Tag: lava fountain

June 23: Pele’s Latest Trick – Lava Boats (Lavabergs)

Today’s Eruption Summary

Fissure 8 just keeps on going, as if it’s settling in for a Pu’u O’o eruption rather than a 1955/1960 eruption.  Once again, there’s minor overflows upriver that don’t go anywhere. The ocean entry is mostly via the channel on the south side of the lava delta, but there’s also trickles along a kilometer-wide stretch of shore. Fissure 22 showed incandescence but no lava during the USGS morning overflight.

The USGS was skimpy on images today but gave us a treat: a timelapse of what they call “lava boats.”

Here’s their explanation: “Geologists captured this time-lapse video of the perched lava channel issuing from fissure 8 on Kīlauea’s lower East Rift Zone. Rafts of accreted lava move down stream and look like boats moving down a river. These are termed lava balls or lava boats and form when portions of the fissure 8 cone or levees break away and are rafted down stream. As they move along in the channel, additional lava can cool to their surface to form accretionary lava balls.”

After lots of minor earthquakes and rockfalls that sent up small plumes of dust, the daily summit “collapse explosion” occurred at 4:34pm. It sent up a 2000-foot plume, once again equivalent to 5.3 earthquake. Again, I couldn’t resist a video capture:

The runup to today’s explosion was impressive. There was one cascade of dust and rubble all the way around the walls that I would’ve taken for the day’s explosive event, except that there was no camera shake beforehand. Doubtless it was one of these:

There’s not much news today, so let’s hitch a ride with the Hawaii County Fire Department and follow the lava river to the ocean. But first….

USGS: “On June 23, 2018 at 4:32 p.m. HST after approximately 17 hours of elevated seismicity, a collapse explosion occurred at the summit if Kīlauea. The energy released by the event was equivalent to a magnitude 5.3 earthquake. During the intense shaking, rockfalls cascaded down the northern margin of the caldera wall just below Uwēkahuna Bluff sending rock dust into the air.” (Full-sized)
More on Lava Boats

I’d asked about the “lava boats” before that video was posted: “What’s forming those so-called “lava bergs”? Are they chunks off the sides of the levees? Do they indicate erosion/undermining of lava channel’s banks analogous to meanders of an H20 river, with risk of wearing through?”

@USGSVolcanoes offered some additional info in response:  “They are chunks of the sides of levees as well as bits of the cone. As lava moves by them in the channel, they can be coated, dislodged, etc. Different than water – lava cools against cooler surfaces (channel sides) & we’ve started to see portions roofing over (forming tubes).” And when someone else asked if the whole 8 mile channel might become a lava tube: “It’s a possibility, but not necessarily guaranteed. It’s easier in places where the channel is already narrow.”

Which doesn’t answer my question about erosion/meanders, but looking back, they answered another question about braided lava channels on June 11 with this paper, which emphasizes that viscosity is a major factor in lava flows, whereas in H2O it’s particles in water.

Someone else’s Q on “lava boats”: ” Are these what’s floating beyond the ocean entry?
USGS: That’s a different process. The chunks floating beyond the ocean entry are bits of very bubble-rich lava-rock. When lava enters the sea there is sometimes an explosive process that expels rocks – the heat of the rock combined with the amount of bubbles causes these pieces to float for a while. Eventually, they cool, fill with water, and sink. 

  • Awkward place to stick this, but so I don’t forget: this week’s HVO “Volcano Watch” newsletter focused on “Mauna Loa Back to Normal.“
More USGS on Social Media

Q: What will happen if the summit collapse continues?
USGS: There are several options: It could enlarge to a point and then the explosive activity could stop, or it could enlarge the crater and the explosions could change character.

Aha! It turns out the USGS posted photos today only on Facebook. Someday when things calm down, they need to comb their social media channels and make sure they’ve archived everything on the HVO website and/or USGS media library.

