June 21: Mauna Loa Green, Kilauea Red

Today’s Eruption Summary

The LERZ eruption continues as it has for several weeks now, which is actually remarkable. Fissure 8 has added bulk (width) but not much height to its cone. Fissure 6 was active again last night with a sluggish little flow, while 16/18 and 22 showed early-morning incandescence.

USGS: Fissure 8 continues building a tephra cone and producing a robust channelized lava flow on Kīlauea Volcano’s Lower East Rift Zone.” (Full-sized)

Fissure 8’s lava flow cruises along at 17mph in an elevated channel 50-60 feet high, slowing gradually to 2mph by the time it rounds the bend at Kapoho Crater. Its 8 mile journey concludes in the ocean and a burst of laze and fresh black sand, just a little further out each day. The lava delta has grown to 380 acres.

Halema’uma’u Crater at Kilauea’s summit continues to expand its gaping cavity by about 14 million cubic meters a day.  The summit explosion for today occurred at 1:13pm HST, as usual registering as magnitude 5.3, with a minor ash & gas plume about 1000 feet high:

summit explosion caught on livestream

Captured from the USGS/HVO Kilauea Livestream. That enormously long crack on the right especially impressed me. Below, I’ve made a before-and-after animation to show some of the changes at Halema’uma’u over the last two days, using screengrabs from HVO’s webcam.

Before-and-after photos of Halema’uma’u from HVO webcam. First screengrab morning of June 19; second is afternoon of June 21. (Larger-sized)

While Kilauea can’t sit still, Mauna Loa’s status has been downgraded to GREEN following six months of “near background level” seismic activity. See the “remarks” section of the USGS June 21 Mauna Loa update explaining the context for this announcement and Mauna Loa’s behavior over the past five years.

 June 19 Montage of Leilani Estates at Night

Good video reminding us of where it all started, Leilani Estates, as well as the unforgettable sound of Fissure 8 roaring:

USGS 1.5 Minute Briefing

Liz Westby, USGS Geologist (Transcript)

USGS Photos, Social Media Q&As

Q: Will the White House’s new gag order on the USGS affect Kilauea updates? USGS: Our updates and information delivery are not being impacted. [CALL YOUR REPS ANYWAY; one-way “updates and information delivery” may not be impacted, but the ability of the press to interview USGS scientists or ask questions IS.]

Q: [Regarding Mauna Loa announcement] What does “near background seismicity” mean?
USGS: Active have a “fingerprint” – a way of behavior that’s unique to it specifically. USGS (as its 5 volcano observatories) monitors volcanoes to determine fingerprint (background level of activity) and watch for deviations away from the norm.

USGS: “At a wide point in the channelized lava flow, a ropy crust has formed over the more fluid lava below. The ocean entry plume is visible to the upper left. Photo taken during early morning overflight.” (Full-sized)

Q: How far can lava flow before it loses too much heat to stay liquid?
USGS: An 1859 lava flow on Mauna Loa traveled more than 50 km (31 mi) before it hit the ocean, so at least that far.

Q: Will the lava delta remain, erode? Can it ever be built on?
USGS: The town of Kal[s]pana was consumed by lava, as was Kaimū bay (1990). Because the Kapoho Bay area was relatively shallow, we expect this land will remain intact and develop a black sand beach – much like Kaimū beach 300 yards from the old Kaimū bay shoreline.

USGS: “Early morning view of the ocean entry. The lava fountain from fissure 8 is visible behind the laze plume rising from the entry point. The open lava flow channel is visible just beyond the solidified darker flows in the foreground.” (Full-sized)

Q: [Regarding today’s 5.3 summit explosion] Has it created any changes within Kilauea? How will it affect the LERZ lava flow, especially Fissure 8?
USGS: No change. This is the normal (pretty much daily now) M5+ event that signals a pressure release from the summit magma storage region.

Q: What is creating all the seismic events near Halema’uma’u?
USGS: In general, the withdrawal of magma from the storage region beneath the summit. Magma is moving into the East Rift Zone and decreasing pressure within the system that used to hold up the surface…so the surface is responding by fracturing and sinking. The fracturing records as earthquakes. [They dodged the more complicated question of the exact mechanism driving the explosive events and explained all the other summit quakes.]

Q: Will the magma chamber beneath the crater refill?
USGS: Kīlauea Volcano is in its very early life. The summit magma storage region will certainly refill. Presently, we are still seeing magma draining into the East Rift Zone, though not necessarily out of the LERZ eruption site. There is a lot of distance in the subsurface and a lot of space for magma to fill in.

USGS: “The USGS UAS (unoccupied aircraft system) team took this photograph of Halema‘uma‘u Crater from the Kīlauea Overlook on this morning. They are preparing for a flight to map further subsidence at the summit.” (Full-sized)

Q: [Regarding summit explosion livestream]: Some of the ash plume seemed to originate from a different spot?
USGS: Just before the M5.4 there were precursory earthquakes that caused several rockfalls from the caldera walls (as well as Halema‘uma‘u). The rock dust from those blew in front of the camera right before/during the larger event.

Q:  Why did it take 35 minutes for the 5.3 earthquake to be listed, after other, later earthquakes were listed?
USGS: These events are explosion events rather than earthquakes, so they are not automatically posted by USGS. [Instead they are manually reviewed.]

Finally, the USGS posted a really good essay on Facebook, rather than on any easily-accessible USGS website: “What’s in a name?” about naming Fissure 8 or renaming Halema’uma’u.

