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24 October 2003
Birth of twin "carlitos," and views of Pu`u `O`o crater
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| Left. Sulfur- and
sulfate-encrusted hornito in Cookie Monster area along upper Mother's
Day lava tube, with south side of Pu`u `O`o in background. Large gap
in crater profile is head of broken-down Puka Nui. Later images show
birth of two small hornitos just to left of camera. 1051. Right.
Future site of new hornitos. First tiny hornito (informally called
"carlito" by us) formed in dully incandescent area
just left of end of titanium gas-sampling tube. Second formed in
brightly incandescent area into which a mullite gas-sampling tube is
inserted. Site is directly above full lava tube, and lava is only 1-2
m below surface. Bits of lava have just started spitting from
incandescent holes, and a loud hissing sound issues continuously from
site. Sampling tubes are about 2 cm diameter. 1052:40. |
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| Left. Close view of area in
upper right view. Incandescent area in upper left is enlarging, becoming brighter,
and acquiring a quivering jello-like texture that you almost want to
touch. Mullite tube is inserted in vent in lower right.
1053:28. Right. Upper vent in left image is spitting
drops and small globs of lava (upper left) in earliest stage of hornito formation.
Hissing sounds are very loud now. 1054:05. |
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| Left. First vent continues to
spit lava, and some lava that has welled out from vent is building a
black, glassy rim. 1054:33. Right. Same vent 53 seconds
later. Still more lava has welled out and added to rim. 1055:26. |
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| Left. Rim has grown larger 35
seconds later, and Pele's Hair is forming from lava spitting from
vent. 1056:01. Right. Rim of solidified glassy lava is
building a hollow cylinder around vent, accompanied by continuous
formation of Pele's Hair. 1058:13. |
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| Left. Baby hornito continues to
form on left, and lava is now welling up around mullite gas-sampling
tube at second site near right edge of image. It is time to remove the
tube or abandon it to posterity. 1058:30. Right. Pulling
hard, the geochemist manages to extract the mullite tube, carrying
with it a large glob of lava. 1059:23. |
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| Left. Showing off the catch, a
red-hot blob of lava on the end of the mullite tube, which is about 2
cm in diameter. 1059:41. Right. With the mullite
liberated, a new hornito starts to grow at former sampling site.
All this time the loud hissing sound continues, broken every minute or
two by a second of dead silence, more worrisome than the sound itself. 1100:14. |
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| Left. View from above the two
carlitos, looking in opposite direction from previous shots. First
hornito is on right, mullite hornito is on left. 1101:54. Right.
Back to former viewing site. First tiny hornito has developed a hood
like that of a cobra and almost as ominous. Hood (or cap) forms as
lava spitting from vent joins that which briefly rises to lip of
structure from pulsating tube below. 1102:27. |
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| Left. View into the hooded first
carlito, with plenty of Pele's Hair around. 1106:17. Right.
Two geochemists view newly birthed carlitos. Nearest person stands
where most of preceding images were taken. Camera is on high area
from which image at 1101:54 was taken. 1107:23. |
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| Left. Both new hornitos, the
smaller standing over mullite-tube locality. Growth has pretty
much ended, with only occasional spit coming from larger
hornito.1108:34. Right. Close view into mouth of larger
carlito. Coarse spines and fine Pele's Hair are evident. 1128:10. |
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| Left. Hood on larger carlito has
nearly closed. 1129:17. Right. Nearly 1 hour later, all
activity has ended at the two new hornitos, but the general area
itself is clearly still active. This image shows the first new carlito,
dark, with its basal surrounding brightly incandescent. Very possibly
another carlito formed over this area, perhaps burying the first, but
we had to leave. Observing the birth of twin carlitos was enough to
satisfy most volcanologists. |
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| Left. View of eastern part of
Pu`u `O`o crater from east rim. East Pond Vent is shown by remnant of
large spatter cone and adjacent pit. Incandescence can generally be
seen at night in this pit. Dark lava flows erupted in past month from East
Pond Vent and adjacent January vent (right image). 1329.
Right. January vent has conelike shape southwest of East Pond
Vent. 1331. |
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| Left. View of January vent and
East Pond Vent, with south wall of Pu`u `O`o crater dimly shown in
upper left. Note billowed appearance of lava flows that spilled from
both vents. The lava was gas rich and so left cavernous flows with
fragile crusts, called shelly pahoehoe. 1338.
