YazataMay 13, 2018 08:57 PM (This post was last modified: May 13, 2018 09:05 PM by Yazata.)
It looks like fissures, lava extrusions and spattering is picking up again in the 'eastern rift' area. New evacuations along one particular road have been ordered.
The main Kilauea volcano continues to deflate. Here's the crater atop it. (Compare this photograph to the photograph of the same spot in post #9.) It has a flared geometry, then narrows into a cylinder that until recently was full of lava and is now more than 1000 feet deep. The lava that was once below Kilauea volcano seems to be draining away and moving east beneath the whole southeast coast of the Big Island, where it's bursting through in spots as the ground swells and new fissures form.
They keep saying if the lava level sinks to the ground water level that she'll blow up and hurl refrigerator size chunks all the way to Maui. Is this true or hype?
"This morning, activity is dominated by lava fountaining, explosion of spatter more than 100 feet into the air, and an advancing lava flow from fissure 17 at the northeast end of the fissure system. As of 630 am the fissure 17 flow had traveled just under a mile roughly east-southeast parallel to the rift zone. It is turning slightly south and at this time is about one half mile south of Highway 132.
Fissure 18 that became active late yesterday is weakly active.
A fissure 19 has been spotted very near fissure 15 as of about 8 am just northeast of Pohoiki Road and north of Hinalo Street at the east end of Lanipuna Gardens. It is producing a sluggish lava flow.
Volcanic gas emissions remain elevated throughout the area downwind of the vents. Yesterday with the onset of activity at fissure 17, powerful steam jets have occurred intermittently near the west end of the fissure. These jets may be responsible for some of the loud sounds reported by residents and emergency workers."
Apparently no new evacuations or road closures as of today. Lava is slowly advancing, but no buildings or roads are immediately threatened. They are warning people remaining in the area to beware of Sulfur Dioxide gas. There are National Guard, USGS and Hawaii Department of Health teams monitoring the concentrations.
This helicopter view from the USGS shows the activity at fissure 17 with lava fountaining up. The lava flow isn't visible in this photo.
Here's a USGS photo of the lava flow. Interestingly, it shows what might be old lava to the right of the new flow, so this might not be the first time this has happened at this spot. (Dunno how old that older lava is.)
And here's a USGS photo of one of the steam jets at fissure 17:
YazataMay 16, 2018 08:10 PM (This post was last modified: May 16, 2018 08:34 PM by Yazata.)
(May 14, 2018 01:48 AM)Magical Realist Wrote: They keep saying if the lava level sinks to the ground water level that she'll blow up and hurl refrigerator size chunks all the way to Maui. Is this true or hype?
The USGS' Volcano Observatory Notice for Aviation (VONA) has been upgraded to Red (something bad is happening right now) from Orange (remain alert) due to continuous ash eruption from the main vent of the main Kilauea volcano. This is causing ashfalls downwind and increased 'vog'. Pilots need to steer clear of it since it can clog jet engines.
They say, "At any time, activity may become more explosive, increasing the intensity of ash production and producing ballistic projectiles near the vent."
(I do think that refrigerator-sized chunks of rock flying all the way to Maui sounds like hype. But a thousand yards or even a few miles, maybe.)
There was a small to medium magnitude 4.2 earthquake at the Kilauea vent this morning.
In other news, they say that the lava flow from fissure 17 is no longer advancing, but gas emissions nearby are getting worse.
"Hawaii Fire Department reports that air quality is condition RED around fissures in the southeast area of Lanipuna Gardens and surrounding farm lots on Pohoiki Road. Condition RED means immediate danger to health so take action to limit further exposure."
YazataMay 19, 2018 03:27 AM (This post was last modified: May 19, 2018 04:28 AM by Yazata.)
A big belch of volcanic ash Thursday morning (Hawaii time) from the summit crater of Kilauea reached 30,000 feet, but nothing really big has been happening at the Kilauea summit since. They say that the frequency of small earthquakes is increasing though.
The area off to the east is most active today. Fissure 17 is spattering lava but the lava flow it emitted has stopped advancing. Fissure 18 is emitting a flow that has advanced 0.6 miles (1 km). Dangerous levels of sulfur dioxide gas continue to be emitted. New water restrictions are in effect. Locals are being warned to beware of downed electric power lines. (Life in paradise.)
Here's something truly extraordinary. It's a live-stream of Fissure 17 in the eastern rift area. The link was on the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory twitter page, but I think that it's somebody else doing this, not the government. Some Hawaii internet journalists or something. (The guy who seems to be in charge at the scene sounds like he has an Australian accent.)
I had no idea how loud it is. Lots of roaring and rumbling, with lava seen fountaining and spattering and the occasional sound of helicopters flying overhead. You can see the black surface in the foreground slowly moving from right to left, apparently it's flowing lava. While the lava fountains at the fissure reach tree-top height. Amazing. This live-feed might cease when the Sun goes down in Hawaii in a couple of hours, so here's where to look for new feeds from these people.
YazataMay 19, 2018 05:37 AM (This post was last modified: May 19, 2018 07:56 PM by Yazata.)
The live stream from fissure 17 shows dramatic changes in just the last hour. The lava fountains have stopped entirely but the flow of lava in the foreground is now incandescent and is flowing much faster. It almost looks like a lava river.
Edit: the livestream was apparently coming from fissure 20, not fissure 17. The USGS reports a fast moving lava flow coming from 20.
The livestream isn't going Saturday morning. But there's some pretty spectacular recorded nighttime video of lava fountaining.
Edit of the edit: The USGS verifies it was fissure 20. The live-stream seems to be back up, here:
YazataMay 19, 2018 07:54 PM (This post was last modified: May 19, 2018 09:10 PM by Yazata.)
Here's a USGS photo of the lava river that came out of fissure 20 last night. Reportedly it cut a road, isolating about 40 houses. Most of the people had already evacuated, but National Guard helicopters took out 4 stragglers. Activity at fissure 20 is still vigorous. Here's what I believe is a live-stream from the location of one of the houses on the left side of the USGS photo, showing closeups of the lava fountains. (I'm assuming that it's a telephoto lens and that this is further away from the camera than it looks. Edit... it is. They just panned out and moved the camera to point at something else that's interesting, and it is indeed a reasonably long way away. The camera is on the veranda of a large old house some distance away and to the left in the USGS still photo.)
Edit: The livestream camera has switched to a new location, showing what looks like a fissure (apparently it's 17) trying to construct a new volcanic mountain (a spatter cone) of solidified lava around itself.
The USGS says:
"Eruption of lava and ground cracking in the area of Leilani Estates subdivision continues. Beginning yesterday and continuing overnight, the rate of lava eruption has increased. Fountaining is occurring at Fissure 17, and Fissures 16-20 have merged into a continuous line of spatter and fountaining. Flows from the consolidated Fissure 20 crossed upper Pohoiki road late yesterday afternoon and continued flowing southward. This morning, the wide flow is very active and is advancing at rates up to 300 yds per hour. A second flow from the same fissure complex is also flowing southward between Pohoiki and Opihikao Rds... It is unknown whether the flows will continue to advance or stop, and new lava flows are likely given the rate of activity seen at the rift zone...Magma continues to be supplied to the Lower East Rift Zone; however the GPS instrument near Pu'u Honua'ula is no longer moving suggesting that the rift zone is no longer inflating in this area."