Highway 130 Traffic Cam

HDOT has reactivated traffic cams in the Puna district and added a thermal cam for Highway 130’s plate-covered cracks. Yikes:

June 21, 9:40 pm screencap from HDOT’s thermal traffic cam for Highway 130.
From Local News Outlets

 

Moment of Aloha
  • Dispatches from Volcano posted a lovely piece today, including memories and photos of the Queen’s Baths which I’m so sorry I didn’t see in 1986.
From Social Media

Aha! Lavajavadude on Hawaii Lava Update blog is @BruceOmori, photographer for Extreme Exposure Fine Art Gallery. His June 21 blog post includes fine photos plus observations of his last overflight with Mick Kalber. Here’s two more of his photos:

Wednesday, June 20, 2018, 5:45 am – Kilauea's east rift zone overflight: A view of fissure 8, as the light winds allowed the plume to rise straight up.

Posted by Extreme Exposure Fine Art Gallery on Wednesday, June 20, 2018

See rest of this photo gallery

Thursday, June 21, 2018, 5:45 am – Kilauea's east rift zone overflight: Howzit, bruddah Ikaika Marzo!!! Ikaika, doing…

Posted by Extreme Exposure Fine Art Gallery on Thursday, June 21, 2018

See rest of this photo gallery

And here’s the view from that boat!

Kapoho Ocean Entry this morning 6/21/18 aboard Kalapana Cultural-ToursKalapana Cultural Tours Lava Vessel the OHANA….

Posted by Ikaika Marzo on Thursday, June 21, 2018

Another view of the ocean entry by volcano master photographer GBradLewis:

Screengrab from summit webcam today:

Part II of III – 20180620 Eruption Overflight . The rising sun on Fissure 8 helped to increase visual contrast of the massive changes in landscape within and around Leilani Estates while large volumes of effusion continue downrift toward the ocean entry in Kapoho. Large lava channels continue to travel at speeds upwards of ~25mph (near Fissure 8) and 15mph (near Kapoho Cone). Converging and diverging paths of serpentine pahoehoe show signs of small breakouts with gaseous a’a surrounding northern and southern perimeters of the lava channels heading toward ocean side. Some sections of the lava channel were hit with just the right amount of angled light to reveal ribbon-like textures from the surface of pahoehoe. Surface flows and ocean entry into the waters of Kapoho continue to extend, creating new shoreline landscapes, vibrant turquoise ponds, and areas covered in volumes of laze, gas, and steam. Unique observations from this flight included lava textures and ribbon-like folds in pahoehoe, volcanic vortices (some call it “lavanadoes”), slow cooling a’a perimeters around pahoehoe channels, and interactions with high temperature lava and ocean water. Radiant heat was felt throughout the flight at 3,000ft AGL safely respecting the Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) above and around eruptive zones. . Mahalo to braddahs @bruceomori , @mickkalber , @hotseathawaii , and Pilot Sean with @paradisehelicopters for the opportunity to join forces to document our eruption! And special thanks to @ikaikamarzo @milekalincoln and our entire Hawaii Tracker community group on Facebook for their personal contribution to help support our community and awareness on our eruption. . My respect and best wishes go out to the neighborhood of Leilani Estates, Lanipuna Gardens, and the areas within and between Kapoho. My heart especially goes out to all of my friends who have lost their homes in this fissure eruption. I am at a loss for words. . #eruption #bigisland #kapoho #lavaoceanentry #kilauea #helicopter #aerial #volcano #leilani @natgeo @hawaiinewsnow

A post shared by Andrew Richard Hara (@andrewrichardhara) on

Part II of II – 20180620 Eruption Overflight . The rising sun on Fissure 8 helped to increase visual contrast of the massive changes in landscape within and around Leilani Estates while large volumes of effusion continue downrift toward the ocean entry in Kapoho. Large lava channels continue to travel at speeds upwards of ~25mph (near Fissure 8) and 15mph (near Kapoho Cone). Converging and diverging paths of serpentine pahoehoe show signs of small breakouts with gaseous a’a surrounding northern and southern perimeters of the lava channels heading toward ocean side. Some sections of the lava channel were hit with just the right amount of angled light to reveal ribbon-like textures from the surface of pahoehoe. Surface flows and ocean entry into the waters of Kapoho continue to extend, creating new shoreline landscapes, vibrant turquoise ponds, and areas covered in volumes of laze, gas, and steam. Unique observations from this flight included lava textures and ribbon-like folds in pahoehoe, volcanic vortices (some call it “lavanadoes”), slow cooling a’a perimeters around pahoehoe channels, and interactions with high temperature lava and ocean water. Radiant heat was felt throughout the flight at 3,000ft AGL safely respecting the Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) above and around eruptive zones. . Mahalo to braddahs @bruceomori , @mickkalber , @hotseathawaii , and Pilot Sean with @paradisehelicopters for the opportunity to join forces to document our eruption! And special thanks to @ikaikamarzo @milekalincoln and our entire Hawaii Tracker community group on Facebook for their personal contribution to help support our community and awareness on our eruption. . My respect and best wishes go out to the neighborhood of Leilani Estates, Lanipuna Gardens, and the areas within and between Kapoho. My heart especially goes out to all of my friends who have lost their homes in this fissure eruption. I am at a loss for words. . #eruption #bigisland #kapoho #lavaoceanentry #kilauea #helicopter #aerial #volcano #leilani @natgeo @hawaiinewsnow

A post shared by Andrew Richard Hara (@andrewrichardhara) on

What once was:

Kilauea

Creative Commons photo of Kilauea lava lake, May 6, 2015 by Frank Wittig