mi) NW of Mauna Kea Summit
map 2.4 2011/10/19 14:45:56 19.845N 155.546W 14.7 8 km ( 5 mi) WNW of Mauna Kea Summit
map 2.8 2011/10/19 14:45:17 19.879N 155.545W 15.2 10 km ( 6 mi) NW of Mauna Kea Summit
map 2.1 2011/10/19 14:33:40 19.886N 155.548W 18.1 11 km ( 7 mi) NW of Mauna Kea Summit
map 1.7 2011/10/19 14:31:52 19.858N 155.527W 16.2 7 km ( 4 mi) WNW of Mauna Kea Summit
map 2.0 2011/10/19 14:30:47 19.838N 155.408W 16.7 7 km ( 4 mi) ENE of Mauna Kea Summit
map 2.5 2011/10/19 14:27:44 19.878N 155.536W 18.6 9 km ( 6 mi) NW of Mauna Kea Summit
map 2.4 2011/10/19 14:25:25 19.874N 155.547W 16.3 10 km ( 6 mi) NW of Mauna Kea Summit
map 2.8 2011/10/19 14:21:04 19.884N 155.538W 18.7 10 km ( 6 mi) NW of Mauna Kea Summit
map 2.0 2011/10/19 14:18:11 19.865N 155.522W 16.9 7 km ( 4 mi) NW of Mauna Kea Summit
map 1.9 2011/10/19 14:16:15 19.883N 155.541W 17.8 10 km ( 6 mi) NW of Mauna Kea Summit
MAP 3.6 2011/10/19 14:12:34 19.888N 155.527W 18.2 9 km ( 6 mi) NW of Mauna Kea Summit
MAP 4.5 2011/10/19 14:10:04 19.883N 155.532W 18.8 9 km ( 6 mi) NW of Mauna Kea Summit

Volcanic eruption activity stays near craters

2011-10-11T11:05:00.010-10:00

This wide-view map details the most recent efforts of the USGS to document the present flow fields in relationship to the coast and Kalapana.(click on it to open it larger)

Kilauea continues erupting with lava within both the Halema’uma’u and Pu`u O`o craters. Halema’uma’u has a 500-foot wide crater floor vent that broils fairly steadily with active lava at around the 250-foot depth (recent dusk cam shot below).

Pu`u O`o crater has been going through cycles of heightened activity and quieter days in the past weeks with lava breakouts within crater walls (image below).(Cam at midnight Oct. 3rd)... and surface flows down its flanks.

The activity at both craters has risen and fallen pretty close to the inflation/deflation magma pressure cycles, as displayed on tilt graphs (today's below), with the most pronounced activity being displayed at Pu`u O`o.

Pu`u O`o’s crater floor has sagged and refilled a few times during the ebb & peaks, while its surface flows have roared hot and heavy at times. During more intense surface activity the reflective glow from the molten lava can be seen for many miles after dark.

Thermal imagery from October 7th clearly shows Pu`u O`o flank hot zones: Due to the cyclic nature of the magma pressures feeding surface flows the down slope movement of the lava has cooled between events and has not advanced significantly over the past weeks.zoomed view of the USGS/HVO updated flowfeild map.

I would expect that if there were to be a large and prolonged rise in magma chamber pressures there may be a corresponding advancement of lava down toward the Pulama Pali or Royal Gardens areas.
I will add new updates as eruption events change. One of these days I hope to get some on-the-ground images to share with you :) …
… Meanwhile you can keep informed by checking in with the informative web page links on this page of USGS/HVO.Above is a webcam capture of Pu`u O`o looking west as the sun sets into it a few days ago.

Autumnal Equinox lava glow from Kalapana Gardens

2011-09-24T11:00:00.003-10:00

Bright yellow-orange-red lava reflects beneath afterglow sunset light at 7:00 PM last night from Kalapana Gardens: some of the pictures I took last night from a friends place within the subdivision.

Below and to the southeast of Pu`u O`o, molten lava continues breaking out and moving downhill. Whenever low clouds passed overtop the new flowing lava the eruptive glow is striking and can be seen for many miles. One of the best viewing locations is from the Hawaii County official viewing area off the very end of highway 130, adjacent to Kalapana Gardens.

(Click on these images for a larger size and see the stars) Looking west at 8:00 PM last night. For perspective, the bright fan-shaped white glow on the lower right is from the Hawaii County viewing site parking lot. You can also just make out some of the homes in the Gardens.

According to today’s update from USGS/Hawaii Volcanoes Observatory, the flow of this lava has slowed down a bit.

Small random earthquakes continue all around the Big Island, most densely clustered near Kilauea.

Here is a zoomed-in shot of the reflective glow in the fumes and low clouds:

Lava rivers pour down Pu`u O`o’s flanks

2011-09-22T02:09:00.007-10:00

USGS image -Looking southwest at Pu`u O`o.

Orange-red reflective lava glow was visible from many miles distant last night as a new, and sizable, thrust of flowing lava spewed from the flanks of Pu`u O`o Crater and is heading downhill.As the evening progressed last night, I watched the reflective bright glow of the new lava flow from my home in Kapoho, which is twenty miles away, and snapped this image above with a 300mm lens. The mountain silhouetted is the Green Mountain volcano.

Yesterday on the USGS/HVO Kilauea volcano update page yesterday described the first faze of the breakouts like this: “At about 2:25 AM, lava broke through the upper east flank of Pu`u `O`o and a channelized flow advanced rapidly downslope to the east. Seismic tremor levels are low, but increased at Pu`u `O`o when the new fissure opened. Gas emissions from the summit and east rift zone vents remain elevated. All erupted lava is within Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park or adjacent State land managed by the Department of Land and Natural Resources. If the eastern flows persist, they may pose a hazard to the Royal Gardens subdivision in the coming days. The flow's progress will be assessed during an overflight this afternoon.” The rivers of lava have moved a lot further since that posting; they will have a new update today.

There was a very steep increase in magma pressures within the tubing system feeding the Pu`u O`o its lava. Check out the graph below for yesterday’s spike.

I phoned the Janguard Security personnel who operate the Hawaii County Civil Defense Lava Viewing site adjacent to Kalapana Gardens and asked what they could see from there. Road manager David said there was no lava visible from there but the mountain lava glow was the brightest to be seen in quite awhile, and that many local people were driving down to take a look; as word spread about the red lava skies being seen from across the lower Puna district.

All the Kilauea webcams were showing heightened eruption lava yesterday and last night. Check them all out today too.

Here, above, is the cam that faces east from below Pu`u O`o. The bright white spots are the new lava rivers. Here is the same view this morning from the cam:

Halema`uma`u Crater overlook(above) and wide-view cam (below) at the Jaggar museum also had strong eruptive activity, as shown below at 11:00 PM last night.

If the activity continues today, I may drive out to Kalapana after dark and see what the lava glow looks like. New lava flowing down the Pulama Pali would be exciting, and if it makes it that far it would likely be well west of any homes but highly visible from the lava viewing site.

I’ll keep you posted as noteworthy changes occur ~~~

And check with the guys up on the volcano for their excellent updates and images

If you want to see an in-depth study of all the known Big Island lava flows up to 2006) this pdf USGS topography map has a great detailed history laid out.

Pu`u O`o eruptive lava overflowing craters rim on two sides

2011-09-15T11:56:00.006-10:00

Above: East rim of Pu`u O`o overflowing yesterday.

Filling fairly rapidly inside the Pu`u O`o crater walls these past 3 ½ weeks, lava has more than reclaimed the 275 feet lost to the August 3rd crater floor collapse and subsequent west flank eruption.

Lava began reclaiming the crater on August 21st and, as of now, periodically spills off two opposite edges of the raised floor. For those of you following the USGS/HVO web pages you will have been kept up to date on these events. The aerial shots I post here are all from their images page and are date-stamped.

Above: The western edge of Pu`u O`o spilling molten lava down a channel yesterday.

Below: Pu`u O`o Crater just five days ago; persistent crater floor flows adding new layers.

Above: The crater on August 23rd, showing just how much lava has filled that area in just a few weeks when compared with the images taken recently.

Click here to see the Pu`u O`o crater cam day or night. The new cam is of way better quality than previous years.

Halema’uma’u crater has also filled back up quite high but remains fairly stable at this time.

I am excited to watch this new activity unfold and am very curious about what form the ongoing eruption will take…. And where it may flow next.

Viewing options: Inside the Halema’uma’u crater: glow by night and fumes by day can be easily seen from the Jaggar Museum at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

The Pu`u O`o crater eruption can most easily be spotted after dark from part way down the national park's Chain of Craters road and from the Hawaii County lava viewing area located off the very end of Highway 130 near Kalapana. The viewing area road is open daily from 2:00 PM until around 9:00 PM and has security staff for parking, information and safety. The fresh lava fields visible off the end of the road are spectacular by day as well.

Major eruption off flank of Pu`u O`o - lava lake collapses

2011-08-04T10:20:00.004-10:00

USGS "Pu`u `O`o crater floor collapsed yesterday afternoon taking the lava lake with it; about 15 minutes after the start of the collapse, a high-volume lava flow issued from west flank vents on Pu`u `O`o Cone and flowed northwest and south along the west edge of previous flows.

Details are all found within the USGS/HVO updates

Also check out their two new webcams and images page
; links are found at the top of the update page.

Molten lava busts out of brimming Pu`u O`o Crater

2011-07-30T08:58:00.002-10:00

The USGS/HVO is reporting surface lava flows moving southwest from the Pu`u O`o Crater.

I am traveling in Canada so am unable to offer any firsthand reports at this time, but you can read the USGS updates and view the two new cams, as well as new images by clicking on their links here on their Updates Page

Random volcano update

2011-06-17T14:28:00.002-10:00

Although molten lava continues erupting within both of Kilauea Volcanoes active craters, the lack of surface flows has kept this bog very quite. As I have said before, I choose not to mirror the fine work of the US Geological Survey and Hawaii Volcanoes observatory.

… But I thought I would at least post this summary of the lava activity within both the Halema’uma’u and Pu`u O`o craters, which was done nicely in this 2-minute piece on Big Island Video News.

The USGS continues their daily updates and have new field reports and images and from time to time. Those can be seen on this USGS/Hawaiian Volcano Observatory images and chronology page. The links across the top of their web pages will give the best updates available at this time. | deformation | images | timelapse movies | maps | webcams |

Check out those links - some spectacular lava action within both craters; especially the Pu`u O`o crater floor as it builds back up after the massive collapse of March 5th.

The other pronounced change in the past two months is the steady increase of sulfur dioxide spewing from the two craters and surrounding rift zone, which now is back to moderate levels of 700 to 800 metric tons per day at Halema’uma’u, and 1,200 tonnes from all east rift zone sources -- levels that cause concern and discomfort for those downwind.

I’ll check I again when activity picks up,
Aloha,
Leigh

~ Kilauea eruption confined within craters ~

2011-04-13T11:00:00.005-10:00

Above, the rise and fall of magma pressure as recorded by USGS radical tilt monitors the past seven days: Halema’uma’u is the green line and blue for Pu`u O`o.

Little has changed in the past week within the Kilauea Volcano eruptive zones, though there certainly is magma movement and lava flowing. This activity is confined to lava upwelling inside both the Halema’uma’u and Pu`u O`o craters.

Halema’uma’u pit crater vent continues showing lava deep inside, visibly rising and falling from magma changes far below. Here is a cam capture from this morning:

The crater floor of Pu`u O`o, which had collapsed violently on March 5th when the new fissures erupted, has been filling with new layers of lava fairly steadily; below is a cam-capture of this from this morning.

Seismic activity also remains pretty subdued when compared with the past few years of active surface flows. Here is today’s map showing the past two weeks of quakes (all very tiny temblors):

One good thing for us folks living near these active volcanoes is the levels of sulfur dioxide being emitted from the two craters is holding well below the volumes we had for most of the past three years, which was then about 700 to 1200 metric tonnes or more and is now only 300 to 500 tonnes from both craters combined .

All this information I write about above comes directly from the USGS/HVO volcano update pages and can be found by clicking on the links they provide HERE

Further updates:
I will only post further lava activity updates as significant changes occur. If you need a lava-rush -(don’t we all ;) - I would suggest taking some time to wander through past posts on my site. We have had some amazing lava action in the recent past and you can relive it or find posts and photos you may have not seen.

The archives are not as easy to navigate as I would like but here are the basics:
Scroll down the right side of this page and you will spot Blog Archive. Click on a year (2010 is pretty exciting :) and it will automatically display the first posts in that year, but to see the titles or to select individual months you will need scroll back down the right side where you will see the post titles and the other months of that years postings. By clicking on any month it will open the first seven posts of that month; one above the other for an easy look-through. And at the top of each month’s page you will be offered a link to see the rest of that months postings, looking like this:
Showing newest 10 of 16 posts from October 2010. Show older posts