USGS: “Fissure 8 fountain, as observed from the Leilani Estates subdivision. USGS-HVO crews noted that during the overnight hours, the lava fountain typically reached heights similar to the height of the cinder cone, with sporadic bursts sending lava higher than the cone (as pictured in this image).
USGS image taken June 23, 2018, around 12:46 AM.” (Full-sized)
USGS: “HVO field crews are on site in the lower East Rift Zone, tracking the fountains, lava flows, and spattering from Fissure 8 as conditions allow and are reporting information to Hawaii County Civil Defense. Crews also make measurements and observations of ground cracks in the area, as shown in this image taken near fissure 9.
USGS image taken during the afternoon of June 22, 2018.” (Full-sized)
USGS: “View of the lava channel from ground level, with the Kapoho Crater in the upper left. The active channel is the horizontal silver-colored line in the upper third of the photo. Lava travels about 5 miles per hour in this area.
USGS image taken during the afternoon of June 22, 2018.” (Full-sized)
From Other Scientists

From Fissure 8 to the Sea with HCFD

If the USGS is too busy to post photos, the Hawai’i County Fire Department takes up the slack. (Unlike Facebook, Flickr is Google-able). Today Civil Defense shared their latest photo album, and once again I’m impressed by the definition of the camera they’re using compared to everybody else.

A small sample:

Looking southeast towards the “Y” junction at Pokoihi Rd, Kapoho Rd and 132 (Google Map) with Puna Geothermal Ventures in the background on the left:

06/19/18 Kilauea, HI - East Rift Zone Eruption Event

Left and right, as different as night and day:

06/19/18 Kilauea, HI - East Rift Zone Eruption Event

A disagreeable neighbor:

06/19/18 Kilauea, HI - East Rift Zone Eruption Event

Looking towards the new lava delta:

06/19/18 Kilauea, HI - East Rift Zone Eruption Event

Past the Lava Rooster house (near that mast):

06/19/18 Kilauea, HI - East Rift Zone Eruption Event

Past the Cinder Pit:

06/19/18 Kilauea, HI - East Rift Zone Eruption Event

Around Kapoho Crater (and former Green Lake):

06/19/18 Kilauea, HI - East Rift Zone Eruption Event

To the sea. (Note upwelling.)

06/19/18 Kilauea, HI - East Rift Zone Eruption Event

New land.

06/19/18 Kilauea, HI - East Rift Zone Eruption Event

Effects extend offshore…

06/19/18 Kilauea, HI - East Rift Zone Eruption Event

So far, so lucky. (Note the 1960 lava flow with roads on it.)

06/19/18 Kilauea, HI - East Rift Zone Eruption Event

(warning: helicopter noise)

06/19/18 Kilauea, HI - East Rift Zone Eruption Event

Sorry, got carried away. But there’s another 98 photos/videos in that album, including video all along the route and detailed views of houses, farms, even a dock.

From News Outlets

HNN is taking the weekend off; they’ve more than earned it. (Today they just altered a headline and called it a day: “637 homes destroyed by lava amid explosions, eruptions on the Big Island“) But KHON2 took up the slack:

Moment of Aloha

While we wait for daily explosions, the people living on Kilauea endure earthquake swarms, as Dispatches from Volcano describes today. Also, he waxes eloquent on the topic of naming Fissure 8.

STill More Photography/Videos

First up, Mick Kalber getting up close and personal with whatever it’s called. Good views of a spillover, Fissure 22 incandescence, and the red lava at the ocean entry. (Blog post on this overflight)

Here’s that spillover with streets labeled:

Other pros are still hitching rides with Paradise Helicopters and/or the National Guard:

Fissure #8, new Pu'u 'O'o? (06/21/2018)

A post shared by Janice W. (@janice_weicool) on

A lava sun. A sunset behind gas plume from fissure #8.

A post shared by Janice W. (@janice_weicool) on

(East is left in the Kilauea livecam)

June 8: A Voggy, Voggy Day

Today’s eruption summary

…Status quo continues another day.

Kilauea, HI - East Rift Zone Eruption Event - 06/08/18 Photos and Video

Fissure 8 continues to do its thing (fountains up to 230 ft today), pumping a vast river of lava towards Kapoho. Its flow front is about a mile wide where it meets the ocean. USGS reported ~190 acres of new land added to Hawaii as of noon. Some or all of this may be temporary, since “lava deltas” tend to collapse.

