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3 July 2002
Visual delights along Mother's Day flow
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| Only a 20-minute walk from end of Chain of
Craters Road, hundreds of visitors to Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park are
witnessing lava cascades, slow-moving pahoehoe toes, and inflating flows.
Lava viewing doesn't get much better than this! Left. Lava spills
into skylight in old tube along edge of southeast arm of Mother's Day flow.
Note solitary lava cascade on Paliuli and gas escaping from skylight
along active lava tube above Paliuli. Lava trickled into skylight
for several hours in late afternoon. Right.
Lava oozes from inflation crack at leading edge of west arm of Mother's Day flow. This flow is at end of trail from Chain of
Craters Road established by park to guide visitors to
active flow front. During peak visitation, several hundred people
gather at the flow front. Note that many people
are dressed inappropriately. Shorts and sneakers afford no protection to
heat, and shorts don't protect legs from getting scraped during falls onto
the glassy flow surface. |
7 July 2002
Cool morning on southeast lobe of Mother's Day flow
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| Views of rapidly advancing southwest arm of
southeast lobe of Mother's Day flow on coastal flat seaward of Paliuli.
Left image taken at 0545, when incandescent patches on Pulama pali can just
be seen (upper right). Right image taken at 0558, of evolved left toe shown
in left image. Note how thin the flow is--less than 70 cm. This is
temporary, for the flow was inflating as it was advancing and in a few
minutes doubled its thickness. |
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View at 0610 of small bud forming at one tip of southwest
arm of active lobe. The bud is perhaps 50 cm wide.
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| Close-ups of toe as it forms at 0612.
Left. Wrinkled skin and small toe just breaking out at lower right.
Right. Toe has already developed folded (wrinkled) crust, which spreads apart as toe inflates, allowing incandescence to be visible
in troughs of wrinkles. Right view taken few seconds after left.
Each image is about 1 m wide. |
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Four minutes later, toe has gone through several
incarnations, leaving long, slender finger from which another toe breaks out. Note deeply furrowed crust on flow.
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Another two minutes have passed. This view shows further
evolution of once-simple toe, well beyond point at which toe has any
recognizable definition. Wrinkled crust floats away from breakout point,
jamming against rigid rock to left, refolding the wrinkles. Lava emerges from beneath crust to lead the way downhill.
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| Left. Breakout from side of southwest
arm of southeast lobe of Mother's Day flow at 0622, about 50 m upstream
from images above. Note the wrinkled crust on the flow, which is rolling
toward observer. Small toe is starting to emerge from under crust near
right side of image. Right. Same breakout from different angle at
0624. The crust has deflated as lava below it debouched onto
surface. Never fear, though. Such deflation is a minor process on these
inflating flows. |
12 July 2002
Meanwhile, back at Pu`u `O`o
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| Left. Looking southwest in the crater
of Pu`u` O`o. Most vigorously fuming site is collapsed spatter cone at East
Pond Vent. January vent, just above and right of East Pond Vent, fumes
weakly. South Wall Complex lies along projection of line between East Pond
Vent and January vent. July 7 lava flow is just left of fuming vent near
west end of crater. Right. Closer and more nearly vertical view of
incandescent cones in South Wall Complex (lower left ) and incandescent
vent for dark July 7 flow (right center). Depending on one's definition of
a separate hole, there are as many as eight that are incandescent. Can you
see them? |
14 July 2002
Trickles `n toes on Sunday morning
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Noon view looking at western part of Mother's Day flow from
coastal flat. The trickles below are coming down Paliuli, the nearest cliff.
The new west branch of the flow feeds this area. (Cascades for the past
month have been located at and to right of right edge of image.) Shiny areas
on Pulama pali above Paliuli show currently active branches of the flow.
Predawn incandescence reported daily highlights the three broad branches,
the easternmost of which disappears off right side of image.
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Looking west across Mother's Day flow on coastal flat below
Paliuli, visible near right edge of image. Note finger-like seaward
projections of flow, which is lighter than surrounding 1995 flow. Southeast
lobe extends farthest seaward. End of Chain of Craters Road visible near
coastline west of flow. In large view, visitor trail from road barely shows.
In image, taken on July 12, smoke rises from fire at tip of flow just above
Paliuli; this flow, several hours later, fed western cascades that were
photographed on July 14.
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| Scenes of lava flowing down Paliuli, fed by
west branch of Mother's Day flow. Left. Ghostly smoke rises to left
from burning bush at foot of trickle, 0528. Right. Closer scene 8
minutes later, distinguishing the nearly vertical pali from the lava-coated talus fan at its base. Height of pali is 8-10 m. |
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| Trickles and small cascades feed small flow
at base of Paliuli taken at about 0542. |
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Early morning light at 0617 shines on most seaward active lobe of
Mother's Day flow, 1 km from base of Paliuli
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At 0613, a toe of lava advances the Mother's Day flow a
smidgeon farther south.
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| Left. At 0623, lava picks up small
pieces of flaky crust from surface below and inflates them upward. Three
such pieces are evident on left toe. The two other toes first inflated but,
before photo could be taken, broke through the crust and spilled ahead. On
small piece of crust from underlying surface (right tip of middle toe) was
first uplifted but now is being pushed ahead and was eventually overridden
by the toe. Right. Lava is gushing from "trapdoor" near top of
image. Inflation caused the door to open, and the contents of the flow
could then pour out. 0624. |
16 July 2002
Dawn on the Mother's Day flow
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| Left. Southeast branch of Mother's Day
flow moves seaward, with incandescent spots and small streams showing
broad, complex
course of lava down Pulama pali and Paliuli to the coastal flat. 0531. Right.
Sunrise over the southeast branch of the flow. This kind of view is
commonplace for early risers at Kilauea, but it never gets old. 0535. |
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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