Photo & Video Chronology - Kilauea Archive

11 May 2004

Sluggish lava, rainy morning

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Left. Lava pours slowly from under crust within Banana flow. Note how crust, plastic but incandescent, is already developing wrinkles. Width of active toe, 1 m. 0542. Right. Toe advancing from opening in crust at top of image. Just left of center is flake of crust picked up from underlying surface. Width of view, 2 m. 0544.

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Left. Pendulous pear of lava, looking almost good enough to eat but a little on the hot side. Note stretched bubble walls and other filaments. About 30 cm high. 0547. Right. Family of small breakouts within Banana flow, as weather clears enough to see Holei Pali. 0549.

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Left. Lounging sacks of lava, vaguely resembling sleeping sea lions. Width of view, 4-5 m. 0550. Right. Sun is having tough time breaking through clouds this morning. Here it just peeks through, far below full strength, to glimpse Banana breakouts. 0554.

14 May 2004

Banana flow widens near ocean

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Left. The terminus of the Banana flow is 450-500 m from the ocean. In the past few days, the flow front stalled as the flow widened. Right. Breakout from along the Banana flow.

16 May 2004

Banana front in the rain

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Left. Sluggish toes near front of Banana flow, with steam in background rising in rain from warm but inactive part of flow. 0545. Right. Small toe spilling from under crust near front of Banana flow. Note flow lines in lava, and rafted flake of crust. Length of active toe, about 1.5 m. 0548.

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Left. Lava welling up from under crust and flowing down gentle slope, developing wrinkled crust in process. Width of image, 2 m. 0550. Right. Lava spilling from gorged, inflated flow, disrupting crust at breakout point. Width of image, 2 m. 0559.

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Left. Deeply scored wrinkles at leading edge of small breakout at front of Banana flow. Lava is coming out of side of toe in upper right. Width of image, about 1.5 m. 0600. Right. Lava coming out of toe in left image, carrying some of wrinkled crust with it. Width of image, 1.5 m. 0601.

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Left. Very sluggish toes slowly oozing from front of Banana flow. Toes are 20-30 cm wide. 0602. Right. Lava comes from crack in inflating part of Banana flow. Crack propagated from upper left to right center. Lava is just starting to issue from leading edge of crack. Width of view, 1.5-2 m. 0604.

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Left. Breakout pours down slope from ruptured inflating part of Banana flow. Note the developing, wrinkled crust at lower end of breakout. Length of breakout, about 2.5 m. 0609. Right. Same breakout 3 minutes later. View is only of upstream part of breakout. 0612.

18 May 2004

Banana flow between pali and sea

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Left. Several breakouts in Banana flow on coastal flat 300 m from ocean. Large image shows breakout at 1150-foot elevation on Pulama pali along trace of Banana tube. Overcast day, but fume from Pu`u `O`o is visible along left horizon. 0520. Right. From near site of left image, looking across Banana breakouts to ocean in distance. Tip of flow is another 30-50 m closer to water. 0525.

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Left. Visiting photographer in background, and Banana breakouts in foreground. Sea in upper right. 0534. Right. HVO geologist maps edge of Banana flow using hand-held GPS unit. 0556.

19 May 2004

Lava spills from inflating Banana flow

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Left. Two streams of lava spill from growing tumulus near front of inflating Banana flow. 0546. Right. Looking down from top of smaller stream in left image. Photographer is is about the same place as in left image. Gray Pacific Ocean in background. 0551.

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Left. Person stands just left of site of right image above, 3 minutes later. 0554. Right. Another breakout from inflating flow, with Holei Pali in background. 0609.

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Left. Close view of "gnarly" front of breakout from inflating flow. Note the mess of wrinkled and twisted pieces of crust. Width of view, 1 m. 0617. Right. Order from chaos. Two small toes emerge from twisted mess of left image. The toes are only seconds apart in age, but the older has already developed a thin crust with stretched filaments and bubbles. Width of view, 40 cm. 0622.

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Left. Deeply wrinkled, almost furrowed, crust on another toe emerging from the "gnarly" front. Width of image, about 50 cm. 0623. Right. Close-up of furrowed crust in left image. This was a hot one. Width of image, 25 cm. 0624.

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Left. Smaller scale view of same toe with furrowed crust as shown above. Width of toe, about 1 m. 0625. Right. Lava spills down southwest side of inflating Banana flow and slows as slope decreases, causing tangle of folded crust to form. Lava emerges from under crust near top of image. Width of well-defined stream, about 1 m. 0626.

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Left. Closer view of left side of ropy, tangled crust in right image above. Some lavas escapes the mess, only to develop wrinkled crust itself. Width of view, about 1.5 m. 0636. Right. Stream of lava pours from inflating front of Banana flow, with Pulama pali in background. On pali are numerous fuming areas, defining Banana tube and breakouts. Ominous weather turned south a few minutes later. 0647.

20 May 2004

Dawn at Banana flow

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Left. Surface lava on Pulama pali and coastal flat visible at dawn. 0526. Right. Early daylight view, similar to that in left image. Smoke and fume rise from lava and fire on Pulama pali. 0555.

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Left. Dawn light. Sunlight almost matches color of lava. 0530. Right. No good sunrise this morning, but clouds above the Banana are striking. 0553.