Meanwhile I'll keep looking for lava to share with you-

~~~ Happy Trails,
Aloha,
Leigh

~ Interesting deflation tilt blip and little quake today ~

2011-04-02T12:47:00.004-10:00

Above, Halema’uma’u at 1:00 PM today.

As we all wait for more eruptive changes with Kilauea Volcano, we also pay closer attention to any changes taking place now.Not large at 3.5 magnitude, but seems significant, especially after this odd drop straight down on the Kilauea summit tilt graph, shown below and copied at 12:30 PM today.
It is also very significant that during this recent magma pressure inflation/deflation stage that Pu`u O`o did not waver and appeared unaffected by the huge pressure spike at the Kilauea summit region; this after having been mimicking the summit the week previously. The Hawaii Volcano Observatory guys are all on it and will likely give us their viewpoints on this.
Might be a sign of bigger changes… or not ;)

The quake was four miles south-southeast from the summit. Here is a list of recent Big Island earthquakes, and also this link to the Hawaii Island earthquake map

USGS/HVO images page showing the new lava lake inside the Pu`u O`o crater last week, March 28th.

USGS/HVO updates

Radical tilt graphs

All the volcano webcams here

USGS/HVO images page showing the new lava lake inside the Pu`u O`o crater last week, March 28th.

~ Lava reappearing inside Pu`u O`o ~

2011-03-28T10:00:00.003-10:00

Soon after my post two days ago when visible lava was rising once again deep down inside the Halema’uma’u crater pit vent, the massive Pu`u O`o Crater began doing the same. Above are a couple frames of those cam images I had saved from two nights ago. You can see this new lava lake, day and night, here on the Pu`u O`o rater cam (scroll down the many cam frames to see the crater floor).

Deformation radial tilt graphs, as shown in this morning’s chart, reveal magma is once again pressurizing below both craters, indicating the return of magma through conduits feeding the east rift of Kilauea, though both craters are now in deflation.

I was anticipating we might have a heightened earthquake activity associated with any return of surface lava, but so far seismic tremor is fairly low according to today’s USGS/HVO update and a recent earthquake map:

I am very interested to see what comes next with this volcano!
… Maybe we will once again see lava pouring into the sea and making the Big Island bigger, like it has so many times before:

Halema’uma’u vent signs of life – Volcano quiet otherwise

2011-03-26T10:00:00.006-10:00

Kilauea Volcano continues being very devoid of eruptive activity. This is pronounced considering the level of action this volcano has displayed over the past twenty-eight years.

US Geological Survey’s Hawaii Volcano Observatory updates, monitors and webcams have been keeping a close watch for any and all shifts in magma pressures and the accompanying changes. The changes have been remarkably subdued:

1) Deformation tiltmeters over the past two weeks have twice recorded inflation of magma pressures beneath Kilauea’s crater pit vent.

2) With those increases in magma pressures there has been a corresponding return of lava deep down inside Halema’uma’u’s pit vent. The most resent of these two events being last night on the crater’s overlook webcam, as shown in the top image that I saved at 11:00 PM. On other days we have not been able to visibly see any molten lava in the vent, just the degassing sulfur dioxide fumes.

3) Hawaii Island normally has dozens of small earthquakes each week, many of those from the 1.5 to 2.5-magnitude range and a few in the 3.0 and up size. But since the massive draining of lava March 5th and the spectacular fissure eruptions that followed for a few days, the only significant temblors were those I reported at Kalapana on March 11th. The smattering of tiny quakes on the map from today, posted below, depicts an abnormally quiet volcano.

4) Based on USGS reports, sulfur dioxide emissions are currently around 400-metric tons per day – this is way down when compared with the 1000 to 1700 metric tons per day during the past three years (with a huge spike of up to 10,000 tons during the recent fissure eruption)

Meanwhile a persistent forest fire has been advancing up into Hawaii Volcanoes National Park for the past few weeks. The fire was originally sparked by the Kamoamoa fissure eruption in the week of March 5th. The fire has now burned over 2000 acres and threatening an ecological reserve of unique plant and bird species. National Parks Service has called in fire fighters from California and Washington State to help stop the fire, which after two weeks of intense and difficult fire management is only 25 percent contained. One of the latest updates on the wildfire can be found here

WATCH-N-WAIT
Everyone here on the Big Island is in a watch-and-wait mode with Kilauea. I believe the last time this volcano became quiet like this was in 2007 when eruptive activity ceased for 10 days and over twice that in a 1997 eruptive pause. This time around the activity has been quiet for about 18 days depending on when you start counting. The most likely thing we might see occur now is earthquake swarms within some portion of the Kilauea rift zone, which would likely indicate an imminent new eruption there.

I will only post updates when significant new changes occur to the volcano. Have some fun and cruise back through the blog posts for previous months and years… It is really amazing how much lava and action has taken place with Kilauea just in the past three years! …. And in the past few decades!

You can follow the Hawaii Volcano Observatory updates here.

~ Pele’s naptime? – Kilauea Volcano pauses ~

2011-03-14T02:27:00.010-10:00

After such dynamic activity last week with the sudden collapse of magma pressure within the two active craters followed immediately by those spectacular Kamoamoa fissure eruptions, the Kilauea Volcano has gone into the most inactive period since 2007 and 1997 before that:
- Tiltmeters nearly flat lined
- An unnerving 32 rapid earthquakes in a tight area at Kalapana, many over 3.0 and the one I felt quit well a 4.6 in magnitude – followed by almost zero seismic tremor activity throughout the whole of Hawaii
- No surface lava within either Halema’uma’u or Pu`u O`o craters or the new Kamoamoa fissure zone – or anywhere else; only remnant glowing in the rubble at the bottom of both craters and remnant fuming from all recently active eruption sites.

Unnervingly quiet. … But signs of change may be starting.

Without launching into all the details and geology and links that discuss previous Kilauea eruption pauses, it is suffice to say that this volcano has erupted nearly steadily for 28 years, and any pauses in eruptive activity in that time have been followed shortly afterward, usually within days or weeks, by a dramatic magma shift and pressure rise into some portion of the volcanoes historically active rift zone, which covers many miles of the south side of the Island of Hawaii.

One such event was the 1960 Kapoho eruption. (My house sits literally along the edge of that 1960 flow; A`a lava rises 15 to 20-feet higher, and borders, 700-feet of my property line. – if it erupts here again I could get some great fissure eruption photos from my upper lanai and I’ll hook up a live webcam for you!! :)

That said, — in the last 24 hours the tiltmeters are showing some significant inflation, but interestingly only under Halema’uma’u, and, both of the active craters are showing a slight increase in lava glow at night. Earthquake activity continues to remain low, and a change in local earth tremor is what we are watching carefully for because any major new eruptive site is preceded by swarms of earthquakes that can rapidly escalate into the hundreds per day, as it did in the summer of 2007.(Above-June 2007 Episode 56)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A short account of my experience March 11th, 2011 related to the surge waves that arrived here in Hawaii as a result of the Japan’s devastating earthquake and tsunami:

In the early evening of March 11th I was closely watching our local earthquake graphs as two small temblors appeared right on the Kalapana lava flow area. I phoned friends at Kalapana to ask if the felt them, some had, others didn’t. Soon after, more small tremors were being recorded one after the other in the same location (more on that below). I also checked the world earthquakes site and saw a 7.9 magnitude earthquake had just taken place off the north coast of Japan.

Then a neighbor phoned and said the Japan quake was upgraded to an 8.8 (later upgraded) – a very serious quake that could easily produce catastrophic tsunamis for Japan, and eventually Hawaii and elsewhere.

As so many did, I began watching the news from Japan on the internet and also getting many phone calls from my neighbors because we live within a tsunami evacuation zone. Hawaii County Civil Defense announced a tsunami watch followed by a tsunami warning; my entire community prepared to evacuate, but I did not. The majority of homes in my community are virtualy at sea level, but I have the highest property in the community at the 65-feet elevation and it lays nearly a mile inland from the open ocean. So, just before 11:00 PM, while I was watching the unbelievable destruction news footage from Japan, the evacuation sirens began blaring loudly from the tower just down the road from me, and at the exact same time, my rustic post & pier three-story home suddenly began shaking from an earthquake! – A surreal moment for me; disorienting!

The shuddering did not last long but in light of the unfolding Japan quake and local volcanic events, it did get my attention! I already had our local earthquake chart webpage open and spotted the 4.6 that I had just felt—Kalapana had come alive with dozens of more temblors in rapid succession and concentrated in a small area—I was concerned a sloughing of the larger delta shelf may be in progress, which could lead to a major local quake & tsunami as it had back in 1975 that claimed lives here. In 1975, Kilauea's south flank was the site of the magnitude 7.2 Kalapana earthquake, the highest magnitude event in this century. The Kalapana coast subsided as much as 11 feet, generating a huge tsunami that claimed two lives in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, destroyed houses in Punaluu, sank fishing boats in Keauhou Bay, and damaged boats and piers in Hilo.

Anyway, no Japan generated tsunami reached my community but there was some damage to the Kona side, but not worth mentioning compared with what Japan continues facing. My heart goes out to all of those people there who have truly lost not only their local communities, but entire cities very tragically washed away, and their inhabitants; many families lost.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kilauea Watch
Here on the Big Island, we are now watching for a return of magma pressures beneath the two big craters and surrounding rift zones, and particularly a large and localized increase in seismic activity within the same zones. Sites to follow for this:
-- Magma pressures as shown on the USGS/HVO deformation graphs So far, only the Halema’uma’u is showing inflation—there may be some new separation of magma delivery between the two craters; directly related to the recent fissure eruptions.
-- USGS/HVO daily updates
-- Hawaii Island earthquake charts and lists (scroll down the list to see the recent Kalapana swarm and magnitudes.
-- Kilauea Webcams, particularly the Halema’uma’u and Pu`u O`o after dark. (You will need to scroll around on that Pu`u O`o one to see the lava glow inside the crater)

Mahalo for all the kind and supportive comments and emails this past week,
Aloha,
Leigh

~ Fissure eruption slowing down ~ My last Big Island Video News update for awhile ~

2011-03-10T16:04:00.011-10:00

Above: Setting moon above and framed by an old ohia lehua tree, the eruptive fissure lava reflecting off low clouds could be seen quite well from the county viewing area two nights ago — that glow can no longer be seen due to a stoppage of fissure activity last night.

The molten lava we have been witnessing pouring down the Pulama Pali and onto the coastal plains adjacent to Kalapana Gardens subdivisions for many months has completely ceased.

Though walk-in tour operators are feeling the pinch, property owners along the coastal plains are greatly relieved at this. It appears that for now, no more lava will come down into this area until a new eruption begins closer to, and above, the Kalapana region.

Historically, similar eruptive events as are now taking place have occurred. The most recent being the 1997 event when the active floor of the Pu`u O`o crater collapsed and a new fissure ripped open about a mile and a half southwest of Pu`u O`o crater by Napau Crater; nearly exactly like the March 5th fissure eruption that the USGS/HVO has been reporting on. In the 1997 event the fissure only lasted a few days, shut down, and then lava resurged back up into the Pu`u O`o region, producing new lava flows further east. But any of the active East Rift Zone on this island could come alive in the weeks ahead as things change-up with the magma movements below ground. USGS/HVO is reporting that the new fissures began pausing last night-- so now we sit and anxiously await what may come next-- Earthquake swarms are what I will be watching for in the days ahead.

So these new events leave me in a quandary as to what to report to you here on my daily lava blog… I do not want to simply mirror USGS reports, nor do I want to continue redirecting their reports from my site here… That’s what they do and they do it very well! I will ponder my choices for awhile…

The coastal lava flow cessation will also rapidly affect me directly and a large part of my photography income: For the last two full years I have set up my humble little lava photo display booth at a vendors area in the parking lot of the Hawaii County public viewing area site off the nd of Highway 130 and peddled large canvas prints to those choosing to purchase them.

While at my display booth, it has also been a real pleasure to meet people who are there to witness our world wonder lava flows and talk story. Many of my Hawaiian Lava Daily fans from the Hawaiian Islands, and from the world over, have come by to say hi and meet me; and that has been a real joy!

Anyway, I will give some thought as to what report, and when to produce, further lava updates, and in the days ahead post something more about this while I seek other outlets to display my images and keep the bills paid. Anyone interested in viewing my ever-growing collection of lava photos, and have the opportunity to own one ;) then please visit my Professional Photography site here: Leigh-Hilbert-Photography lava galleries. Any support this way would be greatly appreciated! (Gee – did I just break my Ad-Free site code of ethics! ;)

Note: The Hawaii County Lava viewing area IS still open seven days per week and that will continue for an undetermined time whether flowing lava returns to that area or not. Visitors will still be treated to the awesome lava fields that extend for many miles right at the edge of Kalapana Gardens. I will continue to set up there for a little longer until the numbers of visitors dwindles too low to support my display business. And who knows, maybe lava will return faster than we think.

Okay—well I leave you with this: My latest (and last for awhile) Kalapana coastal lava flow update video and voice report that is now airing on Big Island Video News for today, March 10th, 2011. My two-minute lava update begins around the 3-minute 10-second mark within their full ten-minute report of Big Island events.

And if you are still desiring to see more recent lava in action you can always open my previous Kalapana lava field report from February 10, when we still had lava pouring into the ocean. This footage can be watched at the 1-minute 12-second mark of this three-minute February 10, 2011 Big Island Kilauea Volcano update newscast

As for the fissure eruption reports and crater changes just keep looking at all the inks at the top of this USGS/HVO site page.Location of the current eruption is in one of the more remote regions of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, and about seven miles from Kalapana Gardens.

~~~ Aloha,
Leigh

~ New fissures continue to violently erupt – Coastal plains lava has all but ceased ~

2011-03-07T12:00:00.003-10:00

Above is one of the many spectacular images that USGS/HVO crews have been documenting of the new eruptive fissures that are located between Pu`u O`o and Napau craters. I highly recommend checking out their new photos and videos and captions of this event on their IMAGES page. Their photo updates are images recorded yesterday. I believe the fissures are perhaps less explosive today, but I only base that on watching their new fissure cam, which may be very deceiving as to what is taking place on the ground along the fissures.

I have not been able to hike out to the coastal plains to see just how much lava may still be flowing; it has been raining very hard here. Reports I have received for the area say the lava has stopped flowing on the surface, but remains hot and steaming from the rains.

I will be compiling a set of video clips of the past month of coastal flats surface flow action for the local Big Island Video News and also post that raw video and the news version on here in the next few days.

No one knows what will happen next with the magma changes and lava eruption sites, but we are all excited to find out!

Until the surface flows are coming down the Pulama Pali or onto the coastal flats again I may not have as many updates, and will not have any new photos for you. I will not be hiking into the eruptive fissure zones that are currenty remote and inside National Park bouderies.

The lava Hawaii County Lava viewing site off the end of Highway 130 will remain open for visitors. There may be very little lava to been seen for a while but the area remains hot and fuming and steaming and is still a big attraction. For more information on this you can phone 808- 430-1966

To keep up with the activity within Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and the rift-zone eruptions you can follow the USGS/HVO daily reports.

~ Major drop in magma pressure – Pu`u O`o Crater floor collapses – Halema’uma’u lava lake plummets – New fissures erupt - Napau crater erupting? ~

2011-03-05T21:00:00.021-10:00

Edit March 6th, 7:30 PM: USGS/HVO has established a temporary cam aimed at the new fissure eruption that is in between Pu`u O`o and Napau Craters. Click on the highlighted text above to open the cam.

Pu`u O`o Crater floor collapsing March 5th, 2011 -Photo USGS (Fissure eruption photos further down)

Deformation tiltmeter graph shows the extreme magma pressure drop

Halema`uma`u Crater pit vent as it looked tonight at 8:00PM. This is a major drop in levels when compared with where it has been, as in the image below.

Below: The crater with high lava stand a few days ago:
Halema’uma’u overlook cam

USGS/HVO report issued at 5:39 PM today, March 5th, 2011: (I normally do not place USGS reports on my blog but this is big news for us here! ;)

March 5th, 2011 special USGS Kilauea status report copied and pasted in part below (1st report):
“Volcanic Activity Summary: At 1:42 p.m. this afternoon, HVO instruments indicated the onset of rapid deflation at Pu'u 'Ō'ō and increased tremor along Kīlauea's middle east rift zone. At 2:00 p.m., Kīlauea's summit began to deflate.

Between 2:16 and 2:21 p.m., the floor of the Pu'u 'Ō'ō crater began to collapse, and within 10 minutes, incandescent ring fractures opened on the crater floor a few tens of meters away from the crater wall. As the floor continued to drop, lava appeared in the center of the crater floor, the NE spatter cone collapsed, and an obvious scarp developed on the west side of the crater floor, with lava cascading over the scarp toward the center of the crater.

At 2:41 p.m., the scarp on the west side of the crater floor appeared to disintegrate, exposing incandescent rubble, and the lava in the center of the crater enlarged.

At 2:46 p.m., the collapse of a large block along the east crater wall produced a dust plume and the lava continued to enlarge.

Webcam images showed that the Pu'u 'Ō'ō crater floor continued to drop through 4:26 p.m., when fume obscured the camera view.

Coincident with the collapse, an earthquake swarm began along Kīlauea's middle east rift zone in the area of Maka`opuhi and Nāpau craters. Tiltmeters in this area show continued deflation.

