Photo & Video Chronology - Kilauea Archive

26 September 2002

Down a lazy river to the sea

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Lava river moving across new delta (bench) between Highcastle and West Highcastle, informally named Middle Highcastle. River is fed by lava falls and cascade, top of which is shown in next two images. Glow at end of river comes from lava entering sea. Estimated distance from camera to entry, 50 m. Left. 0514. Right. 0539.

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Lava feeding flow on delta emerges from tube at top of old sea cliff.  Left. Looking down flow from point where lava comes out of tube (overexposed patch). 0518. Right. Side view of lava exiting tube and just starting to pick up speed at top of cliff. Width of view, about 2 m. 0547.

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Left. View taken from same place as upper two images, showing details of bench in dawn's light. Note how much flow has crusted over since first image was taken 42 minutes earlier. Such is the fate of open channels. 0556. Right. Camera man taking video of lava emerging from tube at brink of old sea cliff. Looking east toward Lae`apuki. 0557.

Later in day: skylight at head of solidified lazy river

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Channel of lava that fed lazy river earlier today has mostly crusted over, leaving skylight at point where lava exited tube. These views, taken at 0940, show skylight and its relation to Middle Highcastle delta. Left. Skylight itself. Lava flows away from camera and just starts to fall down old sea cliff. Right. Skylight on edge of old sea cliff, with delta below. Perspective makes it hard to tell there is a 12-m-high cliff below skylight.

27 September 2002

A coastal variety

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Yesterday morning a channel of lava exited tube at brink of old sea cliff to feed flow snaking across Middle Highcastle delta. Later that morning, most of channel had crusted over, leaving skylight (see last images for yesterday). Left. Same videographer as shown in image yesterday taping view of lava in nearby skylight. Glow from ocean entries across delta in background. 0520. Right. Glimpse into skylight. Walls of tube are incandescent, so bright that flowing lava cannot be distinguished from solid. 0529.

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Left. At least four entry points off central front of Middle Highcastle lava delta cast glow below predawn sky. 0542. Right. View from 1995 lava delta of southwestern part of Middle Highcastle delta, showing at least three entry points. 0601.

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Run-of-the-mill breakout in flow that feeds Middle Highcastle lava delta, about 200 m inland of old sea cliff. Breakouts occur as flow inflates owing to lava pressure within. Eventually crust ruptures, disgorging lava onto surface. 0612

28 September 2002

A peaceful Saturday morning at Middle Highcastle

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All views this morning taken from approximately the same location, on a hot flow, looking across middle part of Middle Highcastle lava delta. Left. Wide view showing active front of delta. Width, approximately 250 m. 0543. Right. More detail of entry points in right half of left-hand image. Later, after camera gear was put away, small collapse removed part of delta at site of brightest glow. 0601.

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Left. Breakout moving across black sand beach developed on part of delta. Note surf in background. 0608. Right. Moderate plume of laze (lava haze) rises from entry area a few minutes after sun-up. This plume darkened considerably, and grew in size, during the small explosions that accompanied bench collapse a few minutes later. 0612

29 September 2002

Sunday morning at the edge of the Pacific

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Left. Lava stream about 8 m long rushes to water from southwesternmost entry on Middle Highcastle delta. 0522. Right. Dueling deltas. Old standby Wilipe`a in background, and upstart southwest end of Middle Highcastle delta in foreground. 0555.

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Left. Breakouts from under crust of Middle Highcastle delta head for demise in water. Largest breakout, 5-7 m long. 0611. Right. Wave about to get three spigots of lava in one fell swoop. 0615:45.

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Left. Wave in right image above has receded, and the three spigots are back in business, pouring lava onto the black sand beach. 0616. Right. Only 3 minutes later, a surge of lava broke from under crust and overran the three spigots. 0619.

Map shows lava flows erupted during the 1983-present activity of Pu`u `O`o and Kupaianaha (see large map). Active flows in May-July (shown in red) originated 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. 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, at Wilipe`a early on July 21, and at Highcastle on August 8. 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. Activity at West Highcastle ended in early August, but entry began soon thereafter at Highcastle, eventually burying tiny kipuka of the Chain of Craters Road. The Wilipe`a entry died away slowly and had ended by mid-August. Highcastle and neighboring Highcastle Stairs entries ended on about August 23. For a time there were no active entries. Then Wilipe`a was reactivated on September 3 and remains active as of September 19. West Highcastle likewise renewed its activity on September 16-17 but died away during the night of September 18-19. Not shown on the map is the new northeastern end of the Wilipe`a bench, which extends halfway to West Highcastle from the east end of the bench shown on the map.

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.