July 21: Short Update Tonight

July 21, 2018. USGS: ” Fissure 8, source of the white gas plume in the distance, continues to erupt lava into the channel heading northeastward from the vent. Near Kapoho Crater (lower left), the channel turns south, sending lava toward the coast, where it enters the ocean in the Ahalanui area (shown in next photo). Channel overflows are visible in the lower right.” (Full-sized)
Today’s Eruption Summary

Status quo. Fissure 8’s lava river continues inexorably to the Ahalanui Beach area. At the coast, the flow has nearly stalled in its southern expansion, but according to Civil Defense has crept within ¼ mile of Pohoiki boat ramp.

July 21, 2018. USGS: “This aerial view, looking to the southwest, shows the most vigorous ocean entry of the fissure 8 flow, which is located a few hundred meters (yards) northeast of the southern flow margin.” (Full-sized)North of the main ocean entry, a few small pahoehoe lobes are still dribbling into the sea along the rest of the delta.

Today’s summit collapse event occurred at 9:43 am, registering as M5.4 for a change. It was preceded by widespread rockfalls about 3 minutes earlier, which I included in the video capture (jittery livestream signal notwithstanding):

Here’s the Northeast Caldera Rim livestream capture (collapse only, not foreshocks). USGS tweeted that “the output has increased somewhat at fissure 8” after today’s collapse.

Here’s how it sounded in Volcano (plus wind chimes):

Our Daily 5.3 😂Notice the chimes in the background.

Posted by Ken Boyer on Saturday, July 21, 2018

No new LERZ maps today, since the lava’s basically holding position. Here’s the most recent thermal map from July 19 again, since my post had a broken link yesterday.

Today’s main news is that this weeek’s HVO Volcano Watch column covers littoral/hydrovolcanic explosions, and the USGS photo chronology today offered some rare glimpses of geologists on the job:

July 21, 2018. USGS: “Using cell phones, USGS scientists can quickly relay information to emergency managers, even during helicopter overflights. Coordinates for the active ocean entry, lava channel overflows, or other hazards observed by field geologists can be communicated in near real-time to Hawai‘i County Civil Defense and other public safety officials who make decisions about closures or evacuations.” (Full-sized)

Here’s what they saw during that overflight:

July 21, 2018. “USGS gas geochemists set up a specialized camera near fissure 8 to measure sulfur dioxide in the gas plume rising from the vent.” (Full-sized)
July 21, 2018. “USGS field crews set up a gravimeter to collect data on where magma might reside in Kīlauea’s lower East Rift Zone.” (Full-sized)
July 21, 2018. USGS: ” The Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) team prepares for their overnight flights of fissure 8 and the upper lava channel. UAS assist with the USGS eruption response by flying missions into hazardous areas, collecting data on lava channel velocities and locating channel overflows. UAS can also collect thermal and gas data and look for changes at other vents along the fissure system.” (Full-sized)

All of which just goes to show you that it was kind of Pele to wait until all this technology was available, instead of doing it in the 80s.

From Other Agencies

Not directly volcano-related, but a bit of good news to balance the bad:

From Local News Outlets

It’s the weekend again, so not much.

USGS Q&A On Social Media

[A kipuka is an “island” of the original landscape surrounded on all sides by fresh lava flow(s). Example from early in Puʻu ʻŌʻō eruption.]

Q: [Is F8 lava heading into the delta or inflating inland flows?]

USGS: It is still heading to the delta, but may be erupting underwater. There are many entry points along the length of the flow front.

Q: [How can there be both a’a and pahoehoe flows in the same eruption?]
USGS [after another FB member took a stab at answering]: It is indeed related to temperature, and other factors that determine the fluidity of the lava (like degassing). Lava that has degassed and cooled is more likely to form a’a flows, while fluid, gassy, hot lava is found in the pahoehoe and fast-moving channelized flows. New pahoehoe flows would be an indicator that there’s still plenty of hot, fluid lava coming out of the vents, and a sign that the magma supply to the Rift is still robust.
From Photographers/Social Media

20180720 @ 18:30 HST – Lava channel speeds remain at 5-10mph and 5-10ft from the brim as various lavabergs silently meander toward Kapoho. Several surface cooled lavabergs were spotted shipwrecked further down the channel west of Sanford Quarry near Noni Farms Road . My respect and best wishes go out to all who have been impacted by the eruption experience. There are no words to describe the amount of loss, personal tragedy, and stress our community has been experienced.
. *** Please visit my eruption relief fund if you would like to purchase a print from my collection to help our displaced eruption evacuees. This gallery will continuously be updated, please check back for new photographs*** www.andrewhara.com/2018eruptionrelief . #fissure #kilauea #volcano #bigisland #hawaii #lavaberg #lavachannel #kapoho #leilani #lava #lavaflow @hawaiicommunityfoundation #puuhonuaopuna

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