Tag: ash plume

June 11: USGS Conference Call: What’s Causing Summit Explosions?

Once again the USGS media conference call at 11AM is full of so much juicy info I’ve moved it to a separate post rather than make my daily digest 10 pages long.

July 10, 2017 HVO webcam panorama of Halema’umau compared with June 10, 2018. (Click for Full-sized)

BigIslandVideo hasn’t put their edited/abridged version up, which they usually enhance with recent video footage. But they cut a lot of the Q&A anyway.

Below are my paraphrase/notes on the full, unabridged conference call (I skipped a non-geology questions where answer is “Agency X handles that; ask them.”]

Continue reading June 11: USGS Conference Call: What’s Causing Summit Explosions?

June 6: Summit Explosions Explained (And Predicted!)

USGS/HVO photo of Fissure 8, spatter cone and rainbow, June 6.
Today’s Eruption Update:

Last night, USGS scientist Steve Brantley explained the current eruption in an informative 10 minute talk. I transcribed it as a separate post, but here’s a rough summary: Magma heading down to the Lower East Rift Zone is causing the summit to deflate. Deflation is causing a pattern of more and more earthquakes over 30-50 hours until the summit releases the strain with an explosion, accompanied by an ash cloud.

Sure enough, there was an M5.6 explosion and 10,000 foot ash cloud at 4:32pm. HVO’s Twitter account had a great impromptu Q&A session about it (see below).

Meanwhile, down in the Lower East Rift Zone, Fissure 8 shows no signs of slowing. It’s wiped out Vacationland and nearly all of Kapoho Beach Lots, and is continuing to create new (crumbly, hazardous) beachfront real estate.

USGS has also been posting some striking imagery today.

Video description: “HVO’s mid-day overflight on June 5 shows ongoing partial collapse of Halema‘uma‘u at the summit of Kīlauea Volcano. To the north of the former visitor Overlook parking area (closed in 2008) is the site of the former lava lake—now a deep hole piled with wall-rock rubble. The western portion of Halema‘uma‘u has moved down and toward the center of the crater as new cracks form on the caldera floor to the west. Kīlauea’s summit continues to subside due to withdrawal of magma towards the volcano’s East Rift Zone.”

They’ve also posted drone footage of Fissure 8 lava flow on June 3. Houses give a sense of scale:

(Link to video description)

Here’s this morning’s USGS helicopter overflight of Fissure 8:

More images, lots of great geology info below the cut. But first, a 2-minute USGS briefing, since we skipped yesterday’s:

Continue reading June 6: Summit Explosions Explained (And Predicted!)

May 29: Day of Reckoning for PGV (and LavaCam)

I’m wiped after following events of the last two nights from 3 timezones later— nothing compared to the exhaustion of Puna residents or HVO geologists, I’m sure— so today’s post is going to be less meticulous.

Today’s Eruption Summary

Sunday and Monday nights, the new monster Fissure 8 tossed fragments high in the air that carried onto houses over a mile away: clinkerly bubbly volcanic cinders (also called tephra), fine glass strands called Pele’s hair, and small volcanic glass droplets called Pele’s tears. Authorities warned people to be careful of Pele’s hair, which is basically natural fiberglass, as it can cause skin and eye irritation.

Another spate of vigorous 200-foot-tall fountaining from Fissure 8 last night sent a second fast-moving flow northeast along the edge of Sunday night’s flow, triggering more emergency evacuations and (I’m afraid, haven’t seen any tally) the loss of more homes. At 6:30am Tuesday, civil defense closed Highway 132 near the geothermal plant in anticipation that lava would reach it today. At 3:30PM, the lava did indeed begin to encroach on 132, leaving only one other road still open to Lower Puna.

Before crossing 132, 8’s northeast lava flow marched towards and into PGV property, cut off plant’s main access road, prompted staff to evacuate, and began to burn and cover over buildings and equipment. I believe sensors have been left to monitor the wells. I’m guessing a’a is a better thing to get covered by: it’s somewhat cooler than pahoehoe, and it can’t seep into cracks.

At the summit, ash eruptions and earthquakes continue. A 2am ash eruption was 15,000 feet tall, followed by a 4.5 earthquake. Light winds are sending the ash nw, towards Volcano and Pahala. There’s a meeting at Pahala tonight to discuss vog and ashfall, which is going to be an ongoing problem for these communities however long this eruptive phase lasts. 

At night, the webcam is showing incandescent blocks flung out onto the rim of Halema’uma’u Crater, but we don’t know how big or how many because it’s unsafe for scientists to approach. However, they’re installing a new thermal cam soon that should help them see the blocks. (Source: 11AM conference call) 

Time for today’s roundup of USGS bulletins and info, relevant posts by geologists, images and videos, local news reports, and the eruption through the eyes of social media.

Continue reading May 29: Day of Reckoning for PGV (and LavaCam)

May 26: Good Morning, Hawai’i

Strange that something so disruptive can be so beautiful.

Hawaii Volcano Observatory Alert: Saturday at 5AM, the summit crater let off a series of explosions at 5AM sending up an ash cloud 11,000 feet that lingered for 25 minutes. Lighter winds may keep ashfall from today’s explosions mostly within the park, giving downwind communities a respite. [Edit: No such luck. Taller ash explosions today had more range.]

HVO webcam caught a nice glimpse of plume by moonlight (“exit” sign of observatory reflected in lens):

(Camera is picking up a few lights from observatory; note “Exit” sign.)

Sadly, it was not so tranquil-looking down in Leilani Estates, 25 miles away:

May 25: End of the Road for Leilani Estates?

It looks like the coup de grace for Leilani Estates, or at least its eastern part.

