Photo & Video Chronology - Kilauea Archive

23 June 2004

West side ocean entry, before and after dawn; lava on Paliuli

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Left. Lava falls, drips, and runs into water in area of former point on western delta. This activity is building a new, more robust point, shown in today's images. Width of widest stream, about 1 m. 0520. Right. Context for left image. Continued activity such as this is building new point on western delta. All views today are from same place, looking southwest at activity. 0527.

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Left. More drips, falls, and reflections. 0531. Right. Blob of lava, forlorn and short-lived, awaits wave swash to become broken into tiny bits of black, glassy sand. 0543.

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Left. Another view of point. 0550. Right. Stringer of lava breaks up as it falls, vaguely resembling red-hot link sausages. 0550.

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Left. Narrow flow with `a`a crust drops down Paliuli and grinds to a halt at base of pali. Person near left edge of image gives scale. Flow starts from point not far above top of pali, breaking out from Banana tube. 0949. Right. Head-on view of same flow 21 minutes later. 1010.

24 June 2004

Eastside entries, and breakout on Pulama pali

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Left. Distant view of large breakout on Pulama pali, along track of main Banana flow. People on left give scale in this predawn, "pushed" image. Breakout is about 3 km from camera. 0537. Right. Lava on active bench of eastern delta, flowing toward and finally into water. Longest flow is 10-15 m long. 0548.

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Left. Wider view of right image above. Note more distant entry, made known by its glow. 0549. Right. Different vantage point of area shown in left image, with golden sky. 0554.

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Left. Same area again, but from still different location. Note Hawaiian noddy near bottom of image. They were really nervous this morning. 0606. Right. Long-lens view of entry from site of left image. 0608.

25 June 2004

Dynamic ocean entry in dynamic environment, and a lava flow

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Left. Glow visible from visitor overlook, coming from northeasternmost entry on eastern lava delta. All images this morning were taken from same place. 0519. Right. As light comes, glow lessens but more can be seen of the entry. 0528.

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Left. Water pouring off delta as another wave crashes ashore. 0535. Right. Boat gets close to entry. 0540.

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Left. Abruptly, lava breaks onto surface atop point. Use sharp spire about 1.5 m high as reference in next three images. 0543:52. Right. Bubble develops in flow, probably because sea water is trapped under lava. Bubble is just starting to burst. 0544:46.

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Left. Ten seconds later, wave washes nearly up to bubble, which is bursting. 0544:56. Right. After bubble burst, another formed, burst, and formed again repeatedly during the next 7 minutes. This images is of one of the largest bubbles, just before it burst. 0547:26.

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Views of pahoehoe and `a`a in Banana flow at about the 550-foot elevation between Pulama pali and Paliuli. Left. Fluid lava is pouring from inside a flow with an `a`a crust. The fluid lava has developed crust that is smooth and called pahoehoe. Right. Similar process as in left image. These two images show that active flows with `a`a surface crust can disgorge fluid lava the can cool to smooth pahoehoe. The terms `a`a and pahoehoe are best used for the solidified products only and should not be applied to flowing lava.

26 June 2004

An unexpected breakout from the blue-fume tube

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Left. Channeled breakout spreading into fan just short of coastline on eastern Banana lava delta. Total length of breakout, about 50 m. This is different breakout than than shown in rest of images today; it was dead an hour later. 0522. Right. West (left) and east branches of blue-fume breakout, descending old sea cliff present before Wilipe`a lava delta (foreground) formed 1.5-2 yr ago. Note colored western sky at dawn. 0539.

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Left. Visitors flock to see west branch of blue-fume breakout pour down pre-Wilipe`a sea cliff and spread across delta below. 0542. Right. Slabby crust on west branch of blue-fume breakout. This flow will solidify to that is called slabby pahoehoe. 0552.

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Left. Detail of fluid toe of lava emerging from under slabby crust just right of right image above. Toe is 1 m wide. 0553. Right. Foreground shows slabby flow in west branch breakout. Background shows cascade of lava in east branch of breakout descending pre-Wilipe`a sea cliff. People give scale. 0558.

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Left. Front of east branch of blue-fume breakout on surface of Wilipe`a lava delta. 0601. Right. Front of same branch 25 minutes later. It has now moved some 30-40 m and is descending the slope separating Wilipe`a lava delta from active eastern Banana delta. Surface between flow and water is on eastern Banana delta. 0626

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Left. Tongue of west branch of blue-fume breakout, which crossed and burned rope barrier a short time earlier. 0616. Right. Nearby, another tongue in the west branch burns rope. Good Samaritans moved rope to safe(?) site a short time later to save taxpayer dollars. 0618.