At 5:15 p.m., an HVO geologist flying over Kīlauea's middle east zone reported "an eruption in Napau Crater." When more is known about this eruption, an updated status report will be posted.

Kīlauea's summit continues to deflate. The lava lake level within the Halema'uma'u Crater vent continues to drop, facilitating rockfalls from the vent wall.

Daily updates on Kilauea's ongoing eruptions (summit and east rift zone) will be posted each morning. These will be supplemented by additional status reports and updates as warranted.

Maps, photos, Webcam views, and other information about Kilauea Volcano are available at http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/hvo/activity/kilaueastatus.php.

The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory is one of five volcano observatories within the U.S. Geological Survey and is responsible for monitoring volcanoes and earthquakes in Hawai`i.

Recent Observations:
[Volcanic cloud height] Unknown
[Other volcanic cloud information] Unknown”
End of USGS report (Be sure to see their full report and future ones on their main site HERE

Below, RAW USGS photos of Napau Crater adjacent fissure eruption located between Pu`u O`o and Napau Craters on March 5th, 2011:-Photo USGS

-Photo USGS

-Photo USGS

Spectacular RAW USGS video movie clips of the Napau Crater and adjacent violent fissure eruption, March 5th, 2010 in the late afternoon:
Napau eruption site video clip 0672 March 5, 2011 March 5th, 2011

clip 0671 March 5th, 2011 Unbelievably risky filming on this one!

clip 0668 March 5th, 2011

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The last time the Napau Crater erupted was in late January 1997 and the Pu`u O`o Crater collapsed inside then as it is doing right now. The Napau eruption was short-lived only lasting three days, then lava returned up by Pu`u O`o. That 1997 event took place at nearly the same time of year as our current one. Here is one short article on that episode. Here is a rough map from 1998 showing the location of the Napau Crater in relation to Pu`u O`o and Kalapana.

Meanwhile, I did post a late day blog of the coastal surface flows (below this one). These surface breakouts will likely continue flowing for a few days to a week before they stop from lack of feeding lava from the eruption site near Pu`u O`o Crater.

I will post updates on that as the days unfold, but for the big action on volcano keep track of the USGS/HVO Update Status site and their IMAGES page.

~ Two main coastal plains breakouts active ~ ~Action under Kilauea Caldera~

2011-03-05T14:00:00.004-10:00

Above, This photo is of the western branch in the foreground and Pulama Pali fuming and steaming this morning after a rain shower swept though the area. That is where the pali still hosts numerous breakouts and can be seen as orange-red orbs from the viewing area after dark.

I finally got back out to the western branch of this ongoing surface flow that continues advancing in a sprawling fashion across the coastal plains. This western branch is nearly 1 3/4-miles southwest from the intersection of highway 130 and Kalapana Gardens access road. It lies north-northwest of the old Quarry kipuka 1000-ft. and covers many acres. Above: One of the many leading fingers of the western lava branch as it surges out of a higher mound. The overall western flow meanders on both sides of the massively inflated July Quarry flow lava tube uplifts of 2010, but has not reentered them. This is the closest front of moving lava to the ocean but is still over a mile from entering it.

Shown above, The eastern most branch is still in the same area as a few days ago but is slowly filling in low areas and heading east and southeast at only 100-ft per day, therefore is still over 2000-ft from Kalapana Gardens.

Meanwhile, high up the mountain the two big craters have been rather eruptive these past few days according to the daily USGS/HVO Kilauea updates. Escalated earth tremor/quakes have geologists on alert for possible significant changes to the eruption activity at Halema’uma’u, Kilauea caldera and the Pu`u O`o vicinity. They reported 40 quakes for March 2nd, 48 on March 3rd and 25 yesterday.

The Pu`u O`o crater has had some effusion episodes worth noting that have produced some dramatic lava cones and rivers on the crater's floor. One of these events was documented in a really cool movie clip composite and can be found on the USGS/HVO Images page linked below or on this direct link: USGS/HVO Pu`u O`o crater cam movie.

The Halema’uma’u crater floor pit vent has had more of its rim collapse, falling down over 230 ft. into the lava lake. The overlook cam caught them spectacularly —check out the action and some related audio clips on the USGS image page!

Very large pahoehoe folds way out on the coastal plains lavascape - a black & white photo.

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As usual, I will try to post my next update in a few days unless some more exciting lava developments take place in the meantime ;) (I usually post my blogs between 11:00 AM and Noon if I am reporting for the same day I have walked the flow fields)

You can always get onsite coastal lava flow information and viewing conditions by phoning Janguard lava viewing security management who are stationed along the access road at the end of Highway 130 from 2:00 PM until 10:00 PM daily: 430-1966

~ Lava advancing towards Kalapana Gardens ~ Inflation crater activity ~

2011-03-02T11:30:00.013-10:00

Above: Looking into the dawn horizon and the active lava flows just west of Kalapana Gardens. A geology group lurks in the shadows.

The coastal plains surface flow lava has advanced eastward from the lower branches of the current flow over the past few days. The leading edges are now only 1,500-feet from the barricaded end of highway 130, which is also the present county viewing site. This road has been cut shorter and shorter for many months now as various surges of lava have come down. So a more stable landmark to gage the distance is where highway 130 intersects the Kalapana Gardens subdivision access road, and is also the location of the nearest home. The distance from the flow front to there is close to 2,300-feet as of this morning; 1,700-feet closer than a week and a half ago.

Below are some other images taken this morning with captions:Sunrise out of the sea over Kalapana Gardens. The dark ridge in the middle distant horizon, breaking the visible ocean in two, is the famed Hakuma Horst.

Above (looking northwest toward Pulama Pali) & below: The last kipuka of forest in that area is burning right now and the leading edges of the flow are passing this area and moving east and southeast in two branches. There are other surface flows further a field to the west of here.

Above: My friend and field partner Ron Boyle. Ron often contributes his excellent photos to the blog.Below is one Ron snapped of me scouting out the flow field this morning.

Inflation within the magma chambers below Kilauea are high as recorded on the USGS/HVO deformation graphs right nowThis inflation seems to have aso reactivated the rise & fall of lava within the Halema`uma`u crater. The Pu`u O`o crater also came alive last night again with some serious cone spatter and lava rivers. Check out that cam day or night here

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As usual, I will try to post my next update in a few days unless some more exciting lava developments take place in the meantime ;) (I usually post my blogs between 11:00 AM and Noon if I am reporting for the same day I have walked the flow fields)

You can always get onsite coastal lava flow information and viewing conditions by phoning Janguard lava viewing security management who are stationed along the access road at the end of Highway 130 from 2:00 PM until 10:00 PM daily: 430-1966

~ Pulama Pali up close ~

2011-02-25T12:00:00.007-10:00

Above - Pulama Pali breakouts at the about the 700-foot elevation at daybreak this morning.

I have been wondering why the numerous scattered surface flow breakouts we have been seeing in a broad swath trailing down the Pulama Pali have not advanced makai (toward the sea) very much over the past week. During the five days of prolonged deflation we could expect things to slow down, but we had a day of strong inflation since then and steady pressure afterwards, so I thought that might get lava moving faster down the pali.

To find out what was really going on up there I hiked all around the slope between the 600 to 900-foot elevation this morning; the lava up there is in fact advancing but is also doing a lot of inflating into mounds resembling bee-hives of piled glowing lava with many breakouts surrounding them. The image above and following photos show what I saw:
Pre-dawn light.

Below-- Eastern edge of the pali flow at around the 500 foot elevation:Below: Four hundred foot elevation with Kalapana Gardens homes in in the distance. Lava flowing down this eastern edge is overtopping the previous flow of November-January. It is also crossing over the 1986 and 1990 flows that lay just west of that large kipuka we see in the background of both these images. There continues to be surface lava breakouts further down slope quite a ways from here. Those lower flows are generally in the same area they have been active for a couple of weeks. That area also is not advancing much, but is still quite active and accessible to the many new guided tour outfits. (Scroll below to my last few posts to see those surface flows)

Molten mounds all over at the 800 to 900-foot elevation.

Lava continues being very active within both the Halemaumau and Pu`u O`o craters. I have been watching the USGS/HVO web cams day and night. The Pu`u O`o crater floor was flowing with lava rivers last night.

~ Pulama Pali slopes look like a city of red orbs after dark ~

2011-02-22T10:35:00.004-10:00

As viewed from the end of the Kalapana Gardens access road, which is also the Hawaii County lava-viewing road, visitors to the area are able to quite easily see many distant lava breakouts scattered across the Pulama Pali looking very much like a magic city of red-orange orbs. (Twice I went to get a photo of this and the rains arrived and dampened that effort).

Lower down the slopes at the base of the pali and closer to the viewing road there are also continued small & scattered surface flows of lava. These are in the same general area as in my last two post updates - still over 3500-feet from the road. I have not hiked back out there since then but will do so very soon for a firsthand account.Courtesy photos from Ron Boyle that he took in this area yesterday.

The remarkable thing about these ongoing surface flows is they have maintained a pretty strong presence despite the largest drop in magma pressures beneath Kilauea Volcano since the year 2000, according to USGS/HVO deformation records. Normally a substantial pressure drop manifests in the eruptive lava fields as diminished activity.

Even the two craters continued showing strong activity much of the past week during deflation, though the highly active flows within the Pu`u O`o crater finally did slow way down in the past couple of days.

As these two graphs show, magma pressures finally did return last night beneath both craters. I am very interested to see how this inflation will affect an already active flow field and the two craters… Could become quite active, especially if the inflation becomes strong.The above graph is from two days ago, Feb 20, before hitting bottom last night, as shown in today's graph below. Notice how they drastically changed the scale on the graphs to accommodate the large recorded swing: USGS/HVO magma pressure deformation tiltmeter graphs

Last week I added a link to one of my posts that may have been missed by some of you because it was added later. The link is to Big Island Video News and contains my bi-weekly Kalapana lava field report. My report is 2-minutes long and starts at the 1:22-minute mark of the news report. It has a lot of action clips of the lava pouring into the sea and on the surface of the area I report in these blog updates. You can watch the video report HERE.

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As usual these past few weeks;
I will try to post my next update in a few days unless some more exciting lava developments take place in the meantime ;)

You can always get onsite coastal lava flow information and viewing conditions by phoning Janguard lava viewing security management who are stationed along the access road at the end of Highway 130 from 2:00 PM until 10:00 PM daily: 430-1966

~ Coastal plain surface lava continues spreading and partially reoccupying older tubes ~

2011-02-18T11:00:00.008-10:00

At sunrise, tour group lead by a local Kalapana Gardens resident takes in the sporadic surface lava breakouts. The Gardens and open ocean can be seen in the distance. The closest homes are still over 4000-ft away.

Above & below: Compared to where the lava was advancing to the east on February 15th, much of that eastern finger surface lava has stalled. There is, however, some new breakouts starting up just west of there this morning, and beginning to return to the brushy area it had previously passed along side of.

The surface lava continues moving south-southeast further below the kipuka seen burning in my last post.
But quite separate from these two flows is a third area much further south where molten lava is surging hotter and faster than the upper regions. The area I am talking about is very near the original July 2010 lava flow tube system and about 4000-ft southwest from the end of the road and maybe 2000-ft south from the above-mentioned kipuka… It’s hard to describe a spot in the middle of a vast uneven lavascape! … Anyway, I think this flow front may become the dominant one of the three. Perhaps reaching the ocean in the days ahead…
I think some of the older lava tubes that were feeding the east entry are being partially re-energized by the new lava coming down onto the coast now.

… Speaking of ocean lava, this morning at sunrise there was suddenly a burst of steam from the coast. This was located at the most recent lava site we refereed to as the east ocean entry. I hiked out there but by then there was only a small amount of steam and I could not spot any molten lava.

On the way out to check that entry I came across more downed mango trees from when the lava came through a coastal kipuka forest last month.

Wild swings of magma pressure beneath Kilauea Volcano have been taking place this past week-- and the tiltemeters recorded a substantial drop in pressure in the past day:

USGS reports: Since Kilauea's summit vent first opened in Halemaumau Crater on March 19, 2008, it has grown from about 35 m (115 ft) to almost 150 m (490 ft) in diameter.

Check out this movie clip of a massive rockfall, the second of two on February 14th and there was another on the 15th.

Many other intresting movie clips and photos on this USGS Images page; including some spectacular new footage today of the lava rivers inside the Pu`u O`o crater--- things are really heating up in there these past few weeks! Click the highlighted text to open the links.

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I will try to post my next update in a few days unless some more exciting lava developments take place in the meantime ;)

You can always get onsite coastal lava flow information and viewing conditions by phoning Janguard lava viewing security management who are stationed along the access road at the end of Highway 130 from 2:00 PM until 10:00 PM daily: 430-1966

~ Coastal flats lava still advancing ~

2011-02-15T10:16:00.004-10:00

Pre-dawn this morning: looking from the eastern flow front to the north - up the Pulama Pali. The pali hosts numerous breakouts from top to bottom.

This eastern front of lava has advanced about 1000 feet in two main branches over the past five days. This surface lava is overtopping the November-December 2010 flow and has also continued skirting along its eastern border, with one sprawling finger heading due east over older flow fields a couple of hundred feet and scorching some small patches of grass & brush.

Above: Dawn this morning looking down one finger of lava that is flowing east. The leading edges of the eastern lobe of surface lava are now due east 2,700-feet away from the present terminus of Highway 130, which is also the Hawaii County Civil Defense lava viewing area. The nearest home to the molten lava is currently 3,700 east. Much of this surface lava is filling low areas and somewhat hidden from view when looking from those homes in the Kalapana Gardens area.

Both the Halema’uma’u an Pu`u O`o crater remain extra active. The Pu`u O`o has molten lava rivers running on the crater’s floor. This activity could be seen on the crater's webcam yesterday and last night. Below is a capture off that cam: And better yet, if you have a few minutes check out this USGS Quicktime movie made from a series of Pu`u `o crater still photos from Feb. 6th to 8th HERE.

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I will try to post my next update in a few days unless some more exciting lava developments take place in the meantime ;)

You can always get onsite coastal lava flow information and viewing conditions by phoning Janguard lava viewing security management who are stationed along the access road at the end of Highway 130 from 2:00 PM until 10:00 PM daily: 430-1966

~ Stirrings beneath Kilauea ~

2011-02-12T11:00:00.011-10:00

Kilauea Volcanoes summit, Pu`u O`o crater and the adjacent rifts have been registering some very notable changes. Those of you who have also been following the US Geological Survey (USGS) -- Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) daily website updates, and their associated informative links, will already be alerted to some significant new developments.

I do not intend to mirror what the USGS/HVO is doing; in fact I am suggesting we all keep reading their updates.

The main notable volcano changes have been:
-- More frequent and higher ‘stands’ of molten lava rising inside the Halema’uma’u craters pit-vent – along with longer lasting high levels. In the past 24 hours one stand reached to within 235-ft (72-m) of the main crater floor - much higher than any previous levels. At one time the base level was closer to 660 feet down. A more recent base, or resting level, has been closer to 435 ft, but the ‘base’ seems to be continually rising as the months go by. The pit vent is about 460 ft (140 m) in diameter at the top (growing wider each month), and around 150 ft (65 m) at the bottom. Background tremor has been notably higher between stands they report.

