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5 November 2004
PKK flow heads for the coast
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| Left. Eastern prong of western
arm of PKK flow nears the coast. Terminus is about 220 m from
shoreline. 0903.
Right. Aerial view looking upstream, showing both prongs of
western arm and site of eventual ocean entry. Old Lae`apuki lava delta
is seaward of prominent old sea cliff. Later on this day, eastern
prong of PKK flow cascaded down the cliff, crossed the old delta, and
entered the ocean to form a new delta (see images for November 6).
0905. |
6 November 2004
PKK flow makes it to the coast
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| Left. Lava in PKK flow falls
down old sea cliff inboard of old Lae`apuki delta, flows across the
old delta, and plunges into water. Height of cliff, about 12 m. Sun
is just peeking over horizon, wanting to see the fabulous sight.
This activity started in past 12 hours. 0623.
Right. Closer view of lava falls and streams on surface of
old delta. Steam rises from places where lava drops off old delta
and starts to form new delta. 0636. |
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| Left. Looking west, across new
delta and lava streams on old delta. Steams are those farthest from
camera in right image above. Lava entering water generates steam.
New delta juts out from front of old delta. 0645.
Right. Closer view of new delta, still tiny but growing.
Nearer camera, small streams of lava fall from front of old delta
but have not yet build a new delta. 0646. |
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| Left. Still closer view of new
delta. Height of new delta, about 4 m. Note large drip of falling
lava. 0655.
Right. Looking down at flow on surface of old delta before
it drops down onto new delta. 0659. |
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| Left. Pahoehoe along east edge
of active flow at brink of old sea cliff inboard of old delta. Lava
emerges from under crust and plunges over cliff. Note debris on
surface of toes, picked up from underlying ground surface. 0700.
Right. Two parallel streams course across old delta. Near
right edge are small cascades shown in left image. 0701. |
8 November 2004
A weak but colorful PKK ocean entry
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| Left. Glow from lava as it
enters ocean at front of new delta formed by PKK flow. 0539.
Right. Same view from different location, showing multiple
entry points. Sea cliff is near right edge of image. 0545. |
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| Left. Another colorful view of
the new lava delta. 0552.
Right. Finally, at dawn, it is light enough to see what the
source of all the glow looks like. Everything in photo, except for
the sea cliff near right side of image, is part of the new lava
delta, still unnamed, which began forming on the night of November
5-6. 0601. |
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| Left. Though a long hike from
the end of Chain of Craters Road, the entry area is a Mecca for
photographers. Photo from same location as the previous three, all
of which look westward. 0614. Right. New lava flows coating
surface of old Lae`apuki delta, looking east. Tiny glob of lava on
old sea cliff is all that remains of cascades, but lava is flowing
through one or more tubes down the cliff, across the old delta, to
the new delta. 0633. |
10 November 2004
East Lae`apuki by daylight
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| Left. New lava delta juts some
50 m seaward of former coastline formed by old Lae`apuki delta. Note
black sand beach formed since current entry began on November 5-6.
0712.
Right. Surface of old Lae`apuki delta has been coated with
many small flows fed by crusted cascades down old sea cliff to
right. What was once a rather smooth surface has taken on much more
character as a result of the new flows. 0722. |
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| Left. Lava meets the sea. Height
of delta front, about 7 m. 0722.
Right. Similar view as to left but at great magnification.
0723. |
12 November 2004
Various and sundry
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| Left. Part of south flank of
Pu`u `O`o, showing cracks cutting the tephra cone. Headwall of Puka
Nui faces left. Fume rises from June 25 vent just south of cone.
1040.
Right. Sampling lava the old-fashioned way, with a rock
hammer. Site is in PKK flow just above top of Pulama pali. Pu`u `O`o
in upper left. 1230. |
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| Left. Looking down on old and
new lava deltas at Lae`apuki. Steam rises from front of new delta.
Just left of center is steep slope that forms front of old Lae`apuki
delta; this was shoreline before new delta formed. Old sea cliff
predating previous delta is in upper left part of image. 1242.
Right. New lava delta. Note two clusters of actual
entries--west and east. Width of delta, about 190 m. 1243. |
16 November 2004
Showery...but c'est la vie
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| Left. Looking southwest at point
of new eastern Lae`apuki lava delta. Glow comes mainly from a
bank of small entries southwest of point. 0543.
Right. Lava drops into the water from a lava tube at front
of eastern Lae`apuki delta. The off-vertical plunge of the lava
falls is real, not a camera artifact. 0545. |
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| Left. Fewer than 10 seconds
before this image was taken, a lava tube opened at the front of the
delta, and lava gushed into the water. Immediately steam was
produced. This image shows place where lava leaves tube. Width of
lava stream is 1-2 m. 0546.