Right. East Pond Vent, which formerly was single large spatter
cone before it collapsed several months ago to form a crater, with
only remnant of spatter cone remaining. 1340. |
28 October 2003
Early morning spatter in West Gap Pit, and a few aerials
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| Left. Spatter from western vent
in West Gap Pit, under very fumy conditions. "Pit" is really a
misnomer now, for what was a pit has been filled by lava flows. Gas masks were in
order this morning, as they were for all subsequent images taken in West Gap Pit. Height of spatter cone is about 7 m. This is same
spatter cone that was much more active on October 3 (see archived
images for that day, which view other side of cone. 0558. Right.
Looking west at eastern vent in West Gap Pit, incandescent and recently spitting
spatter. This vent is also shown in some images taken on October 3.
Cone at vent is about 6 m high. Glow from western vent visible in upper left. Note the thick, tasty
fume. 0609. |
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| Left. Similar view to right
image above, but clearer view of spattering west vent. 0612. Right.
Eastern vent in West Gap Pit, looking northeast across head of West
Gap Pit with looming rim of Pu`u `O`o crater in background. West lip
of Pu`u `O`o crater is shown about halfway up right side of image.
0618. |
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| Left. Spitting spatter from
western vent in West Gap Pit. Shutter speed sufficiently fast to
catch clots without showing their parabolic trajectory. 0625. Right.
Another view of western vent, with Pu`u `O`o behind and lava flow in
foreground. 0632. |
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| The following four images take advantage of early morning sun angle to show features near Pu`u `O`o. Left. Spatter cone formed early
in Pu`u `O`o eruption, once called 1123 cone and now known as Pu`u
Halulu. Location is about 1 km downrift of Pu`u `O`o. Cone has been
invaded and nearly covered by lava flows erupted later in eruption.
0722. Right. Steep view of skylight in long-abandoned lava
tube southeast of Pu`u `O`o, showing fabric of lava flows. Skylight
is about 7 m wide. 0724. |
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| Left. Skylights define course of
old lava tube back toward Pu`u `O`o. View looks northwestward.
Fuming area to left is Cookie Monster area along upper Mother's Day
flow and is where numerous hornitos have formed, including those
shown in images for October 24. West Gap Pit is hidden in this and
right image just west of Pu`u `O`o. 0723. Right. Closer view
of south side of Pu`u `O`o, showing broken-down Puka Nui, the large
pit with high shadowed wall. 0726. |
31 October 2003
Halloween at Pu`u `O`o
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| Left. Onlookers sitting on flank
of Pu`u `O`o are treated to spattering from west vent in filled West
Gap Pit. Flow fed by spattering curves behind cone and heads off
right side of image. 0949. Right. Closer view of spattering from west
vent in West Gap Pit. 1033. |
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| Left. Lava flow fed by
spattering west vent in West Gap Pit, hidden in fume at top of
image. Length of flow, about 850 m. 1100:17. Right. Closer view of
front of lava flow in left image. 1100:23. |
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| Left. Area called Upper Mother's
Day lava tube, with original Cookie Monster buried by largest
hornito. Lava is welling from tube near site of growing hornitos
(see images for October 24) and feeding flow traveling left beyond
edge of image. 0911. Right. Looking northwest across Puka
Nui toward West Gap Pit. Small black flow on floor of Puka Nui is
fresh lava flow. Directly above it, in distance, is spatter from
west vent in West Gap Pit. New flow is several tens of meters wide.
0912. |
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| Left. Looking west-southwest
across western part of floor of Pu`u `O`o crater, with fuming and,
barely visible, spattering from West Gap Pit. Flow erupted earlier
this morning is at far end of Pu`u `O`o crater. Fuming cone near
left edge is Beehive vent. 0912. Right. Unusual perspective
of crater floor of Pu`u `O`o, looking east from septum separating
crater from West Gap Pit; septum is shown in left image. Visible
vents on crater floor are Beehive (right), January (center), and
East Pond (largely hidden by fume). 1021. |
Map of flows from Pu`u `O`o: 10 October 2003
Map shows lava flows erupted during 1983-present activity of Pu`u `O`o
and Kupaianaha (see
large map). Red denotes Mother's Day flow, which began erupting on
May 12, 2002 and continues to the present.
Through September and into early October, lava was moving along
the east and west sides of the Mother's Day flow. The east-side lava
(known as the August 9 breakout) came from the August 9 rootless shield,
itself fed by the main Mother's Day tube from Pu`u `O`o. The west side
lava, known as the Kohola arm of the Mother's Day flow, branched off the
tube system below the rootless shield.
In early October, the August 9 breakout stopped moving, the Kohola died
back to a trickle, and the rootless shield gained prominence. By October
16, however, the shield had partly collapsed, leaving several drained
perched ponds behind. Upstream from the shield, many hornitos and small
flows formed over the Mother's Day tube.
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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