-- An escalation of earthquakes in the Kilauea region is being recorded by the vast array of seismographs; 40 quakes in 24-hours two days ago; with one as strong as 3.8 in magnitude, and 24 temblors in the past day. Seismologists become very alert to such changes because a rise in quake action can, and has in the past, indicated significant eruptive events.

-- Pu`u O`o crater, 12-miles (25 km) to the east-southeast of the summit, has also been experiencing a heightened eruptive cycle: Molten lava rivers and lakes and building spatter cones within the crater, along with increased temblors. These events have been somewhat intermittent but are significant crater building characteristics.

-- Increased Thanksgiving Eve Breakout (TEB) eruptive site activity:
This site and the rootless shield area makai (toward the sea) from it have been very active with surface flows of lava. A week ago some of these breakouts interrupted the newly established lava tube system feeding the coastal flats and ocean entries. There has also been an increase in recorded earthquakes in that higher elevaton area as well.

The finer nuances of these changes to the volcano action can be better understood by reading the USGS reports and related links.Shown above; during high-lava-stands the degassing fumes diminish greatly, as do the levels of glow at night. But in between these stands glow has been extra bright lately. Check out all the USGS web cams day and night here

Meanwhile, down along the coastal flats lava continues to slowly advance through two forest patch remnants (kipuka) at about the 130 to 200-ft elevation. Surface flows also move further down and along side of the most recent flow that we had there a few months back; in November and December. Some of the lava branches have stalled. This molten lava advance is still approximately 4,800 ft from any homes and is not moving directly toward them, but has been angling that way as it goes. There has been no reports of lava flowing into the sea since it ceased at two locations a week ago.