USG Photo, May 25, noon overflight. Fissures 6 (left) and 13 (right) send lava flows south that join and flow down to ocean (white laze plume in distance). Note metal roof(?) embedded in lava at lower left. [Full-sized]
Three weeks ago Leilani’s streets were lacerated by fissures, battered by lava spattering from cracks, and blocked off by ponderous flows that seldom traveled far from their source. But that was a slow-motion disaster. Most fissures were active only a few hours. While a few unlucky residents lost homes in the first wave, most were able to return and collect vital possessions, or even risked dangerous fumes to stay.

Last week, the main lava activity shifted east, downrift, overrunning smaller Lanipuna Gardens, threatening the PGV geothermal plant, and inundating fields and woods where homes were more scattered.  “Hotter, fresher” magma arrived last Thursday with a roar, spurting in several-hundred foot fountains and flooding forests with rivers of fast-moving pahoehoe lava. On Saturday night, these channels reached the ocean.

It was only a reprieve. A few days ago, the fissures that had given Leilani grief began reactivating. The group of fountains monitored by HCB’s livestream began to subside as uprift vents pilfered their magma supply.  Leilani’s reinvigorated vents poured out so much lava they created a pond, as well as sending new flows down to the sea. And through people’s houses:

Today, more streets were buried. Firefighters went door-to-door urging the last holdouts to flee before lava reaches them. Even parts of lower Puna not yet menaced by lava were ordered to leave before their remaining escape routes are cut off. Just in case, authorities have sent in the Marines.

82 structures lost. A two mile stretch of fissures in a residential area is pouring out an astonishing 40-60 cubit feet per second. And yet only 3.4 square miles have been covered by lava in this eruption, on an island of over 4000 square miles. But that doesn’t make it any easier for those affected.

Below, a roundup of Friday’s images, videos, USGS news, and reports from local news stations.

Continue reading May 25: End of the Road for Leilani Estates?

May 23: Blue Flames? Now You’re Just Showing Off

Kilauea’s chief resident has found another way to amaze and/or injure people reckless enough to get too close to her redecorating:

I had a hunch the Lower East Rift Zone webcam would be interesting tonight. I wasn’t disappointed:

I see what they mean about the Leilani fissures further west (uprift, towards the camera) reactivating today.

Edited to add: Yikes.

It’s 11:06 PM in Hawaii; second screengrab an hour or so later.

I was about to hit post, when I saw erstwhile reporter Mileka Lincoln and her crew posted this. Wow.

(recorded just an hour ago at time of this post.)

Now, let’s have the evening roundup of poignant news, amazing views, and interesting science…

Continue reading May 23: Blue Flames? Now You’re Just Showing Off

May 21: Daily Roundup, Fire & Water Edition

Mick Kalber’s daily helicopter flyover includes some intense views of the rivers of lava heading into the ocean, and the big complex of fountains— 20? 22? we’re starting to lose track— that have dominated the Lava Livestream With Rooster for the last several days.

May 21 Fissure Map (USGS Maps page)

The USGS thermal scan is very informative, too: an infrared satellite detects heat sources (the whiter the image, the hotter it is), and USGS then overlays it on a daylight satellite image of same area. Result, accurate map of where the main flows are, even when they crust over so the lava inside is hidden:

May 21 Heat map of today’s flows (USGS Maps page)

Below the cut: a digest of the day’s eruption news, USGS updates (summarized), and striking social media images and video clips like this:

Continue reading May 21: Daily Roundup, Fire & Water Edition

May 18/19: Good Summary of Eruption to Date

USGS aerial view of lava flow, May 19. (full-sized)

Volcanologist Erik Klemetti pulls everything together for us, reviewing how the Leilani Fissure lava eruptions and the summit ash/steam eruptions have progressed.

Link:

Kilauea Eruption Continues: How Long Could It Last?

The eruption at Kīlauea is still captivating the nation, as it should because this volcano hasn’t behaving like this in almost a century. I thought I’d take a moment to step back and review of the main events so far and what it might all mean for Kīlauea and the people who live around the volcano. These eruptions are separated by a long way if you look at the satellite data and should almost be treated at two different events..

Also, here’s today’s CivilDefense briefing and BigIslandVideonews’ splice of afternoon USGS briefing with geologist Carolyn Parcheta plus recent video footage.

Taking from video  (basically telling us which fissures are doing what):

Continue reading May 18/19: Good Summary of Eruption to Date

Hazards in Hawaii: Most of the State Is Just Fine, Thanks

I wasn’t going to do this, because hazard information is best left to emergency officials and experts.

But I don’t want the videos and images I’m sharing to mislead people into thinking this event is larger-scale than it is. It’s overwhelming to those who have lost homes or had to evacuate. I don’t want to downplay what they’re going through. At the same time, major hazards are confined to a very limited area, yet news media are whipping this up to apocalyptic proportions and tossing out headlines with “fears” and “anxieties” and “major” to scare people. I don’t want to add to their hype. A volcanic eruption one can watch from a few miles away without dying is moderate, not major.

So let me try to give a rundown of Kilauea hazards, and why I think it’s not greedy nor crazy for officials to be urging tourists not to cancel their visits.

Hazards from the Current Kilauea Eruption

Continue reading Hazards in Hawaii: Most of the State Is Just Fine, Thanks

May 17, Early Morning: Steam Explosion!

May 17, 4:17 AM, the first honest-to-gosh steam explosion like they’ve been predicting (instead of just a rock and lava explosion) sent an ash cloud up 30,000 feet. Gemini Observatory caught it on timelapse:

According to volcanologist Erik Klemetti, the blast threw some 1000-pound blocks, the only place I’ve seen this. See blog post (more pics).

By morning, things had settled down:

Continue reading May 17, Early Morning: Steam Explosion!