~ Pu`u O`o bubbling lava lake and other goings on ~

Activity all through the eruption zones from Halema’uma’u lava-filled vent to Pu`u O`o crater encrusted lava lake, as well as the lava tube surface breakouts and the ocean entry have all been going through swings of all sorts this past week: meaning basically that all these zones exhibited strong lava shows the past week then abruptly diminished.

These swings were also reflected on the electronic tilt monitors stationed at Kilauea Caldera and the Pu`u O`o crater as show in the graph here:

During the height of activity October 6th, USGS took some good aerial clips of the new molten lava activity within the Pu`u O`o crater floor and have them posted on their Imagespage. Here is the link to that clip

I have not been able to get out to the coastal lava flow areas for a few days but from what reports I have obtained there seems to be little change from my last posting except for a decrease in surface flows along the lava tubes and a slight decrease in the ocean entry lava. ( My Internet service provider was down yesterday so I was unable to post my blog).

Kilauea Volcano Facts: Extrapolated
from USGS volcanic gases page.

Laze plumes are very acidic
Extreme heat from lava entering the sea rapidly boils and vaporizes seawater, leading to a series of chemical reactions. The boiling and reactions produce a large white plume, locally known as lava haze or laze, which contains a mixture of hydrochloric acid (HCl) and concentrated seawater. This is a short-lived local phenomenon that only affects people or vegetation directly under the plume.

Avoid standing beneath a laze plume
Dense laze plumes, such as that shown here contain as much as 10-15 parts per million of hydrochloric acid. These values drop off sharply as the plume moves away from the lava entry areas. During along-shore or on-shore winds, this plume produces acid rain that may fall on people and land along the coast. This rain (pH 1.5 to 2), often more acidic that lime juice or stomach acid, is very corrosive to the skin and clothing. Visitors to the lava entry areas should avoid standing directly in, under, or downwind of the laze plume.

~ Ocean entry delta broadens + Fishing hotspot ~

Ocean entry at sunrise this morning.