See my video footage of this weeks lava flow in my lava field report for Big Island Video News. My report comes in the 2nd-half; after their take on the recent Kilauea changes. Click the highlighted text to open the reports.

~~~ I will add updates as activity warrants. ~~~

Just cooling - roping and banding pahoehoe. Photo taken February 10, 2011 at the new advancing lava flow near Kalapana Gardens. ((By the way, all images posted on this website are copyright of Leigh Hilbert Photography unless otherwise labeled. I reserve all rights to them. Permissions or license to use my images in any form must be from me in writing.))

~ New surface flow reaching the coastal flats ~

2011-02-10T11:00:00.004-10:00

Another surge of molten lava has been working downhill near the base of the Pulama Pali. As my last post indicated, lava had all but stopped flowing in the coastal area a few days ago. Likely due to some serious eruptive breakouts high above the pali around the TEB vents and nearby rootless shield range, which may have drawn the coastal lava flow dry, or severed the previous Nov 29th 2010 to February 6th 2011 flow tubes.

The pali and coast plains have numerous breakouts. The most southeasterly flow front – its eastern edge – is presently 3,500 feet due west of the latest location of the Hawaii Civil Defense barricades; the terminus of Highway 130.

The new flow has just burned through the same kipuka that the previous flow went through in early-to-mid December 2010. The lava front is now beyond the patch of forest, as shown in these photos, and is overtopping the last flow, which is still red-hot inside.

As usual, the advancing lava is filling low areas. Some fingers of the front are breaking more easterly onto old lava from the mid-80’ to 1990. This kind of movement could potentially pose a new threat to the Kalapana Gardens homes once again.

All photos were taken this morning, click to view a larger size.

Meanwhile, down along the distant coastline as seen from the flow front mauka, I could see lots of fumes and three separate whispers of steam where the last ocean entry lava recently poured. I believe the steam is likely ocean waves hitting the still hot lava benches, though some left over lava tube dribbles may be finding the sea. Sunrise over Kalapana Gardens
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I will post my next update as soon as eruptive conditions on the coastal plain have changed, or if other significant volcano news takes place.

Onsite coastal lava flow information and viewing conditions can be found by phoning Janguard lava viewing security management who are stationed along the access road at the end of Highway 130 from 2:00 PM until 10:00 PM daily: 430-1966

~ Most surface flows stopped - and only weak ocean entries ~

2011-02-06T21:07:00.009-10:00

(Click the images for larger view sizes)
Two visitors to the island were with their guide, who is out of frame, are watching some small surface flows near the ocean as the sun rises. This was at the far western lobe ocean entry Sunday morning.

Just two days ago we were witnessing some very large surface flows of lava across the coastal plains west of Kalapana. By Sunday nearly all breakouts had crusted over.

Even the two ocean entries were very subdued. I did not hike out to the eastern entry but I could see a feeble steam way off in the distance.
There has been no pronounced magma chamber deflation to account for the sudden drop in coastal activity, but according to USGS lava updates, there have been heightened surface flows high above the Pulama Pali and inside the Pu`u O`o crater the past few days (The Pu`u O’o quieted for a day but was flowing with lava rivers again at 8:00 PM Sunday night). Maybe the lava tubes leading to the sea have been partially severed.

For the first time in a year or more I hiked inland and west from the coast for a few miles. I was surprised just how extensive the recent lava flows have become; miles of the coastal plains have molten lava laying a short ways below the crusted surface. I would love to see a new USGS thermal/aerial overlay of the entire coastal plains.

One surprise I spotted was what appeared to be degassing fumes far to the west of Kalapana Gardens – all the way into the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Though I was still quite a ways off, these fuming lines ran from near the western base of the Pulama Pali all the way southwest to what seemed to be a possible ocean entry plume…. I have heard of no other reports of any activity down that way, so maybe it was an early morning anomaly of fumes. Below is a rough composite of three shots showing the fumes in question in the distance. Click on the image if you want to see it larger.

USGS has posted some new flow-field maps. Below are the maps, click the link above for the captions on their site.

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I will post my next update as soon as eruptive conditions on the coastal plain have changed, or if other significant volcano news takes place.

Onsite coastal lava flow information and viewing conditions can be found by phoning Janguard lava viewing security management who are stationed along the access road at the end of Highway 130 from 2:00 PM until 10:00 PM daily: 430-1966

~ Western ocean entries back to life ~ Pu`u O`o very active ~

2011-02-04T10:35:00.006-10:00

Perhaps due to the recent increase of magma pressures beneath the Kilauea Caldera, which are leveling off now, a resurgence of surface lava has occurred along the more western lobes of coastal lava flows from the December advancement. The result is numerous new ocean entries near the sea arch where lava was flowing about three weeks ago. Ron Boyle documented the event yesterday and has kindly submitted his images for the blog.
Lava flowing above the western ocean entry.

The easterly ocean entry and surface flows out on the west-end of the July 25-Dec 1, 2010 lava delta also continue, as posted previously.

Random surface lava breakouts continue across the coastal flats west of the terminus of the highway – the Hawaii County Civil Defense lava-viewing site. To the West-northwest there is more kipuka forest and brush burning from a small breakout. The Pulama Pali also continues exhibiting scattered surface flows that are easily seen after dark. No homes southeast or east of these flows appeared threatened as of 10:00 PM last night.

USGS crater cam continue recording a very active Pu`u O`o crater floor with spewing cone and molten lava rivers. Check out the cam even now and see it changing by the hour; at night it is lit up with lava flows too. Below is a rough composite of this mornings crater images:Notice the growing spatter-cone in the center.

Last night, as seen often lately, the Halema’uma’u crater cam as viewed from the Jaggar Museum was recording very pronounced glow from the broiling lava lake that has been rising and falling from around 435-feet down inside the pit vent to recently as high as 330 (100 meters) from the main crater floor according to the USGS volcano updates. The Halema’uma’u overlook cam looks straight down inside the vent and here is a cam-capture from this morning of that:All the USGS-HVO webcams can be found HERE

I will post my next update as soon as eruptive conditions on the coastal plain have changed, or if other significant volcano news takes place.

Onsite coastal lava flow information and viewing conditions can be found by phoning Janguard lava viewing security management who are stationed along the access road at the end of Highway 130 from 2:00 PM until 10:00 PM daily: 430-1966

~ Magma pressure rises ~ Lava active in craters and on coast ~

2011-02-02T10:05:00.002-10:00

Tiltmeters are registering a significant up-tick on the USGS deformation graphs.

Except for a one brief drop, magma pressures have been on the rise this past week. This is the most pronounced increase for quite some time.

A defined and sustained rise or fall of magma pressures has often translated within the eruption sites with an increase or decrease I activity respectively. Last night I took a look at the webcams for the Halema`uma`u from HVO, the Halema`uma`u from Overlook, and the cam looking into the Pu`u O`o crater. All three sites were very bright with lava glow, signaling heightened activity.

Down the Pulama Pali, across the coastal plains and along the shoreline adjacent to Kalapana Gardens and vicinity, lava continues beneath ground; flowing and moving within insulating crusts and tubes. In random locations lava breaks out from these underground conduits and reveals itself on the surface: covering other recent flows, filling low areas, burning brush or trees, and flowing into the ocean.

Perhaps due to this current inflation of magma pressures there was a bright surface glow high atop the Pulama Pali last night and an increase of scattered surface flows on the coastal plains, including areas off the end of highway 130 (originally named Kaimu-Chain of craters Road). I will take look at conditions today and tonight.

~ Small ocean entry – numerous small surface flows ~

2011-01-27T10:38:00.003-10:00

As shown in the photos above and below, lava continues random surface breakouts on the coast. (All photos were taken this morning - click on them for a bit larger view size)

A single small ocean entry continues:

The more westerly lobe of lava, and its weak ocean entry of past weeks, appears to have ceased altogether, although I did not hike to it, I could not see any steam there.

Inland further there are scattered and meandering surface flows continuing to burn off the remaining brush.

Below: Closer to the Kalapana Gardens subdivision, and the present terminus of highway 130 lava viewing site, the area remains quite hot but now has only some very small surface lava breaks. No homes appeared to be threatened at this time.

I will post new updates when conditions on the coastal plain have changed.

~ Aftermath as lava continues moving and inflating near Kalapana Gardens ~

2011-01-24T11:00:00.006-10:00

Molten lava continues inflating and breaking out on the surface near the sad and grim remains of a home and property lost to lava January 18th this month.

Here we can see the extent of lava inflation below the homes metal framed ribs – a disturbing aftermath revealing the all-destructive potential of advancing lava. Lava is still molten beneath the new layers.

In my last update I posted the photo below a few days ago showing lava pouring between two metal posts that recently were the entrance to Keone lane, which led into several properties, one of them being the home that was destroyed by lava. The photo below I took this morning and we can now see only the top of one of the posts, the inflating lava has risen that much.

Below: That barbecue I showed in my last post remains embedded on top of the inflated lava just off the end of the highway and the County Lava Viewing Site. Kalapana Gardens homes are perched along the horizon.

Lava continues actively breaking out from the inflating mounds and is filling low areas:

I could not see any pronounced steam from where lava might be entering the sea at either of the two weak entries of a few days ago; just a few brush fires near to the coast.

~ Two weak ocean entries and strong surface flows ~

2011-01-21T09:43:00.012-10:00

Shown above and in the photos below, the largest and hottest flowing lava was right off the end of highway 130 yesterday; flowing vigorously between two posts that were the entrance to several properties beyond, including the home recently lost to lava (The shell of that home can be seen in the distant middle-right in the larger view size)

As the lava rivers came near the highway, only a handmade sign defining what a ‘Lavatic Fringer’ is remained next to the side access road that had led to the home lost to lava. Below is the sign as it was before, and the house still standing in the distance. These signs were created by the owner of the nearby property and I was told, were to get people to think, especially lava watching visitors.

Above: Two hours later, in the pouring rain, we can see how inflated and advanced the lava is by using those entrance gate pipes as a guide. ( I can not explain the barbecue sitting on top the inflating lava)By 2:00 PM the Janguard lava viewing security personnel had arrived and were repositioning the barricades for the night.

Meanwhile down along the shoreline I found molten lava dribbling off the cliffs to the ocean.This was all that remains of the western lobe ocean entry from weeks ago.

Below- Eastern entry: At 1:30 PM yesterday lava was also advancing to within 25-feet of the ocean much further east and out over the west end of the July25-Dec 1st lava delta, right off the old Ulua fisherman’s road and where I filmed that lava delta collapse November 2nd . I would assume lava would be meeting the ocean by today, even yesterday large waves were splashing on the molten lava at times creating steam. Judging by the lava volume and movement, this would likely also be a very weak ocean entry unless some more thrust from the supply system finds this area.

Speaking of the supply system, the first pronounced deflation in some time is being recorded by the Kilauea Summit and Pu`u O`o radial tilt meters:

USGS/HVO has posted some new photos and information on their images page They have some great shots of the Pu`u O`o crater lava activity, including a forming spatter cone on the crater floor – click on the link above and check it out.

Below are two images from the USGS images page that I have added a few notes to, showing where the photos of lava I post above were taken and other landmarks in the field.Click on these photos for a nice large size

I will not likely be posting any new updates until early next week, unless something radically changes on the coastal plains lava flow.

Hawaii County Civil defense continues a seven days per week public lava-viewing site that is managed by Janguard Security off the very end of Highway 130 in Kalapana Gardens vicinity. You can get on site updates by calling after 2:00 PM until 10:00 PM daily: 430-1966, or the main hotline: 961-8093

~ Very high surf, thunderstorms and lava ~

2011-01-19T10:06:00.005-10:00

Besides a flash flood and winter storm advisory, the heavy rain pouring on my house right now between intense lightning strikes, the National Weather Service Honolulu has issued very high surf warnings for north and west shores of the Hawaii Islands for later today and into Friday. Here are some excerpts:
THE HIGH SURF WARNING IS NOW IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY TO 6 PM HST FRIDAY.

* SURF...PEAK SURF HEIGHTS OF 35 TO 40 FEET ALONG NORTH FACING SHORES...WITH PEAK SURF HEIGHTS OF 25 TO 35 FEET ALONG WEST FACING SHORES.

* TIMING...SURF WILL BUILD THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT...PEAKING EARLY THURSDAY ON KAUAI AND OAHU...AND PEAKING DURING THE DAY THURSDAY ON MAUI. THE SWELL WILL REMAIN LARGE THROUGH AT LEAST FRIDAY.

* IMPACTS...DAMAGING SURF IS EXPECTED. LARGE WAVES WILL IMPACT THE NORTH AND WEST FACING SHORES...WITH COASTAL EROSION AND WAVE RUN-UP POSSIBLE IN COASTAL AREAS EXPOSED TO THE SWELL.

These size of waves and their duration have made it likely we will hold the infamous Eddie Aikau Quicksilver surfing competitions in the next two days. Here is CNN’s report on that.

Mauna Kea webcams have time-lapse images showing the snow coming and going. Here is one of them.

Meanwhile the lava continues flowing despite the weather. The lavascape above was the scene at forests edge and three hundred feet from the ocean yesterday morning. Click the image for a larger size. The surface flows here are actually now running out overtop the delta bench formed during the July 25th to December 1st ocean entry event.

Below is the same area in the pre-dawn light:

I never tire of the endless art form designs created while pahoehoe flows then cools - here are two photos I took yesterday of the still hot lava:

~ Third home in Kalapana Gardens area lost to lava ~

2011-01-18T10:32:00.004-10:00

A surprisingly fast moving finger of lava surged across the coastal plain and burned an occupied home last night around 11:00 PM. Click for larger view size. The above picture, taken at 5:00 AM this morning, shows the still smoldering remnants of the homes Quonset styled frame and various other items as the setting full moon shone over the sad scene. In the background we also see a line of lava orbs running down the fuming Pulama Pali. Those are surface lava breakouts from the newly established lava tubes feeding the coastal plain flow fronts.

Below are a couple more images of the area as it looked around 8:00 AM. Only the metal frame remains of the home.

This the the third home in the vicinity of Kalapana Gardens that has been lost to molten lava in the past six months.

Above: the home under threat of lava a week ago.

Tomorrow I will post update photos of the surface flows of lava further a field. There is no ocean entry lava at this time, though random breakouts are within 350-feet of the sea.

~ Scattered surface flows on pali and coastal plain ~