Kilauea, HI - East Rift Zone Eruption Event - 06/08/18 Photos and Video

[Above: 2 photos from Hawaii County Fire Department’s extensive videos/photos for June 8. Good to browse if you’re checking on homes in Kapoho.] 

Summit activity continues to follow its geyser-like cyclical pattern. Earthquakes increased until 2:44 AM, when there was an explosion (equivalent of M5.4), after which seismicity died down.  Pu’u O’o also had a small earthquake (3.2) and rockfalls today, sending up a red plume of ash. (Still hunting for photos, but it’s been reported several places.)

USGS: “Outgassing from Halema‘uma‘u produced twin pillars that rose in the still morning air and merged into a towering cap above the summit of Kīlauea just after sunrise.” (Full-sized)

East and southeasterly winds sent an unpleasant amount of vog over Hilo and the Saddle. This will continue through Saturday, then tradewinds come to the rescue.

Today’s Kilauea Alerts, Videos, Images, and Eruption News

Continue reading June 8: A Voggy, Voggy Day

June 4: Lava Enters Kapoho Bay

june 4 Kilauea Eruption Summary / Infographic by USGS
Text version at link: June 4 Kilauea Infographic, HVO/USGS

Latest numbers: 
Lava coverage ~7.7 square miles, 19.9 square km, 4917 acres.
Janet Snyder, spokesperson from Hawai’i County Mayor’s Office, says at least 117 homes destroyed, but Civil Defense admin Talmadge Magno says probably “a lot more”

Here’s a video clip and two screengrabs to sum up Kilauea’s activity today: a half-mile-wide a’a flow pouring into Kapoho Bay and slowly filling it, while the summit steams weakly after a 5.5 earthquake yesterday.

Kapoho Bay, USGS overflight, 6:13am (HST) this morning:

Screengrabs from the Halema’uma’u and LERZ webcams about 3pm:

Taken from Overlook Vent Wide Angle Webcam, HVO/USGS, Jun 4, 3pm local time. Only light steam.
Screengrab from USGS/HVO Lower East Rift Zone webcam, June 4, 3pm. Fissure 8 still fountaining away with broad lava flow issuing to right (northeast), heading down to Kapoho.

ETA: Oh, look. Perfect angle of the sun right now.

Jun 4, 6:20 pm – Nice webcam image from HVO.

Additional info from HVO morning status report: “Local videographers reported that lava entered the ocean at Kapoho Bay at about 10:30 PM HST on June 3. […] A lava breakout is also occurring upslope [north] of the Kapoho cone cinder pit, with active flows about 330 yards southeast of the intersection of Railroad Avenue and Cinder Road..   […]Following the small [M5.5] explosion at about 3:50 PM HST on June 3, earthquake activity at the summit has been low. Inward slumping of the rim and walls of Halema`uma`u continues in response to persistent subsidence. ”

June 4 Kilauea Eruption Digest:
  • USGS Info/Updates
  • Posts from Other Geologists
  • National Park Damage Report
  • News from Hawaiian Media
  • Images/Videos From Social Media

Continue reading June 4: Lava Enters Kapoho Bay

May 31: One Month On

It’s been exactly a month since the first lava started emerging from fissures in Leilani Estates on May 3. And what a month it’s been.

USGS Caption: Crews make visual observations of activity at fissure 8 around 5:30 am HST. Fountain heights this morning continue to reach 70 to 80 m (230 to 260 ft above ground level. The fountaining feeds a lava flow that is moving to the northeast along Highway 132 into the area of Noni Farms Road. Full-sized)

The Lower East Rift Zone (LERZ) eruption has built in intensity by stages. Earthquakes, cracks, fissures, toxic gasses, spattering lava, larger and longer lava flows, and increasingly voluminous fountains have slowly engulfed two subdivisions and the forests and fields of lower Puna. They’ve heaped up acres of spatter ramparts, thick lava flows, overflowing ponds and rivers creeping down to the ocean. They’ve emitted a’a and pahoehoe, spatter and lava bombs, Pele’s Hair and Pele’s Tears, tephra/pyroclasts and cinders, vog, laze, and glowing blue flames.

