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19 August 2002
Highcastle lobe and broken bench
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| Destruction of eastern part of Highcastle
bench, resulting from sudden collapse on morning of August 18. Images taken
from same place. Left. August 14. Right. August 19. |
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| Highcastle lobe bears down on small kipuka of
Chain of Craters Road--the only such kipuka remaining between Wilipe`a and
Kapa`ahu. Left. This tongue lapped against roadway (foreground) but
had stalled at 0545. Right. At 0615:47, photographers look at
place where lava gushed out 7 minutes earlier. Gush is shown in following
seven images. |
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Gushing breakout starting at 0608:10 from upper center of
image.
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0608:33. Breakout now has two or three sources.
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0608:41. Crust between separate sources is tearing away as
lava pours from inflated flow.
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0608:49. Disrupted crust is being torn apart, but leading
edge of breakout is starting to cool noticeably.
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0609:00. Crust is now in two pieces, and surface of cooling
lava itself is being torn (left side).
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0609:20. Breakout is past its prime, and crust forms on most
of lava. Tattered older crust hangs in there.
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0609:43. Pace is slower now, as breakout becomes just
another one.
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| Steps leading down from Chain of Craters Road
to visitor overlook at Highcastle. Stone wall above borders roadway. Left.
Narrow flow wormed its way down several steps yesterday, stopping as supply
of lava ended. Right. Head-on view of the tiny stair-climber. |
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0842. Something there is that doesn't love a stairway. Lava
this morning again used the stairs for awhile but then took a faster route
alongside. Note flowing lava in upper right of large view. This flow hadn't
started down the embankment at 0630. It is well on its way to the top of the
sea cliff only several meters away.
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20 August 2002
Chain of Craters Road in eastern Highcastle kipuka
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| Left. Asphalt of Chain of
Craters Road burns at west end of eastern Highcastle kipuka. 0603. Right.
Lightening sky looks down on burning asphalt and hot lava flow. 0533. |
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Stone wall at visitor overlook below stairs at Highcastle
kept lava from pouring over sea cliff yesterday. Flow inflated against wall
and would have overtopped it if supply continued.
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21 August 2002
Highcastle Stairs ocean entry and Highcastle kipuka
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| Left. Lava cascades onto new
bench at Highcastle Stairs. Bench reaches about 10 m from sea cliff to
leading edge and has grown in less than 17 hours. View looks west at 0521. Right.
Highcastle Stairs bench viewed from west at 0530. |
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| Left. These two tiny kipuka are
all that remain of Chain of Craters Road in Highcastle kipuka, the last
pavement between Wilipe`a and Kapa`au, a distance of 9.5 km. 0609. Right.
Four watch Highcastle Stairs entry and one watches approaching flow, 0610. |
22 August 2002
Early morning at Highcastle Stairs
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Spigots are turned on, and lava pours into ocean
off front of Highcastle Stairs bench. Each spigot is mouth of small lava
tube within bench. See images below for location. 0525.
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| Two early dawn views of Highcastle Stairs
bench, viewed from west. Two main falls carry lava onto bench, where most
sinks beneath crust. Spigots at seaward edge of bench are places
where lava spills from interior of bench. Left. Entire bench at
0538. Right. Front of bench and wave lit by glow at 0539. Coastline
heads for Lae`apuki, site of entry in late 1999-early 2000. |
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| Left. Highcastle Stairs bench at
daybreak at 0558, viewed from west. Compare with image directly above. Note
decreased surface activity in only 20 minutes; such waxing and waning is
typical of most benches. Right.
Highcastle Stairs bench viewed from east at 0608. Note lava pouring from
bench into water, not visible from west. For scale, figures on top of sea
cliff are barely visible behind steam cloud in large view. |
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Top of eastern lava cascade sending lava onto bench. Same
falls as in image on right above. 0617. Black sand beach just west of
bench dates from time of Lae`apuki entry farther east in 1999-2000.
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Changes on eastern part of Highcastle bench, August 19-22
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| Eastern part of Highcastle bench continues to
be modified by collapse and erosion. Much was removed by collapse on August
18 (see images below on August 19). Later minor collapse, and wave erosion,
reduced beach still farther, as these images, taken from same place, show. Left. August 19. Right. August
22. |
23 August 2002
Aerial views of entry benches
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| Left. Looking west along coast. Broad
Highcastle lobe (center and upper left) has three obvious benches. Largest
is Highcastle Stairs (left center), with western part of Highcastle bench
and nearby Visitor Entry "bench" (actually a flow on a black sand beach,
not a true bench) along coast to left. West Highcastle lobe is
across black 1995 flows and forms bench near left side of image, at far end
of larger, darker 1995 bench. Across
another kipuka of 1995 flows is Wilipe`a lobe, with pavement of Chain of
Craters Road in extreme upper left. Right. Head-on view of
Highcastle lobe and its three ocean entries (shiny areas below sea cliff), from
left to right, Visitor Entry "bench," western part of Highcastle bench, and
Highcastle Stairs bench. Eastern part of Highcastle bench, at and just east
of small point, collapsed and eroded away on August 18-20. Small kipuka of
1995 flow just inland of west end of Highcastle Stairs bench is along
buried Chain of Craters Road. In background is Paliuli (mostly in cloud
shadow) with shiny, active lobes of Mother's Day flow visible along west
and east sides of flow just above pali. West lobe fed lava Niagara earlier
in day shown in image below. |
Wind-shaken view of remarkable Paliuli cascades
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A series of cascades about 125 m wide pours down Paliuli at 0429.
Howling wind shook tripod to blur image. Feeding flow visible on slope
to left above Paliuli. Viewed from end of pavement on Chain of Craters Road.
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24 August 2002
Highcastle Stairs bench in repose
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Looking east across new Highcastle Stairs bench, which
extends estimated 25-30 m from old shoreline. Image taken from near wet end
of stone wall at visitor overlook.
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25 August 2002
Paliuli cascades and coastal flat breakout
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| Left. Lava cascades and trickles
down Paliuli at head of Highcastle lobe of Mother's Day flow. Height of
pali about 10 m. 0555. Right. Lower part of same cascade, looking
head-on at snout of small flow. 0602. |
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| Left. Breakout from extensive
inflating flow near start of West Highcastle lobe, about 600 m from base of
Paliuli, prominent cliff with fume. Above Paliuli is Pulama pali and
intervening slope. 0636. Right. Same breakout as that to left,
showing its advance along and beneath crust of older inflated flow forming
high tumulus. 0638. |
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Advancing snout of breakout along edge of older tumulus.
Note how crust is becoming wrinkled and how wrinkles are themselves being
warped as lava abuts against tumulus. 0639.
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Eruption-viewing opportunities change constantly, refer to the HVO home page for
current information. Those readers planning a visit to Kilauea or Mauna Loa volcanoes can get much useful
information from Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park.
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