26 May 2004

Banana flow nears Wilipe`a lava delta

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Left. Front of east prong of Banana flow with Pulama pali in background. Note metal fence post surrounded by lava (upper center). 0536. Right. Same fence post as in left image, with others in background. Ocean visible in upper right. 0547.

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Left. Gushing front of east prong of Banana flow. This finger moved 7 m in 35 minutes. 0543. Right. Close-up of lava at front of east prong, coming down slope where curve in gush (left image) later developed. Width of image, 1 m. 0539.

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Left. Front of west prong of Banana flow. Pulama pali in background. Width of active tongue, about 1.5 m. 0600. Right. West view across west prong. Hiker's beacon, established by park to help night-time walkers, is visible on skyline just right of mound-like tumulus. 0601.

27 May 2004

Sluggish Banana and lava falls

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Left. Looking east before dawn across west prong of Banana flow, where it crosses park's rope barrier, descends muted old sea cliff, and spreads onto surface of Wilipe`a lava delta. 0517. Right. Breakouts in Banana flow at 1200-1400-foot elevation on Pulama pali (left) and just above Wilipe`a lava delta. 0508.

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Left. Small lava falls and cascade down old sea cliff and onto surface of Wilipe`a lava delta. Lava is in western part of west prong of Banana flow. Height of cliff, 7 m. 0631. Right. Top of another lava falls down same cliff. 0704.

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Left. Base of lava falls, where velocity slows and wrinkled crust forms. 0715. Right. Awestruck HVO scientist watches lava falls on old sea cliff bounding Wilipe`a lava delta. 0714.

28 May 2004

Sluggish Banana and views from air

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Left. Lava descending old sea cliff 5-7 m high bounding inland side of Wilipe`a lava delta. The lava is in west prong of Banana flow and is southernmost lava in the flow. 0535. Right. Visitors enjoying(?) heat and photographing lava along west side of west prong of Banana flow. 0558.

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Left. Banana flow is lighter-hued flow from right edge of image to center left. Burned (brown) trees occur along it. View looks west along Pulama pali. Ocean in upper left. Paliuli is off view to left. 0934. Right. Looking north across lower part of Banana flow. The two prongs are obvious, the western much wider than the eastern. Line with white dots is signed rope barrier established by park along top of old sea cliff. Wilipe`a lava delta is build seaward from the old cliff. Visitors must stay inland of rope barrier, off lava delta. 0936.

29 May 2004

Banana breakouts in east prong of flow

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Left. Large breakout in Banana flow on Pulama pali forms backdrop for small but energetic breakouts on coastal flat in east prong of flow. 0529. Right. Two toes of Banana flow kiss. Note flakes of crust on underlying flow littering top of toes, picked up as front of toes inflated. Two such flakes are just being caught in lava and uplifted by left toe. 0542.

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Left. Photographer at right place at right time to watch nice display of breakouts in east prong of Banana flow. In background is Holei Pali. 0553. Right. Same photographer, same breakout, different view. 0556.

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Left. Some of action in breakouts of above images. Here lava is moving from under twisted crust. Crust is actively rotating clockwise as lava leaves from under it. Width of view, 2 m. 0603. Right. Stream of lava in complex of breakouts. Width of stream, about 3 m. Note that lava is spreading laterally from under the crust that covers most of stream. 0605.

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Left. Bit of alpenglow on end of small stream of lava. Movement is from upper left and is maximum of 2 m wide. 0608. Right. Further development of stream in left image, 1 minute later, in worm's-eye view. 0609.

30 May 2004

Banana in the rain

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Left. Experienced photographers bring umbrellas. Active front of one arm in east prong of Banana flow. 0529. Right. Photographers work for their shots, whether or not it is raining. East prong of Banana flow. 0538.

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Left. Breakout from within east prong of Banana flow. Prong inflates, stretched crust breaks, and lava emerges from within. Width of view, about 2 m. Holei background in murky background. 0547.  Right. Twisting, wrinkled crust on breakout of left image. Width of view, about 1 m. 0548.

31 May 2004

Banana makes it to the coast

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Left. Looking east across surface of Wilipe`a lava delta. Lava is pouring over old sea cliff (upper middle ground) bounding delta and flows across surface toward ocean. Top of Pulama pali on skyline. Width of view, about 70 m. Steam blows into view from ocean entry. 0530. Right. Glow from lava entering ocean backlights steam plume rising from entry point. 0531.

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Left. Stream of lava pours off front of 1.5-yr-old Wilipe`a delta into the Pacific. Length of flow, about 8 m. 0538. Right. A pacific sunrise over the ocean entry into the Pacific Ocean. 0543.

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Left. Lava pours over steep front of Wilipe`a delta into water, generating steam plume. Lighter hues denote hot flow. 0558. Right. Close up shot of lava on steep front and base of delta. 0601.

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Left. Pebbles and cobbles in surf zone await Banana lava. 0651. Right. Falls and cascades of lava down old sea cliff and onto surface of Wilipe`a delta. This lava goes into a developing tube system that inflates flow on delta surface. Height of falls, about 8 m. 0646.

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Left. Middle lava falls in right image above. Note flakes of crust riding down the falls. 0644. Right. The butts have it, as photographers work hard for just the right take. 0702.

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.