2011-01-17T10:40:00.002-10:00

Last night at around 9:30 PM I stood on a high point of land in Kalapana Gardens and surveyed the lavascape. I could spot numerous surface lava outbreaks: Many separate red orbs running down the Pulama Pali that appear to be following the newly formed late November - early December 2010 lava tubes from the 1200-foot elevation to its base.

West of Kalapana Gardens about 1600 feet away there were two large and bright breakouts. These appeared to be located near the older July-November 2010 lava tube system. Further south of there was where the most visible lava action was taking place - in and around the one larger kipuka forest near the coast and bordering the July-November lava tube and overtop the last lava delta. Many surface breakouts and large forest fires were flaring up in that area. I could not identify any ocean entry lava glow from either the recent western lobe entry of last week nor an entry makai of the burning kipuka.

From my vantage point in Kalapana Gardens I could not spot any open surface flows near the roads or homes, but the two bright breakouts mentioned above may be a new layer moving southeast overtop the recent flows. The ones that covered more highway in the last two weeks and came very close to one house. I will try to get a closer assessment of these breakouts in the next few days.

Above: Yesterday Ron Boyle reported seeing lava re-filling the older July-November lava tube system fissures near the coast. He saw this just north of the burning forest and provided this photo showing molten lava swelling inside the fissure.Above, another photo from yesterday of the coastal flats lava overtopping the previous flow fields southwest of Kalapana Gardens.

~ Three active lava zones ~

2011-01-15T10:13:00.002-10:00

The USGS IMAGES. webpage has an excellent collection of recent photos and descriptions of all three active lava areas; including the Halema’uma’u and Pu`u O`o craters and aerials of the ocean entry and forest burning near the coast. The Pu`u O`o crater has been very active with lava changes lately.

Further down their images page they have some cool QuickTime movies looking down inside the Halema’uma’u lava vent. Hawaiian Volcano Observatory ( HVO) and the U.S. Geological Survey have been celebrating Hawaii Island’s second annual Volcano Awareness Month this month. Visit the HVO Web site or call (808) 967-8844 for more information.

Below are two of the HVO/USGS images from the site linked above.Current ocean entry surface flows on newly developing lava delta.

Below is a photo Ron Boyle took inside the burning forest shown in the aerial above.

I have not been able to get out to the coastal flow for a few days but reports from there, besides the forest and ocean entry covered above, tell of continued small surface breakouts of lava just south of the County Lava Viewing area, as well as a few scattered breakouts elsewhere on the coastal flats. The lava that was advancing toward the home remains very hot but has not advanced further in four days.
The lava that took out the nearby home last November 27th came onto the property in four surges over a two-month span.

To find out about coastal lava activity phone 961-8093 for Civil Defense hotline updates or phone the Janguard on site security management after 2:00 PM at 430-1966 or 217-2215. Management will be on site until 10:00 PM.

National Weather Service Honolulu has issued a HIGH SURF WARNING

BIG ISLAND:
...HIGH SURF WARNING FROM SUNDAY MORNING THROUGH MONDAY AFTERNOON
FOR WEST FACING SHORES OF THE BIG ISLAND...

...HIGH SURF ADVISORY FROM TONIGHT THROUGH MIDDAY MONDAY FOR
NORTH AND WEST FACING SHORES OF THE ISLANDS OF MAUI COUNTY...

339 AM HST SAT JAN 15 2011

...HIGH SURF WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 6 AM SUNDAY TO 6 PM
HST MONDAY...

* SURF...SURF WILL BUILD TO HEIGHTS OF 10 TO 20 FEET ALONG WEST FACING SHORES STARTING EARLY SUNDAY.

* TIMING...SURF WILL INCREASE EARLY SUNDAY MORNING AND WILL CONTINUE THROUGH MONDAY AFTERNOON.

OTHER ISLANDS TO THE NORTH:

...HIGH SURF WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 6 PM THIS EVENING TO NOON HST MONDAY...

* SURF...SURF ALONG NORTH AND WEST FACING SHORES OF KAUAI AND
NIIHAU WILL INCREASE TO HEIGHTS OF 25 TO 35 FEET TONIGHT AND SUNDAY. SURF ALONG NORTH AND WEST FACING SHORES OF OAHU WILL BUILD
TO HEIGHTS OF 20 TO 30 FEET TONIGHT AND SUNDAY.

* TIMING...SURF WILL INCREASE ON KAUAI AND NIIHAU THIS EVENING...THEN
ON OAHU LATER TONIGHT. SURF WILL PEAK ON SUNDAY.

* IMPACTS...DAMAGING SURF IS EXPECTED. THE INCOMING SWELL HAS A STRONG WESTERLY COMPONENT THAT WILL PRODUCE MUCH LARGER THAN NORMAL SURF ALONG WEST FACING SHORES. DANGEROUS...BATTERING WAVES WILL POUND THE SHORELINE. THE LARGE BREAKING WAVES WILL IMPACT ALII DRIVE AND BEACHFRONT PROPERTIES IN KAILUA-KONA...
ESPECIALLY DURING HIGH TIDES. THIS WILL RESULT IN VERY DANGEROUS SWIMMING CONDITIONS...AND DEADLY RIP CURRENTS.

~ Aerial birds-eye view ~

2011-01-12T09:44:00.005-10:00

I have added notes to these two aerial photos kindly sent as a courtesy and taken by Rebecca Hill while her husband Dann piloted a rented plane yesterday. Click on the photos for a larger view size.

Below we have a photo courtesy of a local Kalapana Gardens resident taken at daybreak this morning after a rain shower. The rains caused the hot lava in the vicinity of the home to steam.

Lava breakouts near the home have slowly stalled close to the house but continue advancing 600 feet to the south of it, as shown in my photos from yesterday. This change in direction has offered relief from what appeared to be imminent danger just a few days ago – such is the nature of Pele. To see some of the lava breakouts near this house in action you can watch my Big Island Video News report for today.

Meanwhile an ocean entry continues further down the coast; being fed by one of two western lobes or branches of lava from the base of the Pulama Pali.

Another branch of lava has been slowly etching its way through a remnant portion of forest near the coast. Yesterday Ron Boyle captured this photo of that.

Hawaii County lava viewing area was closed the last two days due to southerly winds blowing degassing lava fumes and ocean entry laze fumes back overtop the viewing site at roads end. To find out of the area will be open phone 961-8093 for Civil Defense hotline updates or phone the Janguard on site security management after 2:00 PM at 430-1966 or 217-2215. Management will be on site until 10:00 PM.

The National Weather Service out of Honolulu have many weather warnings posted this morning as yet another winter cold-front storm is sweeping down the Hawaiian island chain and causing some serious flooding in some areas. Currently Maui is being flooded. This enhanced radar loop shows some of this front.

The forecast for the Big Island also includes a heavy snowfall warning for the tops of Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea with accumulations of 10 to 18-inches on top of the snow that fell up there Monday night.

~ Breakouts active right off highway’s end - 500-feet from home ~

2011-01-11T09:56:00.004-10:00

Above, taken at 7:00 AM this morning, pahoehoe flows strongly five-hundred feet due south from the nearest home, whose owner wishes to remain unidentified at this time. The newest lava layers closest to the home have stalled for now but were still molten underneath and inflating, indicating possible further expansion later.

Below we see a sign that once stood along highway 130 in front of Jean Olson’s driveway. Jean was the nearest neighbor to the presently threatened home (seen in the background of the image below) until lava overtook it six-weeks ago on November 27.Here we are looking from the opposite side of that sign.

Above is what remains of Jean Olson’s gate that led to her home. There are still remnants of that home stuck in, and on top of, the cooled lava, as I documented here last month.

USGS has posted new thermal image overlays of the present lava flow on their images page. These are really good overviews of the actual hot zones of lava down the Pulama Pali onto the coastal flats and new ocean entry. Their images page also has some great photos and descriptive captions about these images and the latest activity within Pu`u O`o crater itself.

~ Lava inflating higher than house and advancing ~

2011-01-10T11:00:00.004-10:00

These three photos were taken at dusk last night from the Hawaii County lava viewing area, which is now located directly adjacent to the occupied home being threatened by a continued advancement of lava. The Quonset-styled structure in the distance is the home and you can see molten lava across the area between the people and the home.

I walked the area this morning and noted three large breakouts of lava busting out along a four-hundred foot line of ever inflating lava directly west and south of this residence. These breakouts were very hot and all flowing downhill in the direction of the home, yet remained a few hundred feet away from the home itself. I did not take any photos of this today because the changes were not pronounced enough to be seen.

Further west, for over a quarter mile, many other breakouts were appearing, also springing from a series of mounding lava hills rising by the hour as super-heated rock beneath them forces the crusting surface higher off the ground.This is one of the many breakouts.

Three quarters of a mile southwest of the home and the end of the road there is a long swath of forest and brush burning from another finger of lava moving into that area. A half-mile southwest from there is a feeble ocean entry. Southerly winds are blowing the lava fumes and burning smoke fumes back towards the viewing area. If you are sensitive to fumes you may want to avoid the viewing area tonight.

I will place updates here if the lava moves close to the home.

You can always talk directly with Janguard personnel who are managing the Hawaii County Lava Viewing site. Phone after 2:00 PM up until 9:30 PM seven days a week at 430-1966 or 217-2215. Tom or Steve will give you a pretty good update on the coastal lava flow situation.

~ Lava continues advancing on home ~

2011-01-09T11:00:00.006-10:00

Below, homeowner, in brown, walks with a small group she has just taken on a lava tour of her property. (Click on any image for a larger view size)The most easterly branches of our current lava flow are creeping towards this residents home and access road. The home is technically just outside Kalapana Gardens subdivision, as was Gary’s, but nonetheless is the next threatened home for that community.

This landowner was the second to built atop the 1990 flow back in around 2002, Jean Olson being the first to do so. Gary Sleik was the third to build on the 1990 flow field. Both Gary and Jean lost their homes from molten lava July and November, respectively, last year.

Lava is pooling, filling and inflating within three-hundred feet of the home and in three separate locations.

Above: The lowest section of the advancing lava is only 45-feet away (just out of frame to the right)from severing the homes only access lane that leads to the current terminus of highway 130, which is now also the Hawaii County lava viewing area, as shown below

Many visitors to the end of highway 130 will have noticed the landowners collection of signs and her table of lava artifacts:Peggy told me she makes the signs to get people to slow down and think.

I will be monitoring the site later today and tonight.
EDIT evening of the same day:
Below:
Visitors to the Hawaii County lava viewing site at the current end of Highway 130 gaze out across hot inflating lava as multiple breakouts flow ever closer to the occupied residence we see in the distance: the Quonset type home. The owner was still there at dusk tonight and her access road had not yet been severed y the advancing lava.

Above, one of the many breakouts of pahoehoe within a three to four-hundred feet of the home.

~ Molten lava approaches home ~ Weak ocean entry ~

2011-01-08T14:14:00.003-10:00

Active lava breakouts near the remaining end of Highway 130 are back-filling down towards the nearest occupied structure and were less than three-hundred feet from away at 11:00 AM this morning. If lava continues being fed to the area then it seems likely this home will be claimed by lava within days. Ron took the photo below a couple days ago and the lava on the road is cooling now, but further back towards the house lava remains actively breaking out.

Below: Heat waves waft off the super heated lava that theatens a home

Meanwhile down along the coast over a mile southwest of roads end we have day three of a new ocean entry of lava. This entry is currently quite weak appeared to be stagnating while I was there this morning, but was feebly returning to life an hour later.

I will be keeping a close eye on this flow now and report daily on any changes.

~ Lava reaches the ocean and covers more pavement ~

2011-01-06T09:33:00.003-10:00

Two dominant fronts of surface lava have continued slowly advancing east and southeast across the coastal plain west of and adjacent to Kalapana Gardens homes. As shown in the photo above taken yesterday afternoon by Ron Boyle, lava continued covering more of the end of highway 130 and getting rather close to yet another home. These flows are moving rather slowly at this time and may stall out or stagnate, sparing this home for now.

Above we see people beginning to gather at the present lava viewing location at roads end; witnessing molten rock before them.

Sometime overnight or early this morning the most westerly portion of this December lava flow reached the ocean west of the old Waikupanaha viewing area.

~ Coastal plain lava continues filling and spreading ~

2010-12-28T13:15:00.003-10:00

(Click image for a large size) At its closest point to a home and to the present barricades that mark the County Viewing Area, molten lava outbreaks are 1200-feet (366 meters) distant toward the west.

West-southwest of the above surface lava is an additional broad area of other surface flows. These flows have now proceeded southeast from the base of the Pulama Pali, east of the quarry, alongside & overtop of the July lava tubes and past the buried location of highway 130 (Old Kaimu-Chain of Craters Road). These two flows are the leading edges of the December Quarry flow. There are also numerous breakouts further up the pali.

My last field report recorded the lava flowing northwest of these locations and about 1400-feet, or 427-meters inland from the present flow front.

USGS/HVO have posted some updated flow field maps that I repost below. The brighter reds are the most recent surface flow locations as of December 22nd; the flow front has advanced further south and southeast since. You can view them on their site and read the full captions here.

Electonic Tiltmeters are showing a little bit of inflation pressures for the first time in weeks:

I am still on vacation but thought I would check out the lava situation on the coast. I’ll check in again in about a week.

Meanwhile, no parking on the hot lava!

~ Winter Solstice & total lunar eclipse on full moon ~ Blogger takes a break ~

2010-12-21T08:21:00.006-10:00

A full lunar eclipse took place last night in many northern locations (Dec. 20th or 21st depending on time zones). It was too cloudy here (at least at my house) to watch it due to a large and persistent winter rain storm across all the islands. This was a special eclipse: first full one seen on Winter Solstice in the northern hemisphere in 372 years and the next one will be December 21st, 2485.

I am taking some time off from my usual passions of lava and blogging. I will check in from time to time in the next couple of weeks, but will likely not have many lava updates. So, besides the USGS/HVO’s daily eruptive reports, you can always talk directly with Janguard personnel who are managing the Hawaii County Lava Viewing site. Phone after 2:00 PM up until 9:30 PM seven days a week at 430-1966 or 217-2215. Tom or Steve will give you a pretty good update on the coastal lava flow situation.

What an active lava year it was!

I was going to put together a Year-In-Review for the lava flow but realized there were so many remarkable events it made that task become daunting… So… I will suggest that you take some time in the next few days to browse back through these blog posts: try peaking at December 2009 to see what was happing then, Maybe click on each month of 2010 in the Blog Archive found on the far right further down the page. By clicking on a month you can scroll down through some of that months activities, and also select show older posts to quickly scroll down and review an entire months posting at one time; the images themselves often tell the story ;)

Mauna Kea: We have been getting some new snowfalls up on the two monster volcanoes. Mauna Kea Weather Center has a nice selection of cams and they can be viewed in time-lapse day-into-night—Sometimes very cool to watch. I like the Gemini cam view/ here is a sample of one of the time-lapse clips of that cam from December 14th

