Saturday, September 24, 2011

Autumnal Equinox lava glow from Kalapana Gardens

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:

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