Meanwhile, Pu’u O’o on Kilauea’s shoulder drained and died after a historic 35-year-long eruption. The summit lava lake in Halema’uma’u Crater followed suit, draining away more gradually but no less dramatically, with rockfalls and earthquakes and clouds of ash rising as high as 15,000 feet. Downwind communities are suffering from its ash and vog. The threat of steam explosions sending rocks flying half a mile has forced the closure of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. That, coupled with jittery tourist cancellations, has struck almost as big a blow to the rest of the Big Island as lava has done to a few square miles of Puna.

The USGS and Hawaii Civil Defense have done a herculean job of monitoring, informing, warning, and moving people out of harm’s way in this fast-moving and complex natural disaster. And locals are rallying as best they can to support one another.

Today’s Eruption Summary

Kilauea’s still pulling some (alas, not all) of its punches. Early Wednesday morning, Fissure 8’s lava flow was surging towards Four Corners in sprints up to 600 yards an hour, causing emergency officials to go door to door ordering emergency evacuations. Luckily, it’s slowed, although it’s still inching towards the last remaining road in and out of Puna. People have had two precious days to go back and rescue pets and possessions before the lava cuts them off.

Meanwhile, the summit today was steaming with minor ash explosions. The USGS just released another drone survey of Halema’uma’u filmed May 26:

See caption on USGS website, and compare with drone footage of May 21.

USGS STATUS UPDATE: MAY 31 9:30 AM

Continue reading May 31: One Month On

May 31: 6PM Eruption Update – Conference Call

Normally I tuck the USGS media conference call into my digest for the day, but my notes are so long I decided to put this in its own post.

Summary: Eruption is continuing with no signs of stopping. Wendy Stovall gives all kinds of geeky tidbits about temperatures, heights, where the magma is coming from, plumbing system of Kilauea. She emphasizes that Kilauea receives a “continuous supply of magma from the deep mantle” thanks to its mantle plume. Scientists are starting to discuss calling this a new eruption, but their focus right now is on collecting data and getting info to Civil Defense.

Full notes (sorry they’re a little rough, but you’ve got the gist) below cut:

Continue reading May 31: 6PM Eruption Update – Conference Call

May 30: Pele Makes A Run For Four Corners

Today’s Eruption Summary

In fact, the current lava eruptions in Puna are as hot as Hawaii’s lava will ever get. “It can’t get hotter than where we are,” Stovall added. “We are pretty much tapping mantle temperatures right now.”

— Honolulu Civil Beat

USGS Photo – Caption: “Lava flow erupted from fissure 8, photographed during HVO’s early morning overflight today. The lava channel was estimated to be about 100 feet wide.” (Full-sized)

Fissure 8 is beauty & the beast. Since Saturday it’s been pumping out a huge volume of lava, creating pahoehoe and even a’a flows that occasionally surge up to ~600yards/hour. Yesterday its main flow headed NE, skirted the geothermal plant, crossed and followed Hwy 132 for a while, and then started downslope past Noni Farms towards Four Corners, threatening to cut off Kapoho and Lower Puna.

Amazing overflight photo of Fissure 8 and its lava flow taken on May 29 by Hawaii Civil Defense. (Full-sized)

In the early morning hours, officials went door-to-door in the Kapoho area ordering emergency evacuations.  Newly-paved Beach Rd was pressed into service as a one-way evacuation route from Four Corners to Hawaiian Beaches. But it’s a race against time, as the lava is headed for that very road.

[ETA: Mick Kalber’s flyover. He’s always got notes on the video’s page.]