~~~~ Aloha,
Leigh

~~~~~~~~~~~ The last total lunar eclipse I saw here was August 27th, 2007 at midnight: Here are the images I took of the event:Exact total eclipse and a few stars

CURRENT MOON

moon phase info

~ From the lava flows perspective ~

2010-12-18T10:07:00.009-10:00

In this photo, taken last night at dusk, we are looking towards the southeast from the leading easterly front of advancing surface lava. In the distance we can make out some of the homes in Kalapana Gardens and the Hakuma Horst.(click image for a little bit bigger size. Those more distant homes are just under one mile from the flow front, the closest being approximately 2800-feet away(Peggy's qunset home), and about 3000-feet to the barricades of the Hawaii County lava-viewing site at roads end. The molten lava in the foreground is back-filling a low point of land; flowing northwest.

And the image below shows the same view after dark an hour later. Notice how much higher the lava in the foreground is — that is what we refer to when we mention surface flow inflation (not the other magma chamber inflation); the molten lava beneath the quickly cooling crust thrusts lava higher off the ground in large pillowy shapes.

The flow front we see here is burning through one of the last sizable patches of forest before flooding out onto the flatter portions of the coastal plain, which it has now begun doing.

This lava is not flowing directly toward any of those houses or the end of the road; it is flowing in a filling-sprawling & inflating way- but as of last night, basically in a southerly direction with a southeast bent. Below is the photo I posted yesterday showing the perspective of this lava flow as seen from those homes:(Including the quonset-shaped home I mention above)

I surveyed the lay-of-the-land and tried to guess where this lava may travel to if it continues being feed and progresses – not an easy call this time. That said, I think there is about a 40% chance this flow will reach onto and beyond the end of the road (where barricades are now), threatening the nearest home (Quonset house shown in yesterdays post) within the next ten days, making that a 60% chance it will flow on by and potentially threaten homes on the further end of Kalapana Gardens, near the Hakuma Horst, before reaching the sea.

This surface flow will likely begin sprawling across the lower coastal flats, filling low areas, pooling and inflating higher as it goes. Last July 14th, when the flow front was at this distance from the sea, this same sort of lava action decimated a vast amount of forest and burned one home before reaching the ocean eleven days later. We may see a similar scenario with this December flow; but Pele makes all those decisions around here. This lava seen here in these photos is east of both the July and November flows and tubes and the quarry, but will soon be intersecting them.

One big regulator of these flows is the magma reservoir pressure beneath the Kilauea Volcano. A strong and sustained rise or fall of pressure, as recorded by deformation monitors can greatly affect flow rates: low pressure (deflation) may slow or stall all or portions of the flow front, a rise (inflation) may increase all that activity. Currently the magma pressures are deflating:

There is at least a mile of active surface lava behind this leading edge, running way up the Pulama Pali, with some branches running far east of the other recently flowing lava tubes.

Go with the flow

~ Moonlit molten lavascape dazzles spectators – worries nearby homeowners ~

2010-12-17T09:44:00.004-10:00

The entire active lavascape from the top of the Pulama Pali to the county lava viewing barricades are seen in this moonlit scene.
Taken at 9:30 PM last night with an ever-growing moonlight, I slightly over exposed the image so that we could see both the landscape and lava & forest burning colors. (Similar result as achieved with my layered images earlier last week when there was no moon and that I repost for comparison below)

Click on the above image for a large size (Then click on the opened photo to zoom-in)and look for these following things:
On the far lower left you can see the Hawaii County lava viewing barricades and a little bit of the access road. (Just a short distance to our left in the photo is where Jean’s house stood before burned by lava Nov 27th) The illuminated Quonset-style building is Peggy’s home, situated desperately close to the advancing lava beyond.

The bright yellower flames are where the molten lava is encroaching & burning through patches of brush and forests left behind from previous flows like islands of green; locally known as kipuka (key-pooh-kah). And all the way the Pulama Pali we continued surface breakouts of mostly pahoehoe lava.

I find it is interesting that the upper breakouts have not crusted over as the leading edge of the flow front comes down the mountain; usually the moving lava quickly create an insulated layer as it proceeds, which can form over time into established lava tubes. But this flow seems to be doing that much slower than the April-May, or July through November flows.

Compare the opening image above of the lava flow as it looks today with the earlier images I took over the past eighteen days as the neww surface flow advanced shown here below:
Lava breaks out to the surface at around the 1100-foot elevation and begins down the Pulama Pali.
Lava advances at down the pali at rate of about 100-foot elevation drop per day.

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I randomly set up my lava photo display booth down at a little vendor’s area on the edge of the county viewing parking lot a couple of days/nights each week. And lately I have had the pleasure of meeting many of you who follow this blog. It has been really nice for me to get a chance to share our mutual fascination with this ongoing lava flow with so many of you.

I try to write an update each day but occasionally I am too busy to do that. I also will be taking a little Hawaii vacation soon—what to they call those now – ‘a stay-vacation’ or ‘staycation’ ;) I’ll be doing some camping with family and friends… I’ll let you know when I am leaving my blog post and for how long, but likely in the next week.

For onsite coastal lava updates and reports you can phone the security management down at the Hawaii County lava viewing site after 2:00 PM: 430-1966 or 217-2215

~ Lava advancement may threaten homes again ~ Gary’s homestead re-revisited ~

2010-12-16T11:00:00.008-10:00

The present flow front of lava that has been progressing down the Pulama Pali this past week has reached the edge of the coastal flats and burned through several remnant forest patches.

The big question now is how the lava will transit across the uneven ground below its current position. No one knows for sure. There are a few variables that can possibly affect the lava’s direction and speed of travel. The variables that come to mind are: 1) the overall inflationary pressures within the magma chambers beneath Kilauea Volcano, 2) the new rootless shield atop the pali that may have stored large amounts of lava in the past two weeks, which could rupture, and 3) breakouts further up the pali that may draw lava west of the July-November Quarry Flow tube system.
Current USGS deformation graphs are just beginning to record some inflation after a many days of little pressure change... I believe a large upward inflation period will really affect the eruptive activity down the pali system... But those affects remain to be seen...

Below is the most recent USGS flow field maps showing where the active lava was on November 26th, the day before it took out Jean’s house, and four days before lava stopped flowing onto the coastal flats and into the ocean. I have added a few rough notes showing the general location of the advancing lava as of today, as well as the location of the two homes lost to the July to November lava flow.Click on images for a larger size. And below is the broader flow field map:

Yesterday, Hawaii County Civil Defense alerted all property owners in and around the Kalapana Gardens subdivision area of the growing possibility of lava reaching the end of the access road within the next week. In that notice was an announcement that Civil Defense would close the lava viewing and attempt to secure the area … within an estimated 24 hours prior to lava reaching Kalapana Gardens. These notices were both mailed and hand delivered to residents.

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Okay, as promised, here are photos I took in the rain of Gary Sleak’s. Two days ago I surveyed both Jean Olson’s recently burned out from lava house site and also Gary’s: The steam on the distant lava shows how hot the area still is as the rain come down.

For a good background report of Gary's site read my story with photos here> Gary's volcano viewing chairs Gary's gazebo roof survives its second encounter with flowing lava. The original gazebo was near his house until July 24th when lava burned it.

~ Pulama Pali alight with lava top-to-bottom – like a molten lava city at night ~

2010-12-15T11:00:00.003-10:00

Moonlit pali at 9:00 PM last night reveals the large expanse of surface breakouts of lava running down the entire length of the Pulama Pali. (click on the image for a larger view size)

By today the leading fingers of this flow should be reaching the coastal flats; likely just west of Kalapana Gardens. We should have a more precise location by tonight.

Visitors to the Hawaii County lava viewing area were able to see this entire flow field and it may be even brighter and closer today and especially visible tonight. Should the lava continue at the present pace and direction, some of the more easterly leading edges of the advancing lava are showing potential to become a real threat to the subdivision homes in the days ahead.

(Yesterday I said I would post an update on the twice-burned out remnants of Gary Sleik’s homestead, I will now do that tomorrow)

For information about the on-site conditions at the county lava viewing area, phone after 2:00 PM and talk to personnel there: 430-1966 OR 217-2215

~ Remnants ~

2010-12-14T10:36:00.006-10:00

I returned to the burned-out Kalapana Gardens home site of Jean Olson. Lava ignited Jean’s in the afternoon of November 27th then it filled in the area where the home and gardens were. You can revisit that story in photos and video here.

These photos document most of what remained: a variety of items were lifted up on top of the inflating lava, or left protruding from it. The lava in that area was still very hot to the touch and strong sulphur fumes wafted from fissures. Click any image for a larger view size.

Above: Embedded into the lava, lounging chairs (perhaps Jean's equivalent to Gary's lava viewing chairs) Just beyond the chairs is where the lava stopped advancing -(though the older lava looks similar in this photo) and spared a planted tree and what appears to be the property border corner pin-marking pole... And beyond that we can see the row of homes further east into Kalapana Gardens.

Below: The remains of the aluminum roof a partially stuck in cooled lava

Above: Clothespins cling to lines between lava-encased support posts.

~ Tomorrow I will revist, via photos, Gary Sleik's twice-burned out homestead.

Current lava conditions in the Kalapana area:

*Yesterday’s post has the latest info on the lava approaching Kalapana Gardens. Surface lava has now reached some kipuka forest and brush; sparking fires there.

These breakouts can be seen quit well now from the end of highway 130 and the extended single lane lava viewing access road.

~ Pali lava sprawling broadly – continuing down slope ~

2010-12-13T11:00:00.005-10:00

Looking up the Pulama Pali at about the 500-foot elevation-- sprawling pahohehoe lava on all sides of the July quarry tubes.

Above: Lava Dave with two friends. In the background is Kalapana Gardens and we can see Dave's house in the middle distance.

Much of the lava breaking out was thin but a few places were making some nice roping and twisting.

Above: Here we can see just how close to this large old kipuka forest the flow is now passing.

While traversing the coastal plains I found some very hot areas, so hot they were glowing red between the cracks (The photo above was NOT taken on the coastal plain but up on the pali). Also, along the kipuka near the ocean, by the old Fisherman's Road, brush was burning... So there must still be some slow moving lava dribbling into the tube system in that coastal area. I visited both Jean's and Gary's house remains and will post photos of those two tomorrow.

~ Storm watered dry side of island ~ Lava report unchanged ~

2010-12-12T10:30:00.004-10:00

Our storm did place a blanket of snow over our two big volcanoes Mauna Loa & Kea. Above is Mauna Kea.
Photo courtesy of Big Island photographer Ethan Tweedie who specializes in majestic panoramic vista shots of the Big Island.

Just a quick post today -

The big blustery storm system did dump some heavy rain on all the Hawaii Islands, including areas that really have been struggling with serious drought for some time. Ironically, the normally 'wet-side' of the Island of Hawaii received the least amount of moisture from the storm, likely because the rain front approached from the west of the island thus creating a reverse affect of our usual east-north-east Trade Showers that leave the west side of the Big Isle dry.

I have not been out to check on the progress of the lava advancing down the Pulama Pali, but reports I have received from those that have are stating there has been little change since my last report here

USGS/HVO posted a couple new aerials of that surface flow on the pali that I have been taking pictures of looking up at from Kalapana Gardens this past week...

I will be checking it out further later tonight or tomorrow.

~ Winter storm sweeps Hawaiian Islands ~

2010-12-10T11:00:00.010-10:00

Yesterday on the National Weather Service Forecast Office Honolulu I saw more warnings and watches posted of the Hawaiian Islands than I’ve ever seen at one time:

Severe Thunderstorm Warning

Flash Flood Warning

Special Marine Warning

Severe Thunderstorm Watch

Flash Flood Watch

Flood Advisory

High Surf Advisory

Small Craft Advisory

Wind Advisory

Winter Storm Watch

Marine Weather Statement

Short Term Forecast

Kauai was the first to feel the effects of an intense winter cold trough that is pushing down overtop the island chain. Warm southern air is being sucked up into the storm system and producing some serious wind, rain and thunderstorm conditions. Click this text for current > Hawaii Island radar rain loop

Kauai, Oahu, Molokai and Maui have all had a brush with the leading edge of the progressing storm, now it is the Big Island’s turn it seems: it is approaching our normally dry west side now and is expected to drench the island over the next 24-hours. See the various images and links for the latest. Click HERE to open the site with these interactive weather maps of Hawaii; like the one above.

Click on this highlighted link to open the Hawaii Islands water vapor loop (Right now it's looking pretty cool as the sheer-line of the storm is now slicing into the Big Isle:

I saved some of the more excited storm reports and then collected key lines or statements to share these snippets here with you: (This is an ongoing storm event so the list is incomplete)

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HONOLULU HI
1009 PM HST THU DEC 9 2010

* AT 1005 PM HST...RADAR INDICATED A LINE OF SEVERE STORMS FROM 8 MILES NORTHWEST OF TURTLE BAY TO 10 MILES SOUTHWEST OF KAENA POINT...MOVING TO THE EAST AT 25 MPH. WIND GUSTS UP TO 60 MPH THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM.

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HONOLULU HAS EXTENDED THE * FLOOD ADVISORY FOR THE ISLAND OF OAHU IN HONOLULU COUNTY...RADAR SHOWED MODERATE TO HEAVY RAIN PERSISTENTLY DEVELOPING OVER THE CENTRAL AND NORTHERN PORTIONS OF OAHU. THESE THUNDERSTORMS WILL PRODUCE STRONG WINDS 34 KNOTS OR GREATER...AND DANGEROUS CLOUD TO SURFACE LIGHTNING STRIKES.

IF YOU ARE IN ITS PATH...PREPARE IMMEDIATELY FOR DAMAGING WINDS...AND DEADLY CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING. PEOPLE OUTSIDE SHOULD MOVE TO A SHELTER...PREFERABLY INSIDE A STRONG BUILDING BUT AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HONOLULU HI...A FLASH FLOOD WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR THE ISLAND OF KAUAI ...THE ROAD TO HANALEI REMAINS CLOSED DUE TO WATER COVERING THE ROADWAY.

FLASH FLOODING IS IMMINENT OR OCCURRING IN STREAMS...ROADS AND LOW LYING AREAS. MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND NOW.

MARINE WEATHER STATEMENT:

HIGH SURF ADVISORY FOR NORTH AND EAST FACING SHORES OF NIIHAU KAUAI OAHU MOLOKAI MAUI AND THE BIG ISLAND...MARINERS CAN EXPECT GUSTY WINDS... LOCALLY HEAVY SEAS...DANGEROUS LIGHTNING AND REDUCED VISIBILITIES IN THE HEAVY SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. THUNDERSTORMS CAN ALSO PRODUCE WATERSPOUTS. SEEK SAFE HARBOR IMMEDIATELY...UNTIL THIS STORM PASSES.

FREQUENT LIGHTNING IS OCCURRING WITH THESE STORMS. IF CAUGHT ON THE OPEN WATER...STAY BELOW DECK. IF POSSIBLE...KEEP AWAY FROM UNGROUNDED METAL OBJECTS.

ALSO...A LARGE NORTH SWELL WILL CONTINUE TO POSE A THREAT OF MODERATE TO HEAVY SURGES IN KAHULUI AND HILO HARBORS TONIGHT. THE POTENTIAL FOR LARGE BREAKING WAVES NEAR THESE HARBOR ENTRANCES WILL ALSO PERSIST THROUGH TONIGHT. HEAVY SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL SPREAD FROM COASTAL WATERS * SURF...SURF ALONG NORTH FACING SHORES WILL BE 10 TO 15 FEET... AND SURF ALONG EAST FACING SHORES WILL BE 6 TO 10 FEET.

* IMPACTS...INEXPERIENCED SWIMMERS SHOULD AVOID ENTERING THE WATER ALONG NORTH AND EAST FACING SHORES WHERE DANGEROUS RIP CURRENTS CAN OVERPOWER EVEN THE STRONGEST SWIMMERS.

A WINTER STORM WATCH:
THE APPROACH OF AN UPPER LEVEL TROUGH FROM THE WEST WILL CAUSE SUMMIT TEMPERATURES TO DROP BELOW FREEZING FRIDAY NIGHT. ABUNDANT MOISTURE MOVING UP FROM THE SOUTH ALONG WITH THE COLD TEMPERATURES MEANS POSSIBLE HEAVY SNOW FRIDAY NIGHT … THERE IS A POTENTIAL FOR SIGNIFICANT SNOW...SLEET...OR ICE ACCUMULATIONS THAT MAY IMPACT TRAVEL...HEAVY SNOW POSSIBLE ON THE SUMMITS OF MAUNA LOA AND MAUNA KEA... SNOWFALL IN EXCESS OF 6 INCHES IS POSSIBLE ABOVE 12 THOUSAND FEET ...

Hawaii Island Mosaic radar image
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Geminid meteor showers are showing soon: The peak will be on the night of December 13/14, 2010. I hope the clouds move off by then.

Lava report unchanged from yesterday.

~ Lava breakouts continue slowly down pali ~ Flash flood watch posted ~

2010-12-09T06:29:00.005-10:00

Just as I had done two days ago, I have layered day & night photos of the same section of the Pulama Pali surface flows so we can see where the molten lava is on the terrain. I would guesstimate the lower edge of this flow to be somewhere around the 600 or 700-foot elevation; or dropping down the pali at a rate of about 100-foot of elevation per day for the past four days.ABOVE: This is the layered image I posted two days ago so we can compare the progress of the sprawling lava breakouts with last nights image. All images were taken with a lens set between 300mm and 400mm and from the exact same location.

Click on any image for a larger view size

Below, taken at 9:30 PM, is last night’s shot that I used in the top layered image above..There was lava glow much further up, and above, the pali but rain last night at that level caused the broad lava glow in the sky, obscuring the upper regions.

I will post lava eruption updates as warranted by new activity.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At 7:00 AM the National Weather Radar is showing some very serious rain on our northern most islands this morning.
Special Marine Warning

Flash Flood Watch

High Surf Advisory

Small Craft Advisory

Marine Weather Statement

The National Weather Service Honolulu has many warnings posted this morning: and the following statement:
Southerly winds will strengthen and become gusty today and tonight as a deep upper level trough and a vigorous cold front approach Kauai from the west. As the trough and front move closer to the islands, expect heavy showers and scattered thunderstorms to spread across the state from today through Friday night. Some of these showers and thunderstorms will likely produce locally intense downpours, which could result in flash flooding.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Public viewing of eruptive lava zones for Kilauea Volcano, Island of Hawaii:

The Hawaii County lava viewing area remains open daily from 2:00 PM until around 9:30 PM. Located off the end of Highway 130 and then one mile further up the one-lane road to the supervised parking area; restrooms provided.

During the day visitors can walk the viewing road and see the still very hot, shiny and extensive lava fields, the burned out roofs of two homes sadly destroyed recently. By night, weather & eruption depending, surface lava flowing part way down the nearby mountain slopes, as well as the reflective lava colors inside fumes and low clouds high atop and above the Pulama Pali.
Phone onsite security personnel from 2:00 PM until 10:00 PM for further information: 430-1966 OR 217-2215.

Meanwhile, up in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, the Halema’uma’u crater continues erupting 450-feet down inside the craters floor pit vent: sulphur dioxide plume stream by day, which often glows dramatically red after dark. The park is open 24-hours a day seven days per week.

~ More lava visible from Kalapana Gardens ~

2010-12-07T10:10:00.006-10:00

Sweet little crescent moon setting over the coastal lava plains last night at dusk, which followed this voggy sunset: both taken at the lava viewing parking area from behind my photo display booth last night.

There are three images posted below: One from yesterday afternoon showing the Pulama Pali by day and taken from the Kalapana Gardens access road & gate at 2:00 PM yesterday; one taken from the exact same location at 9:30 PM last night; and the third is a layered image of the first two.
Click on any of these images for a nice larger size

I always find it difficult to spot the surface lava high on the pali during the day. Layering the two images solves that! I partially erase most of the night shot to reveal the location of the molten lava and glows.

The lava glow in the foreground appears to be at around the 900 to 1100 foot elevation. The more distant glow I believe is from the sprawling surface flows in and around the rootless shield area near 1900-to 2000-foot elevation.

These surface flows are following overtop the April-May & July Quarry flows of this year... If the lava continues down the pali it will be very interesting to see which way it goes when it reaches the coastal plains below.

~ Molten lava breaking out further down pali~

2010-12-06T10:24:00.006-10:00

Click on image for large size. Notice the glow from the rootless shield area on the upper left seems greatly subdued from the previous two days; perhaps that area is crusting over and being drained to the lower pali flows.

The photos above and below were taken last night around 9:00 PM from the Kalapana Gardens access road with a 400mm lens. They both show how much further surface lava has advanced down the Pulama Pali in the last 24-hours. I would guesstimate the leading edge to be as low as the 1000-foot elevation, or possibly lower because some of this flow appears hidden behind a rock ridge and tree-tops are backlit by lava glow.

These new flows look nearly identical the shield breakouts and subsequent pali flow we witnessed in late June of this year, which was essentially the beginning of our massive July Quarry flow.

The coastal flats and ocean areas are inactive as far as lava flowing at this time. Lava began receding in those areas about November 29th & 30th, or one week ago.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I will post updates as warranted depending on new activity.

(I will have my photo display booth set up out there today from 4:00 PM until 8:00 PM if you would like to drop by and say hi or get signed copy of my 76-minute HD lava movie ;)

Public viewing of eruptive zones:

The Hawaii County lava viewing area remains open daily from 2:00 PM until around 9:30 PM. Located off the end of Highway 130 one mile further on the one-lane road.

During the day visitors can walk the viewing road and see the still very hot, shiny and extensive lava fields, the burned out roofs of two homes sadly destroyed recently. By night, weather & eruption depending, we are seeing molten lava moving down the Pulama Pali at a distance of about two and a half-miles away. Also, the reflective lava higher up at the rootless shield zone at about the 2000-foot elevation.
Phone Janguard onsite security from 2:00 PM until 10:00 PM for further information: 430-1966 OR 217-2215.

Meanwhile, up in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, the Halema’uma’u crater continues erupting 450-feet down inside the craters floor pit vent: sulphur dioxide plume stream by day, which often glows dramatically red after dark. The park is open 24-hours a day seven days per week.

~ Coastal flats remain inactive ~ Rootless shields building & breaking out at 2000’ ~

2010-12-05T11:00:00.004-10:00

The large lava tube system that carried massive amounts of molten rock from the TEB eruptive site near Pu`u O`o crater to the sea has not returned to life. Some form of eruptive action severed the plumbing on around November 28th.

The tube system, however, remains very active at around the 2000-foot elevation. I have not made it up there yet (Waiting for it to come down the mountain ;) But geologists with USGS had flown in there a few days ago. Recent reports from pilots and USGS are stating the shield area remains hot with a few localized surface lava breakouts in the past few days, but no lava pooling toward the Pulama Pali slopes at this time.