I spoke with a fellow this morning while we were both overlooking the broad lava bench and he was telling me that when he was in the same area last night and a large portion of the massive bench were rivers of lava almost like a lake of molten rock. Where the lava has been flowing off the bench into the sea has changed location many times in the past few days. As of this morning the dominant entry points were the far west end and sometimes off the furthest point jutting out toward the ocean. The delta is extending westward again.

~~~~~~~~~
Very early this morning three local fishermen were doing their best effort at catching a large ulua, or jackfish. Many larger ulua have been taken off of rocky coasts where the jagged lava meets the ocean providing for a deep drop off where these fish like to congregate; some locals claim the biggest ulua are caught next to active lava flows ... Yes they caught & released a few small ones

Visitors to the Hawaii County lava viewing area who stayed late last night were treated to a period of exceptionally bright entry glow and what appeared to be separate entry points all along the fuming coastal delta. I took the photo above just before 10:00 PM last night from the access road, and yes, that house I often frame into the photos from the road makes another appearance ;)

Also viewed after dark last night were random little molten lava breakouts all down the Pulama pali and even out on the coastal flats west of Kalapana Gardens area. These breakouts appear as orbs of red and follow the lava tube system.

~ Wider ocean entry, limited surface lava, activity in Kilauea ~

The ocean entry from the Kalapana Gardens access road at 7:30 this morning. Click for a larger view size; the morning helicopters have arrived in this shot.

In the pre-dawn light I was able to see a few red glowing areas on the Pulama pali where active breakouts continued as reported on yesterdays blog. Last night I could also see these same spots and noticed a small breakout on the coastal flats near the existing lava tube west of the access road.

Crater cams showing some stronger activity the past 24 hours:

Below, 9AM this morning (One portion of the crater floor, click on the highlighted cam link text to see the entire crater floor):Pu`u O`o overlook crater cam is revealing lava breakouts during the nighttime and the day as the two captures below show:Below, 9:00PM last night:


Last night I saved a capture of the Halema’uma’u overlook cam because it was so intense looking on the churning lava crust way down there:This cam often has a pretty decent view of the lava surface even in the daytime, clink on the linked text above for the current cam shot.

An abrupt drop in magma pressures beneath Kilauea took place early this morning, especially at Pu`u O`o, as shown on the sites graph here:

~ Pulama Pali surface flow breakout ~

Last night lava broke out of the existing plumbing system that feeds all lava from the eruptive sites high on the mountain and delivers it to the coastal flats and into the ocean. By daybreak this morning a long line of lava could be seen part way up the Pulama Pali.

Below is a camera-phone image taken at 6:00 AM this morning of this by a local Kalapana Gardens resident.

In the past these kinds of breakouts have usually dissipated and stalled within a day or two… but occasionally they also become an entire new flow field, which have the ability to really change things up downstream....

I will go take a look at this from the access road today and maybe check it out tonight or tomorrow morning and report back by 11:00 AM tomorrow (Wednesday)

The Hawaii County viewing area opened again yesterday and will likely be open today/night as well. Phone 961-8093 for Civil Defense lava hotline updates.

~ Gary Sleik holds a house party next to where it once was ~

Dubbed a going away party, Gary Sleik invited friends and neighbors to his old picnic site that is perched near his home site. Gary lost his home on July 25th when relentlessly advancing molten lava overtook his home; burning it to the ground and covering the area in over eight feet of new lava but leaving his sheet metal roof partially exposed. The shot above shows the little structure made for the party and also showing the roof remains of Gary's house on the left. Below; the same party shelter and the ocean entry plume nearby. Gary, pictured below, is not permanently leaving the islands, just off to the mainland to visit his daughter and enjoy some time away from the lava fields and the cramped van he now lives in, but he wanted to have a little gathering of friends and neighbors out on the lavascape that once was his beautiful homestead. With the help of his closest neighbor Lava Dave,
Gary salvaged the lava-spared top roof dome of what once was his beautiful gazebo; found in the burned-out ruins nearby, and they built a nice sun & wind-protected shelter for the party goers to sit under. They placed the shelter overtop the picnic table that still sits perched on a higher lava mound near the house site. This is the same picnic table we had carried from Gary’s carport before the lava took it in July, and, where he and Darlene sat in the wee hours of the 25th watching the home they built together go up in flames (see photos of that further down).Darlene and Gary survey what remains of the home.



As his friends slowly arrived for yesterday's party by making the long hike across the raw lava fields from nearby Kalapana Gardens, Gary would take each visitor over to his lava-rubbled house site and give them a tour and tell stories of the good days living there and of the events leading to the homes eventual demise from lava.

Remarkably the lava below the old house site remains quit warm and a little gassy from molten layers hidden eight to twelve feet below.

We teased Gary about the new picnic shelter becoming his new home and that we would help him built a few more floors for a better ocean view. As you can see by the pictures I took of this gathering the ocean entry lava plume is only a short distance to the south from where we gathered. Luckily the winds blew the fumes away from us.

The eclectic group gathered there all had great stories from past encounters with Pele’s wrath, including having been burned completely out by the 1986 or 1990 Kalapana lava flow in which more than 144 homes and an entire community were destroyed right there in the same area.