I saw no PGV news today, which is good. The summit produced yet more ash & earthquakes, one a pretty good thump (Mag 5.3 at 10:57am, no tsunami). Meanwhile, Fissure 18 is sending a channelized flow towards Hwy 137, just a little east of last week’s flows to the ocean:

TUESDAY EVENING IN PAHOA: USGS BRIEFING

Continue reading May 30: Pele Makes A Run For Four Corners

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 28: Rivers of Fire, Lava Livestream is back

Today’s Eruption Summary

About 7PM yesterday, a large pahoehoe flow suddenly burst out and went galloping through Leilani Estates. Civil Defense called for emergency evacuations. Firefighters had to guide one person to safety (with assistance of drone team tracking lava) when the flow covered his driveway. USGS and Civil Defense reported that vigorous fountains 7 and especially 8 were responsible for the outbreak: fountaining 150-200 feet high, they built up a spatter rampart 100 feet tall and fueled a monster pahoehoe 20-40 feet thick. Speed augmented by the perched lava pond breaching (dam gave way, basically).

You can get a sense of last night’s outbreak from this timelapse of the Lower East Rift Zone webcam over the past few days.

The flows from yesterday slowed and stopped this morning. Most of the day’s activity was fairly subdued, with “only a minor ooze of residual lava” making it down to the ocean. But this evening, fissure 8 and other vents went into overdrive again, pouring out rivers of lava and prompting more emergency evacuations (Civil Defense notice) (HVO/USGS Alert).

Lava livestream

Honolulu Civil Beat is back to let us watch nature’s pyrotechnics from about 2km away and a crucial 200 feet up.

It’s mesmerizing to watch, but a sobering sight as well, knowing homes downstream are burning and some people are in danger. 

I can’t watch now; I have a post to write. Where was I? Continue reading May 28: Rivers of Fire, Lava Livestream is back

May 24: USGS Acquires Drones, Leilani Estates Acquires Lava Lake

Before this, the main thing USGS was using drones for was LIDAR, but today’s Photo & Multimedia entry on HVO’s website provides drone footage for both the summit steam/ash plume and Leilani/Puna lava flows.

SUMMIT ERUPTION:

This video was filmed on May 21, 2018, with a UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle). Limited UAV flights above the hazardous Kīlauea summit area, which is currently too dangerous for geologists to enter for ground observations, are conducted with permission from the National Park Service. […] At Kīlauea Volcano’s summit, a nearly continuous plume of gas and steam billows out of the Overlook vent and drifts with the wind. Explosions are occurring about two times a day, producing ash that rises to a height of between 8,000 to 10,000 feet above sea level. Small ash emissions occur more frequently. The larger explosions produce ash that is blown downwind, and trace amounts have fallen in nearby communities.

Addendum: there was a 6PM 10,000 foot ash explosion & plume this evening (Civil Defense photo, USGS video), sending ash southwest.

PUNA LAVA ERUPTION:

This footage is from an Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) hovering near fissure 22 during the overnight hours of May 22, 2018, and looking down on the fountaining fissure complex. The view rotates upward (to the south) to track channelized lava as it flows toward the Pacific Ocean, about 3 mi (5 km) away. The ocean entry is in the distance, recognizable by a small plume. The USGS National Unmanned Aircraft Systems Project Office is assisting with remote data collection and mapping of lava flows and hazards…

HVO’s Photo & Multimedia blog also posted impressive Hilo Civil Air Patrol aerial photos of the lava rivers from yesterday, as well as an image of Fissure 22 taking a nap (it’s still going but lower today on Civil Beat’s Livestream) while the fissures west of it (and uprift) that activated yesterday inundated Leilani Estates.

As an aside: people keep posting ridiculous rumors, so the USGS had to reassure everybody that Mauna Loa is NOT erupting.

Latest video this evening from HNN reporter Mileka Lincoln:

Earlier in the day… welcome to the Leilani Estates Lava lake. (warning: noisy)

The residents are being absolute champs in coping with this. Here’s another video clip of the lava lake with the homeowner whose home is just outside of it. They’re very philosophical, realizing they took a gamble, which is more mature than some of the people criticizing them for taking a chance on a place that hasn’t had an eruption in about 60 years. And they’re helping one another.

…

Oh, my mistake. It’s a lava pond.

Mick Kalber’s helicopter overflight video today does a great job of showing the “pond,” the fissures headed from there past the geothermal plant, and the lava rivers flowing south from those fissures towards the ocea.

USGS Updates, News Roundup, And More Vivid Videos:

Continue reading May 24: USGS Acquires Drones, Leilani Estates Acquires Lava Lake