Right. Looking seaward across new delta toward early
daylight. A nice sunrise never developed but this would be a good
place to see a future one. 0608. |
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| Left. Small breakout from new
finger of west arm of PKK flow, about 180 m from sea cliff just
northeast of new lava delta. This finger, and one shown below, are
quite active this morning and, though small, stand a good change of
making it to the water. 0628.
Right. Remindful of a cat splayed out in the sun, this lava
breakout spreads out from its feeding tube. 0632. |
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| Left. Front of other PKK finger
northeast of active lava delta. Note nicely developed cracks in skin
of right-hand toe. 0638.
Right. Another place along same finger, showing broader toes
emerging from under crust. Pulama pali forms backdrop. 0644. |
18 November 2004
Liquid rock more than meets its match
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| Left. End of road for liquid
lava, falling from front of new delta and being quenched to rock by
the water. 0720.
Right. East side of new lava delta at eastern Lae`apuki,
with broad and narrow lava falls contributing black sand to the
ocean sediment. 0737. |
19 November 2004
Pu`u `O`o and Lae`apuki
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| Left. Cracked south flank of
Pu`u `O`o, with crater at top of image and incandescent hole at June
25 vent near site of fuming south of cone. Complex headwall of Puka
Nui truncates left side of cone. Dark area near center of image is
site of new equipment to monitor ground shaking; switchbacked trail
leads to it. 1334.
Right. View from dark area in left image, showing spattering
from incandescent hole in June 25 vent. The spattering culminated a
gas-piston cycle, in which expanding gas lifts lava to the surface,
eventually bursting out as spatter; lava then drops back down hole
as volume of gas is lost. 1210. |
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| Left. "Pushed" image to show
three arms of PKK flow. Western arm, by far the largest, feeds the
ocean entry (steam); it bifurcates near the coast, the western lobe
actually doing the feeding and the eastern lobe not quite at the sea
cliff yet. Middle arm of flow is small, just left of long, narrow
kipuka near top center of image. Eastern arm is aimed toward right
side of image and descends Pulama pali just right of long, narrow
kipuka near top center. 0914. Right. Looking across new
eastern Lae`apuki lava delta. Front of older, Lae`apuki delta is
visible as low cliff in upper quarter of image. Behind it is old sea
cliff that predated the Lae`apuki delta. New delta forms outboard of
old delta; note new black sand beach just right of new delta.
Drapery from lava falls that feed new delta mantles sea cliff near
center of image. Eastern lobe of western arm of PKK flow visible in
upper right, stopping short of the sea cliff some 30-50 m. 0923. |
26 November 2004
Day after Thanksgiving on the PKK flow
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| Left. Looking southwest across
new lava delta at east Lae`apuki. Entry in lower right is from new
eastern appendage of delta, supplied by eastern finger of PKK flow.
Rest of glow is on main part of new delta and is from lava supplied
by central part of PKK flow near coast. Flow in right half of view
is fed by cascade breaking out from tube about one-third of way down
old sea cliff. Width of view is about 60-70 m. 0555.
Right. View from same place as left image, showing entry off
new eastern appendage of delta. 0605. |
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| Left. Main part of lava delta
viewed from above its eastern appendage. 0613.
Right. Surf basking in glow from lava entering water off
eastern appendage of delta. 0618. |
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| Left. Breakout from small tube
in PKK flow within 100 m of old sea cliff. Width off flow front,
about 1.5 m. 0653.
Right. Close view of bulbous toe of lava, showing details of
its skin, including stretched bubble walls and filaments. Toe is
about 20 cm thick. 0659. |
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| Left. Lava oozing from under
crust and developing vertical split, from which lava emerged to form
another toe just a few seconds later. Note stretched bubbles clearly
showing the rolling nature of the lava as it surfaces from under the
crust. Thickness of flowing lava, 15-20 cm. 0701. Right.
Sheet of lava being delivered from under crust. Note the piece of
crust that broke away and is being carried along on a free ride.
With imagination, one can see stretched fingers grasping for a way
out. 0702. |
Map of flows from Pu`u `O`o: 19 November 2004
Map shows lava flows erupted during 1983-present activity of Pu`u `O`o
and Kupaianaha (see
large map).
Shades of red and bright yellow denote Mother's Day flow field, which
began erupting on May 12, 2002 and continues to the present. Darkest red
indicates lava flows erupted in November 2003-August 2004, including the
labeled Banana flow, which developed gradually starting in the middle
of April. Orange shade denotes MLK flow, erupted in January and, in brief
spurts, subsequently. Yellow shade indicates Kuhio (PKK) flow, active
most of the time from March 20 through November and reaching the sea on
the evening of November 5-6.
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, Kuhio (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 August 24 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: 24 August 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; yellow, PKK flow; purple, Puka Nui flow. Vents for these 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.
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