On those fateful days of July, as molten lava relentlessly progressed through the forests and lands surrounding Gary’s home, many of these same friends and neighbors at yesterdays gathering had also visited Gary to offer their support. As his friends arrived, and lava was approaching, Gary encouraged us all to have fun and food. Fun was playing horseshoes and playing with the molten lava advancing, which by July 24th was coming within eighty feet of his home and thirty feet from his gazebo, the same gazebo that he salvaged the round roof frame off of yesterday to use as our picnic shelter.

Below I will share with you more of the photos I took during those last days-hours on July 24th and the early hours of the 25th as lava entered Gary’s yard and soon after took out his home: The making of lava hand molds in Gary's driveway

Above: lava crossing into Gary's backyard and heading for the gazebo, which is shown below. (The 20-rayed gazbo roof somehow survived the lava and was used to make the party shelter roof for yesterday

Waiting and watching: House stairs above, gazebo below

Gazebo succumbs to lava above and Pele is about to hug the house below.
Not too often we find molten lava in our front yards...

Gary & Darlene sitting on the picnic table watching the inevitable
My original posting of this July 24th to 25th event can be seen here
You can watch my video of this event by opening the following KLTV-7 NEWS page link and then clicking on either of the two featured Video Gallery links on the page.

~ Surface flow stalled ~ Ocean entry continues on unstable delta ~

ABOVE: (click for larger size)
Aerial image of the ocean entry lava and coastal flats posted on the USGS/HVO Images web page that I have added notes too. (Check their page for some nice aerials looking inside the Pu`u O`o crater that show the crusted but hot lava that has been spilling inside recently. They have also posted some other recent photos and movie clips with informative captions.)
This view from above clearly shows the new lava-created delta of land produced by the continuous outflow from the lava tubes since July 25th this year. As I have posted many times in the past, these new land delta/benches are highly unstable and very prone to partial or even a total collapse without warning. Bench collapses cause violent steam, ash, tephra and scalding waves on a small or large scale The cracking of the hot bench alone can create massive littoral explosions of raw lava and/or powerful ejections of rock fragments for long distances.

Many of my photographs appear to have been taken from the bench while in fact most are recorded through long lenses from the stable older sea-cliff land (see the aerial where the lighter lava bench meets the darker sea-wall land). Though I do take closer images of the lava pouring into the see during the first days it finds the sea before the new delta is formed or is just beginning to form, it is one thing for experienced persons to approach the active lava deltas and another to purposely lead inexperienced island visitors directly out on a hot delta.

Below: Last person of a tour group as they exit the edge of the lava delta.

On every trip out to record the ocean entry these past weeks I have observed tour groups, both early morning and at night, hiking along the coast from the Kaimu/Kalapana vicinity as local guides lead their group of tourists right straight out onto the lava bench, following the contours of the outer delta edge, as they attempt to get as close to the actively pouring lava as they can. Often then proceeding to hike across the entire hot & fuming delta only a short distance inland from the actual ocean entry, as mentioned below. I cringe every time I see this. Not all walk-in tours allow this unsafe practice; always staying a safe distance from the hot bench.

The photo below taken yesterday morning at 5:22 AM from inland looking out across the bench towards the glowing lava steam. Minutes before taking it I watched a tour group of about eight people with flashlights walk all the way across the bench, which by the way had molten sections flowing only yesterday. In the photo you can see some of the lava glowing on the bench as well as a small littoral tephra explosion.

The tour guides that don’t follow safe approaches should watch these two USGS clips: Both movie clips show the violent activity that took place on two separate lava benches that are remarkably similar in structure to our current one --
this delta collapse clip
And:
this explosive eruption of another bench

Small sections of the outer delta/bench have been breaking off over the weeks. A friend of mine recently witnessed a small tour group as they walk away from the most active outer edge of the delta and a moment later the very spot this group had been standing dropped in an instant into the sea; exploding as it did; another close-call of many.

More favorable winds are arriving to the Lower Puna coast but I do not know if the Hawaii County lava viewing area in Kalapana Gardens will open today or not. Try phoning Civil Defense lava hotline after 2:00PM for an update: 961-8093

~ Another surface flow breakout west of Kalapana Gardens ~

Above: The lava in the foreground was flowing only hours before; and in the background kipuka trees smolder. Further yet we see some of the Kalapana Gardens homes.

Yet another breakout from the large tube system less than 2000-feet due west of Hawaii County’s viewing barricades. The flow broke out of the tube late afternoon yesterday and flowed due east for 600-feet through the night. This morning it had already nearly stalled but still had some small advancing hotspots. If you click on the image for a larger view size you can see some glowing lava in the crack on the lower left.
Below: A zoomed in look across the new hot lava towards the homes; intense heat waves caused the image to distort.

As shown in the photos above and below, the advancing surface flow ignited grasses, low vegetation and small patches of trees that had survived previous breakouts. The grass in the foreground has already burned up from the lava advancing by the tree. Methane explosions were loud and strong in those areas.

Above: Here we are standing directly on top of the main lava tube feeding the coastal plain and the ocean entry beyond (behind us in this image). The Pulama Pali in the background displays the exact path of the winding lava tubes by their degassing fumes. Up above the pali you can almost spot where the TEB and Pu`u O`o vents are fuming as well. Fumes are also wafting from the big fissures in the tube crust. The silvery lava to the right of the tube is the root of the present lava flow and is still red hot.

I am pretty sure the Hawaii County coastal lava viewing area is closed for the day because the breezes are still causing the ocean entry, degassing and vegetation fumes to lay overtop that entire section of the coast and beyond. You can phone them for updates at: 961-8093