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9 August 2002
The long-anticipated Highcastle entry--at last
Note: all images this morning were taken from virtually the same spot, looking west most times but east occasionally.
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| Left. Western (left) and middle lava
falls at new Highcastle entry. Height of sea cliff at Highcastle is an
estimated 10-15 m. 0521. Right. Telephoto of bottom of western
falls. Slow shutter speed causes drops to smear out. 0522. |
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| Left. Eastern lava falls at new
Highcastle entry. This falls is just west of the eastern road kipuka. 0530. Right.
Looking west again, telephoto of part of middle falls, now being joined by
another entry in lower right (better shown in next image). 0546. |
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| Left. Dim predawn light shows profile
of sea cliff and another lava falls just joining the group at right side of
image. 0548. Right. Looking east again at the eastern cluster of
lava falls and sea cliff beyond. 0549:30. |
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| Left. Now another falls has appeared,
just west of the former westernmost falls. It shows as streaky drips just
left of main western falls. Middle falls is most prominent. 0556:45. Right.
Dawn rainbow, sun catching wave, and lava falls on a glorious Friday
morning. 0613. |
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Sunlight, with some alpen glow, on western part of new
Highcastle entry. 0614.
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Highcastle kipuka from air. Highcastle lobe is, broadly
speaking, the part of the shiny flow headed toward the kipuka. Note how the
flow crossed an intervening high area and then spread laterally, mostly west, as it neared
the sea. Large view shows three remnants of road; the western two are being
covered. Western and eastern groups of entries are separated by 1995 lava
flow. Most steam comes from western group. Paliuli is dark cliff near top of
image.
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Various happenings in Mother's Day flow above Paliuli
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| Left. Breakout at about 2300-foot
elevation in Mother's Day flow, moving through already dead forest. Right.
Skylight in flow on Pulama pali, showing moving lava in tube. |
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| Left. Snout of `a`a flow below Pulama
pali, with its feeding channel in background on pali. Right. Lava
channel in `a`a on Pulama pali. |
10 August 2002
More doings at Highcastle
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| Left. Early morning photographer
silhouetted by glow from western group of entries at Highcastle at 0527.
Yesterday morning's images were taken from that location. Note other
photographers on other side of glow. Right. Lava moves toward sea
cliff with dawning sky behind. Glow on left from lava falls at eastern
Highcastle entry. 0532 |
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| Two views of western group of lava falls,
taken from location of silhouetted photographer in image above.
Figures west of entries give scale. Left. 0547. Right.
0557:16. |
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| Two telephoto views of lava falls in western
group. Left. Base of main falls shown in previous two images,
viewed from same location. 0557:40. Right. Dribble to right of main
falls.
0612. |
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Lava just starting to plummet over sea cliff between western
and eastern groups of falls. Large view shows tiny detached drop of lava
with water backdrop; drop
comes from small falls faintly seen near right edge of cliff. 0613:40.
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11 August 2002
Scenes of a bench growing at Highcastle
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| Bench, estimated to extend 10 m from sea
cliff, is forming at western group of lava falls at Highcastle. These views
show changing predawn mood in only 2 minutes, depending on steam and lava. Left.
0533. Right. 0535. |
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| As dawn approaches, bench takes form jutting
out from sea cliff. Left. 0543. Right. 0546. |
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| Two views of lava spigots at front of bench. Left.
Lava is fed through tube to brink of bench and then falls to sand below.
0553. Right. Gush of lava has disrupted tube and spills directly
onto sand below. 0556. |
12 August 2002
Changes at Highcastle
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Bench formed since yesterday morning below eastern group of
lava falls at Highcastle. Bench reaches about 10 m seaward. 0545.