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Left. Wide angle view shows east branch of blue-fume breakout from pre-Wilipe`a sea cliff to its front on eastern Banana delta, a distance of about 125 m. 0638. Right. Closer view of upper part of east branch. Pre-Wilipe`a sea cliff nicely shows lava drapery that formed during growth of Wilipe`a delta in 2002. 0642.

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Left. East branch of blue-fume breakout, showing channeled nature below pre-Wilipe`a sea cliff. Image taken from top of that old sea cliff, near point where lava descends to Wilipe`a delta. 0659. Right. Looking at roiling lava as it picks up speed and falls down pre-Wilipe`a sea cliff. Lava is in small tube at very top of cliff. Small skylight afforded this view--too hot to worry about photographic niceties. 0703.

27 June 2004

Glow from eastern Banana lava delta

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Left. Glow from entries off eastern Banana delta. 0511. Right. Blowing curtain of laze reflects glow from western or two large entries on Banana delta. 0520.

29 June 2004

Delta dawn

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Left. Looking toward Lae`apuki across glowing ocean-entry points on eastern Banana lava delta. 0531. Right. Wide view, as clouds develop nice patterns above the glowing entries. 0537.

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Left. Lava pouring into water (left glowing area), and larger entry hidden from view (right). 0538. Right. Incandescence in breakout on northeastern part of eastern Banana lava delta. Cliff was at shoreline a month ago, but Banana delta built along foot of cliff, adding to island and isolating cliff from water.

30 June 2004

Bright glow just before rain shower

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Left. Glow from entries off eastern Banana delta, from same site as images of June 27 and 29. Rain shower is headed this way, so humidity is high, leading to a lot of steam condensation and good glow conditions. 0512. Right. Tighter view, just before rain hits. 0519.

Map of flows from Pu`u `O`o: 21 May 2004

Map shows lava flows erupted during 1983-present activity of Pu`u `O`o and Kupaianaha (see large map).

Shades of red denote Mother's Day flow, which began erupting on May 12, 2002 and continues to the present. Darkest shade indicates lava flows erupted in November 2003-21 May 2004, including the labeled Banana flow, which developed gradually starting in the middle of April. Yellow stars indicate centers of formerly active, but now dead, rootless shields built along lava tube in Mother's Day flow. Yellow shade indicates Kuhio (Prince Kuhio Kalaniana`ole) flow, active most of the time from March 20 to May 21. As of May 21, most activity was located south of the rootless shield complex in the Banana flow, fed by the Banana branch of the Mother's Day tube. The Kuhio flow remains active, too.

Through September and into early October 2003, 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 2003, the August 9 breakout stopped moving, the Kohola died back to a trickle, and the one labeled 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. Soon thereafter, other rootless shields began to form over the Mother's Day, August 9, and Kohola tubes.

New vents opened at the southern base of Pu`u `O`o on January 19 and fed Martin Luther King (MLK) flows, which remained active until March 5. Several small vents formed during this time. On March 20, Prince Kuhio Kalaniana`ole (PKK) flow originated from two vents, main one about 250 m south of base of Pu`u `O`o. This flow has remained active most of the time to the May 21 date of this map.

The Banana flow developed from breakouts from the Mother's Day lava tube, centered near the former Banana Tree kipuka. The breakouts become prominent in the middle of April, and lava started down Pulama pali shortly thereafter. This is the time that we assigned the name Banana to the flow.

Vents in West Gap Pit became active in early October, were quiet for 3 weeks, and then resumed intermittent activity that continued well into December. Other vents were also sporadically active in Puka Nui (near West Gap Pit) and in the crater of Pu`u `O`o.

Map of Pu`u `O`o and vicinity: 9 April 2004

Map shows vents, lava flows, and other features near Pu`u `O`o frequently referred to in updates (see large map). These features change often, but this map should help those viewers lost in the terminology. The cones in West Gap are just outside the boundary of the crater--the oval shaped depression containing the seven numbered vents (now down to 6, as Humble Vent has been buried by a mound of lava flows erupted from Dave's Pit/Vent in March. Red color denotes flows--the Mother's Day flows--erupted since May 12, 2002. Light orange color indicates episode-55 flows erupted between March 1997 and August 2002 (exclusive of Mother's Day flows). Darker orange represents MLK flows, and yellow, PKK flow. Vents for these two sets of flows shown by indicated symbols. Gray shows flows of earlier episodes.

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.