Below: The view we had in mid-June as seen from the Hawaii County viewing area parking lot of shield reflecting lava colors at dusk is nearly identical to what we see right now up toward the same shield area:
By early July that same lava began cursing down the slopes and covered some serious ground for the next four months. The current shield build up and breakouts have very similar markings.

Below:
The coastal flats lava tube showing how swelled and fractured it had become by last week. In this photo we are facing east-northeast across the lava tube, which is aimed directly at Kalapana Gardens at this juncture of the tube. The home we lost to lava one week ago today is still standing in this photo – the one directly in line with the main fissure, taken exactly 48-hours before it was leveled by the lava flowing through this tube we are perched on here.(click for larger size)

I will post updates as warranted depending on new activity.

(I will have my photo display booth set up out there today from 3:00 PM until 8:00 PM if you would like to drop by and say hi or get signed copy of my 76-minute HD lava movie ;)

Public viewing of eruptive zones:

The Hawaii County lava viewing area remains open daily from 2:00 PM until around 9:30 PM. Located off the end of Highway 130 one mile further on the one-lane road.

During the day visitors can walk the viewing road and see the still very hot, shiny and extensive lava fields, the burned out roofs of two homes sadly destroyed recently. By night, weather & eruption depending, the reflective lava high atop Pulama Pali.
Phone Janguard onsite security from 2:00 PM until 10:00 PM for further information: 430-1966 OR 217-2215.

Meanwhile, up in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, the Halema’uma’u crater continues erupting 450-feet down inside the craters floor pit vent: sulphur dioxide plume stream by day, which often glows dramatically red after dark. The park is open 24-hours a day seven days per week.

New Moon today

CURRENT MOON

moon phase info

~ New rootless shields forming above Pulama Pali ~

2010-12-03T11:00:00.005-10:00

I was hoping to fly into the surface flow zone on the rootless shield today but strong gusty winds and rain have grounded that plan. But we have some great coverage of the new developments already because yesterday the USGS geologists were flown to the area and documented the following findings on their images page today. The photos and captions posted below are directly from their site (with the acceptance of the aerial image on which I have added some rough notes). And it is this new major breakout that has severed lava from flowing through the July Quarry Flow tube system, which had supplied lava to the coastal plains and into the ocean for the previous four months:Above: A new breakout began overnight on Nov 28-29 along the upper section of the TEB tube. The breakout continues to produce lava flows, creating a new rootless shield among the string of previously formed shields.

Below: A close-up of the breakout point on the newly formed shield. The flow is moving from right to left from the breakout point until it branches in several directions near the center of the photograph.
Below: A gas-rich lava flow on the northwest margin of the new shield.
Below: November 18th: Nine days before the lava flow to the coast ceased; fuming pali and rigorous ocean entry.

Below: December 2nd: The current activity above the pali, lava flows on the coastal plain, as well as the Puhi-o-Kalaikini ocean entry, are inactive.
My notes on the aerial added today. Click on any of these images for a larger size and visit the USGS/HVO images page for further images and updates.

~ Surface flows continue at 2000-foot elevation ~ No active coastal lava ~

2010-12-02T11:00:00.007-10:00

Venus and a crescent moon rose together this morning just before dawn. Photo taken out my bedroom window with 500mm lens.(Click for larger view size to see the stars too)

Last night from Kalapana Gardens: looking up the Pulama Pali we could see the same type of red-orange reflective lava glow as the previous two nights, as well as some actual lava showing on the surface at around the 1200-foot elevation or higher. I did not photograph this view.

Otherwise eruptive conditions are about the same as I posted yesterday, including USGS’s report.

The Hawaii County lava viewing area remains open daily from 2:00 PM until around 9:30 PM.
-- During the day visitors can walk the viewing road and see the still very hot, shiny and extensive lava fields and the burned out roofs of two homes sadly destroyed recently. By night, weather & eruption depending, the reflective lava can be seen glowing high atop Pulama Pali.
Phone Janguard onsite security from 2:00 PM until 10:00 PM for further information: 430-1966 OR 217-2215.

Meanwhile, up in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, the Halema’uma’u crater continues erupting 450-feet down inside the craters floor pit vent: sulphur dioxide plume stream by day, which often glows dramatically orange red after dark. The park is open 24-hours a day seven days per week.

~ Coastal eruption lava has ceased ~

2010-12-01T11:00:00.007-10:00

After four months of continuous activity, lava effectively ceased flowing into the ocean and coastal flats due to a large surface breakout high atop, and above, the Pulama Pali.

On this mornings USGS/HVO Kilauea status update they had this to say about this unfolding event: Lava from the TEB vent flowed a short distance down slope before coming to the surface in the saddle between two rootless shields at around the 2,000 ft elevation. A few spots of incandescence were recorded by webcam there last night; in addition, persistent MODIS and GOES thermal anomalies suggest at least a low level of continuing activity. HVO geologists will conduct an overflight and inspection of the area tomorrow if the weather is good. In Kalapana, flows and the ocean entries at Puhi-o-Kalaikini delta have stalled.

Above: Looking southeast down the Pulama Pali toward the ocean at about the 1200-foot elevation. Kalapana Gardens homes can be seen on the distant left. Click on the image for a larger size.

The lava fields and tube system will continue to hold molten lava beneath the ground for weeks and months whether they become reenergized with fresh lava or not. In past years we have had complete pauses of lava flowing down the pali tube system for a few days and then suddenly they fire back up to previouse intensity. If the recent rootelss shield tube rupture has completely severed then this scenario is far less likely I would think.

The July Quarry Flow of this year began in late June into early July after the TEB eruptive site fed lava part way towards the top of the Pulama Pali where it re-formed into large mounds that swelled with molten lava, and storing it there. These mounds are termed ‘rootless shield's; rootless meaning not connected to the main magma source or vent, and building up on top of, or near to, an established lava tube system.

I hiked up to the base of that rootless shield area on July 9th , two days after the shields had burst open and sent major rivers of lava part way down the pali, which was the beginning of the lava flow that covered such a large area of coastal flats land, covered roads and surged into the edge of Kalapana Gardens July 17th & 18th, destroyed a home and poured into the ocean July 25th , and claimed a second occupied home last Saturday, November 27th before ending two days later when the rootless shield broke out. (The highlighted text above will link you to my blog posts on those events and images)

It will be very interesting to see what comes next with these big changes to the TEB eruption… Will we get an entirely new surface flow and subsequent new ocean entry? Pele will be the director of all further island building, just as she has done for millions of years right here…
Below: a reposting of the lava glow breakout reflecting molten colors into the gas fumes and low clouds: up around the 2000-foot elevation.

~ Lava breakout high on Pulama Pali affecting coastal flows ~

2010-11-30T11:01:00.002-10:00

Above: A zoomed-in photo of the lava glowing into degassing fumes and low cloud high up on the Pulama Pali. Taken at 10:00 PM last night.

Apparently pilots reported seeing lava flowing on the surface yesterday afternoon somewhere around the 1500-foot elevation or higher.
We should know more later today. A large pali breakout will very much affect all activity downstream, and already has, as mentioned below.

On my photo above, viewed larger, it seems to me we are seeing the brightest glow beyond the 1800-foot elevation but are also able to see a smaller glow much further down the pali at maybe the 1000-foot elevation, but sill not visible on the surface from the angle I took the shot, which was from Kalapana Gardens; it is really hard to guess the elevations at night from far below.

When this new pali flow broke out there was a correlating drop in all surface breakouts down on the coastal flats and adjacent Kalapana Gardens vicinity. At around dusk we witnessed a large dark steam-cloud soar up from the ocean entry zone, which looked to me to be a bench collapse. Soon aftrwards there was no ocean entry steam plume to be seen for awhile.

After dark we could still see a few small breakout glows and the ocean entry was barley visible. Below is a poor-quaility zoomed in photo showing a few weak breakouts and very subdued ocean entry. (click the images for a larger size)I think the triangle shaped glow on the lower left is actually the corner of Gary Sleik’s lava-burned roof, which is reflecting lava glow that is in front of it. I will hike out there again soon and see what further changes took place at his site.

Public lava viewing:
Light winds could possible close the county viewing area, as they did two days ago.
Phone the lava hotline at 961-8093 for updates, or better yet; phone the Janguard personnel who are on site after 2:00 PM at 430-1966 or 217-2215

~ Gary’s volcano viewing chairs ~

2010-11-29T09:51:00.009-10:00

Placed right there on that open rise of lava, the high point of land near his house with the best view, is where Gary Sleik placed his two special chairs when he first began building his home nearby five years ago: one for him an one for any friends who might drop by.

The chairs could be seen from quit a ways away from across the old raw 1990 lava to the east and would beckon lava junkies and wayward guests; it was THE place to plop down, talk story and gaze out across the mango forests to the west or upslope towards the infamous Pulama Pali…

… And as the various lava flows began creeping down that pali, the chairs were the best vantage point in the area, far away from the bustling suburb of Kalapana Gardens… a comfortable 1000-feet away, which Gary told me was why he built off and apart from the gang up there in the Gardens proper…

Late one night on July 22nd, just four days after Gary lost his access road to the July flow this year, he and I sat in those chairs under a starry sky and sipped a couple of Eye-of-the-Hawk beers I had hauled across the ninety flow to share with him. Right there before us was the entire July lava flow unfolding: from mountaintop all the way onto Gary’s property; fields of molten lava were covering hundreds of acres of land and forests. We calmly watched trees flare up like giant torches and then subside. Mango’s heavy with fruit were falling to the massive on-slot of lava – All of this before us; not a single house or street light within this expansive lavascaped evening—just Jupiter, a zillion stars above us and miles of orange-red glowing lava below… Yep those were special chairs.

Up until July 24th, only the chairs up there on the highpoint for years, nothing else. The picnic table was something Gary and I and two other friends saved from Gary’s carport as the lava encroached onto his yard this past July 24th; Gary’s thoughts on that decision were, “We’ll we might want something to sit on when she burns”.Which is exactly what happened early the next morning:

And the little round-roofed structure you see here was added after the lava took out his home. It was made from the top of his original lava-burned gazebo, which had remarkably been lifted up by the lava as it inflated below.

Gary and Dave made the gazebo come back to life on October 3rd, for the special gathering Gary had for a bunch of his friends before he headed off the island for family time on the mainland.

And yes, as you can see here, we all took turns sitting on the chairs… Pictured above from left to right: Jean, who’s home burned on Saturday, Dave, Steve and Gary – all of these four share properly borders, and two of them have lost homes to lava in the past four months. Dave & Charlene had lava within 130-feet of their beautiful large home by August 2nd, and Steve had not built yet when the molten lava covered his land beginning in July and is still flowing across it today. (By the way, Steve is actually ‘The man from Montana’ from my story about him building the rock walls to stop Pele – He went by Andre Kaukane for that one (His walls are still holding by the way))

Yep; so here is Steve and Gary talking story in those chairs as lava smolders through the forests and jungle beyond.

So I was happy to see the chairs on Friday had escaped the lava flowing through the area as seen here above and below and the picnic table and gazebo top were all still there even though a fresh burst of lava had flowed around them all – completely surrounding the site, even inflating five feet higher on one side, yet without harming a single item left there… Sunset through Gary's gazebo and lava ignited noni tree orchard, in front of Jean's house on Friday November 26th. Jeans house now with lava just forty-feet away from it as seen through Gary's new gazebo
But 24-hours later molten lava broke out of that surround and gushed across Gary’s Last Stand. As you can see from the photos below, just hours before Jean lost here home to lava , Gary’s last stand, his last piece of original occupied space on his property, was consumed by a new lava breakout Saturday afternoon, November 27th, 2010. I happened upon the scene as it unfolded, as did Carl and the other Lava Dave.
Above, the red under the gazebo is molten lava, below, we can see Jean's house only a few hours before it too was overtaken.We were all saddened to see the chairs go—though at that point only one remained, I think Lava Dave had saved one the day before, leaving the other for Gary … Whose chair is now permanently encased in lava--- but—if no more lava covered it after I took these photos, I could imagine setting another cushion on what remains and still having the best lava view on the island!
– Well maybe after we let the rock cool down under it a few more days.

~ 2nd Kalapana Gardens home destroyed - ignited by lava ~

2010-11-28T10:12:00.007-10:00

Above, home engulfed in lava-ignited fire. Further down are some other images in sequence of the event.

EDIT November 29th:
If you would like to see some of the video footage I took of Jean’s sad loss of home and orchard, this highlighted link to Hawaii News Now will go right to it.

As I shared with you on yesterday’s posting, advancing fields of molten lava were approaching this occupied home all day Friday the 26th, but the lava stalled a mere twenty-feet from reaching the wood structure by 3:00 AM Saturday morning.
Entering her property on November 22nd, the lava took five days to travel 200-feet to her home:

The owner of the home slept in the house Saturday night as the Hilo Fire Department personnel stood watch outside. Police had the access road to the home blocked for all but the residents and emergency vehicles. The public viewing area was closed for a second day.

Around 4:00 PM yesterday lava was licking at one corner of the post-and-pier foundation, engulfing it by 4:30 PM and bringing the second roof of the two seperate but adjoining sections of the home to the ground by 5:30 PM.

This is the 2nd home taken out by this July Quarry Flow, the 1st being Gary Sleik’s on July 25th this year.

The following images tell yesterday's tragic story: Smoke wafts up from a house post burning on the other side at 4:00 PM. Owner gathers some favorite plants from the backyard. In the distance, above the home, we can see the lines of degassing fumes from the lava tubes carrying the lava to her house.

Fire crews do last minute look over of the premises but can do nothing to stop the lava from overtaking the house. (Twenty years earlier, during the 1990-Quarry Flow, fire crews did attempt to squelch molten lava that was advancing onto one home. The experiment did slow down the lava’s progress but ultimately the massive force of the lava could not be contained for long)

5:34 PM, Saturday, November 27, 2010

~ Molten lava at doorstep of Kalapana Gardens home ~ Road closure ~

2010-11-27T04:19:00.002-10:00

Moonlight shines across spreading lava fields while molten edges advance toward the home -- Click on photo for larger images.

Hawaii County Civil Defense closed the pubic lava viewing access road yesterday as lava advanced up to one occupied residence of Kalapana Gardens.

Stars filled the sky above threatened home overnight.

By midnight lava had slowed its advance but was extremely close to the home. Hawaii Fire Department were stationed near the home and police and Jan-guard Security restricted road access throughout the day and all night.

This home was one of the very first to build on top of the 1990 lava flow field within Kalapana Gardens subdivision. You might remember seeing this home with lava flowing nearby from my July 22nd posting, with the photo below: As well as other more recent reports of the lava entering the backyard of this property three previous times in the past couple of months.

By 3:00 AM this morning much of the advancing lava had stalled but continued inflating higher. Surface flows of lava have spread across a large portion of the coastal flats in the past 48-hours.

Another chunk of the road was also covered up.

I will return to the area later this morning.

The public lava viewing area may likely be closed today, but you can phone Civil Defense at 961-8093 for updates, or try 430 1966 or 217-2215 after 2:00 PM for onsite information

~ Three flow fronts on coastal flats ~ Gary’s final stand holds ~

2010-11-26T11:01:00.005-10:00

As of yesterday, there were three main leading edges to this ongoing and sprawling coastal flats lava flow:

(Click on any image for a larger view size) Above: #1 -- Small remnant patches of brush and trees left behind from previous flows (named kipuka’s –pronounced key-pooh-kah) are overtaken by advancing lava due west of Kalapana access road and due north a few hundred feet of where the barricades on that road were destroyed and covered by lava days ago.

#2: Below, the old Waikupanaha viewing area trail and site near the coast. This flow front was breaking out fast and hot Wednesday night but had nearly stalled by yesterday. This leading edge shown here is right on top the view site and about 300-feet from reaching the ocean.Those of you who walked that trail from March 2008 to when that entry stopped on January 3rd this year will recognized those foot-path markers covering the ¾ mile hike from the access road.

#3: Above & Below, Gary Sleik’s house site and moving east of there last night. For those who follow this blog a bit you will recall Gary held a little party right there on October 3rd for those who were there supporting him when lava overtook his home July 25th this year. If you missed the original big story you can get a full recap here on my> October 3rd post and scroll down to the lava-at-the-house-images.

But what I found amazing is that between Wednesday night and yesterday afternoon molten lava had completely surrounded Gary’s last stand, his picnic table & chairs and salvaged gazebo roof, but not harmed any of these things! The lava next to there is even higher than the table site!

As you can see from these photos the lava is still busting out pretty good. Lava pressures seem to be pulsing through the lava tube system and out of the breakouts in almost a rhythmic fashion: ocean entry strong – surface flows slow down, ocean entry lava drops off to a trickle and surface lava gets stronger quickly.

Two of these breakouts were visible from the public view site at roads end. Many people were opting to pay a few dollars to get the various local guided tours to see lava up close. Those tours can be found at the vendors area at the end of highway 130.Above: lava has past Gary's site and moved further east toward Kalapana Gardens homes. These surface flows are filling in low areas and also creating new higher mounds as they go.

~ Eruption anniversary ~ Surface flows continue ~

2010-11-24T06:39:00.003-10:00

Above: Looking southwest, stars and moonlit clouds partly illuminate the scene from the new location of the Hawaii County Civil Defense site at 10:00 PM: ocean entry on the left and you can see the red glows from continued lava breakouts further out on the coastal flats beyond. These distant lava breaks are mostly out near the main lava tube system about 1800-feet away. If you click on the photo you will be able to also see the yellowish glow beyond the far forest line; this is brush burning from another aggressive surface flow of lava. These photos were taken with a wide-angle lens; the breakouts are much larger than they appear

Below: looking south at the same location reveals more breakouts of lava closer to the viewing site plus larger ones further away.

Continued slow rise of recorded magma pressure will likely keep these surface flows active. These are the longest running and greatest spread of surface lava breakouts since July I think. Though advancing rather slowly at this time, the most easterly of the breaks could create a serious threat to a few homes should lava continue inflating higher and advancing. Molten lava has already come within two-hundred feet of one occupied home the past few days.

TEB: Thanksgiving Eve Breakout, the designation used for lava flows that started with a breakout on November 21, 2007 and continues delivering the lava to the coast right now. Click the highlighted text to see the original USGS press release on that eruption event; taken from the Kilauea Volcano eruption timeline 2007 to 2009.

A small magnitude 4.6 earthquake occurred at 6:34:13 PM (HST) yesterday 10 mile south of Makena, Maui at a depth of 6 miles; surprising residents on that island. Here on the Big Isle, we have many light quakes every day: 33 in just the past two-weeks! You can look at the ongoing list of island quakes here

Pu`u O`o has some very hot spots on the crater floor; I spotted those on that craters overlook cam. Halema’uma’u crater floor vent hole continues glowing brightly most nights

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Public viewing information for the coastal eruptions:

Rains sweeping across the Big Islands windward side may dampen some lava viewing today and tonight, though the area of lava flows is generally drier.

Public lava viewing is from the access road off the very end of Highway 130. There is a parking area, port-o-potties and security personnel on site between 2:00 PM and 10:00 PM daily. Last car allowed in at 8:00 PM, but you can stay in the area until about 9:30 PM.
A half-mile walk down the road from the parking takes you to where recent lava covered it, as well as affording vista views of the lines of degassing fumes wafting from the underground lava tubes that presently carry tremendous amounts of liquid rock for miles down slope to the sea.

And from the road you can see where the lava vigorously pours into the ocean and huge plumes of steam rise up. After dark the base of this steam will glow red and orange colors from reflective molten lava. Periodically, as we are having right now, there have been sizable surface flows of lava breaking out well within view of the access road; these breaks have often flowed close to, and on to, the viewing site these past months; conditions for that change weekly.

You can get on-site information updates for the public access road by phoning management personnel stationed there after 2:00 PM:
430-1966 or 217-2215. The main Civil Defense lava viewing hotline is 961-8093.

~ Surface flows near Kalapana Gardens stalling ~

2010-11-23T11:00:00.003-10:00

I have no solid reports for the surface flows on the coastal plains from this morning, but I was out there at 11:00 PM last night and could see that most of the breakouts near the end county access road, which is now the new viewing site, as well as the lava flowing into the backyard of one Kalapana Gardens had stagnated: no longer advancing.

There were, however, continued breakouts across a wide range of the coastal plains or flats; the strongest of these were out along the lava tube itself, but another was far east of there and very close to Gary Sleik’s burned out home. At that spot brush was also burning. Any advancement of lava in that area becomes a threat to homes along the edge of Kalapana Gardens.

That said, there is a continued rise in magma pressures within the reservoirs under Kilauea Volcano, in recent months a rise in these pressures has correlated with increased lava pressure in the tubes carrying molten lava down the mountain and to surface breakouts from weak fissures along the tubes themselves. So we could perhaps see continued breakouts in the days & nights ahead. This increase in lava pressure will also likely escalate the land forming into the sea - out on the new lava delta… which will make the outer edge of the delta/bench very unstable and highly prone to collapses.

Yesterday’s posting here tells the story of this latest flow, or scroll down to yesterday’s post below this one.