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| Left. Dual breakouts, just started, at
top of sea cliff. From breakout points, lava plummets directly to bottom of
sea cliff. Eastern bench section in background. 0547. Right. Former
vantage point for western group of lava falls, top center, awash with lava
at 0553. The site could barely be occupied at 0530, but it was too hot to
take any images. |
14 August 2002
Back to Highcastle
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| Left. Glow above breakout on east end
of Highcastle bench, with entry from leading edge of bench behind and lava
cascades down sea cliff to right. 0536 Right. At daybreak, east end
of bench at Highcastle becomes from evident. Breakout on bench is now
mainly crusted over. 0553. |
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| Left. Looking east across lava falls
shown in images above. Visitors are well beyond limits imposed by national
park. 0601 Right. East end of Highcastle bench just after dawn, with
breakouts and water entries. |
15 August 2002
Small doings at Highcastle
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| Activity at Highcastle has diminished from
that of yesterday. Only one cascade is active, and that is off and on. Left.
Small cascade of lava tumbles onto east end of Highcastle bench. 0604. Right.
Top of Highcastle cascade. Camera crew in background for scale. 0634. |
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High-definition-TV camera crew working at Highcastle. 0625.
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16 August 2002
Lava on the pali and below, with aerial views of new benches
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| Activity at ocean entries is in limbo, so
eyes turn inland. Left. Two levels of surface lava. In upper right,
two open channels pour down steepest part of Pulama pali. In lower left,
single cascade descends Paliuli, about 20-25 m high. Channels on Pulama
pali are about 1.6 km behind cascade on Paliuli and 250 m higher. Some lava
in Pulama channels ends up at Paliuli cascade; rest coats surface above
pali. 0522. Right. Trickle of lava down Paliuli feeds stubby
`a`a flow (foreground) and extensive inflating pahoehoe. 0551. |
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Looking east across lower Mother's Day flow (light gray),
showing Wilipe`a bench (nearest end of Chain of Craters Road), West
Highcastle entry area, and Highcastle entry area (at sharp bend in
coastline). Beyond Highcastle is flow field developed through early 2002.
Pulama pali is slope in upper left, and Paliuli shows as black scarp
crossing flow in upper left quadrant.
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Looking up Highcastle lobe of Mother's Day flow. Entry area
is shown by bench; narrow feeding flow is flanked by vegetated kipuka.
Remnant of Chain of Craters Road lies just east of flow. In background is
Paliuli, with several lava fans built against it. Base of Pulama pali near
top of view.
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17 August 2002
Breakouts on the coastal flat
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| Breakouts about 560 m from base of Paliuli,
not fed by surface flows. Instead, they appear through cracks in crust of
inflating pahoehoe. Much of the Mother's Day flow within several hundred
meters of Paliuli is actively inflating as lava feeds into crusted flow
from tubes coming down pali. Left. Predawn view at 0535. Right.
Dawn view at 0552. Paliuli is nearest cliff, and Pulama pali is distant.
Fume rises from lava through skylights in tubes.. |
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August 10, 2002: 0542 Lava falling over sea cliff
into water at western group of entries.
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August 10, 2002: 0559 Close-up of lava falls and
steam cloud generated by lava entering water.
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August 9, 2002: 0606 Lava falls into sea from western two
entries at Highcastle. Entry started within past several hours. Listen to the "plop, plop"
sounds as lava drips hit water.
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August 9, 2002: 0607 Telephoto of lava dropping into
the sea.
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Map of flows from Pu`u `O`o: 21 July 2002
Map shows lava flows erupted during the 1983-present activity of Pu`u `O`o
and Kupaianaha (see
large map). Lava from the Mother's Day flow (red flow on west side of flow field)
reached the sea at West Highcastle early on July 19 and at Wilipe`a early on
July 21. Active flows in May-July (shown in red) originate from two
sources—the area of the rootless shields and an area just southwest
of Pu`u `O`o. The two flows from the rootless shields are the Boundary flow,
the longer flow along the edge of the national park, and the HALP flow, which
moved into Royal Gardens subdivision on May 21. From near the southwest base of Pu`u `O`o, the
Mother's Day flow passes along the west side of the flow field and into the
forest, where it started a large wildfire in May that continued into late July. By June 10,
the Mother's Day flow had reached the base
of Paliuli, the steep slope and cliff below Pulama pali and just above the
coastal flat. At the base of Paliuli, the Mother's Day flow abruptly spread
laterally in a series of small budding flows to cover an area nearly 2 km
wide, gradually moving seaward until the West Highcastle and Wilipe`a lobes
finally reached the ocean and started building benches.
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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