Scattered breakouts today (October 13) on the western 61g flow margin were mapped at 1.3 km (0.8 mi) from the closest portion of the emergency road. The small pÄhoehoe breakouts put on a show as they slowly oozed out of growing cracks that were forced open by flow inflation (pictured). Photo taken Friday, October 13, 2017 courtesy of USGS/HVO
Surface breakouts (light in color) remain active on the upper coastal plain. These breakouts are fed by both the main eastern tube—left of the kipuka and below the tube’s fume trace on the pali—and from the eastern June 26 breakout branch, visible to the right of the kipuka. The leading edge of the coastal plain breakouts is on the western (left) flow margin and is approximately 1.3 km (0.8 mi) from the closest section of the emergency road. At the Kamokuna ocean entry, recent breakouts near the edge of the cliff (lighter in color) have been spilling onto the lava delta (foreground) for the past few weeks, resurfacing almost the entire area of the delta. The misty day obscured a view of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘Å, which, on a clear day, would be visible on the skyline in the center of the photo. Photo taken Thursday, October 12, 2017 courtesy of USGS/HVO
Today (October 12), the Kamokuna lava delta was measured at roughly 11 acres (4.5 hectares) in size. Over the past two months, several lava tube breakouts on the sea cliff have spilled lava onto the delta. On the delta, ‘Aâ€˜Ä (darker color) and pÄhoehoe (lighter color) flows have resurfaced much of the area in the past few weeks, covering the many surface cracks noted in previous photos. Although the cracks are no longer visible, subsurface cracks still remain, as does the hazard of delta instability. The area directly upslope of the ocean entry is hazardous as well, with ground fracturing and lava tube breakouts occurring over the past few months. Photo taken Thursday, October 16, 2017 courtesy of USGS/HVO
A view of the upper coastal plain breakouts on the episode 61g flow field. The majority of the active surface flows on the coastal plain are being fed by the June 26 breakout branch on the eastern margin of the flow field (right). A smaller area of active lava in the upper western flow field (left) is being fed from a breakout of the main 61g lava tube near the base of the pali. Photo taken Thursday, October 16, 2017 courtesy of USGS/HVO
HVO geologists relocate a time-lapse camera on the rim of the west pit lava pond in the Pu‘u ‘Ō‘Šcrater. Over the past several months, the camera has been slowly tilting downward due to soft, altered ground beneath it, and the general instability of the rim. The new location, about 20 m (yards) to the south, appears to be more stable and less altered. Weak spattering was visible in the west pit lava pond (at the incandescent area near the center of the image) today. Photo taken Thursday, October 16, 2017 courtesy of USGS/HVO
Time-lapse thermal image movie of Halemaumau Overlook Vent. October 12-19, 2017. Images courtesy of USGS/HVO
Time-lapse movie of Halemaumau Overlook Vent. October 12-19, 2017. Images courtesy of USGS/HVO
Time-lapse movie of Halemaʻumaʻu Overlook Vent from Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. October 12-19, 2017. Images courtesy of USGS/HVO
Time-lapse movie of KÄ«lauea Caldera from Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. October 12-19, 2017. Images courtesy of USGS/HVO
Time-lapse movie of Halemaumau Crater looking Southwest. October 12-19, 2017. Images courtesy of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
(Activity updates are written by scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.)
This past week, KÄ«lauea Volcano’s summit lava lake level fluctuated with summit inflation and deflation, ranging about 35–44 m (115–144 ft) below the vent rim. On the East Rift Zone, the 61g flow remained active, with lava reaching the Kamokuna delta and surface breakouts downslope of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘Å. The 61g flows do not pose an immediate threat to nearby communities.
Mauna Loa is not erupting. Small-magnitude earthquakes occurred beneath the summit caldera and upper Southwest Rift Zone, primarily at depths less than 5 km (3 mi), with some deeper events at depths of 5–13 km (3–8 mi). GPS and satellite radar measurements continue to show deformation related to inflation of a magma reservoir beneath the summit caldera and upper Southwest Rift Zone. No significant changes in volcanic gas emissions were measured.
One earthquake with three or more felt reports occurred on the Island of Hawaiʻi this past week: On October 14, 2017, at 8:36 p.m. HST, a magnitude-3.6 earthquake 7 km (4 mi) west of Volcano at 6 km (4 mi) depth.
Please visit the HVO website (https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/hvo) for past Volcano Watch articles, volcano updates and photos, recent earthquake info, and more. Call for summary updates at 808-967-8862 (KÄ«lauea) or 808-967-8866 (Mauna Loa). Email questions to askHVO@usgs.gov.
Time-lapse movie of Pu’u ‘O’o Crater. October 12-19, 2017. Images courtesy of USGS/HVO
Time-lapse movie from a camera positioned on the southeast flank of PuÊ»u ʻŌʻÅ, looking toward the active flow advancing to the southeast. The breakout point is at the left edge of the image, and the mid-field skyline at the right is roughly coincident with the top of the pali. October 12-19, 2017. Images courtesy of USGS/HVO
Time-lapse image movie from a research camera positioned on Holei Pali, looking east towards Lava Flow 61G and Kalapana. October 12-19, 2017. Images courtesy of USGS/HVO
This map shows recent changes to KÄ«lauea’s East Rift Zone lava flow field. The area of the active flow field as of September 21 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the active flow as of October 12 is shown in red. Older Pu‘u ‘Ō‘Šlava flows (1983–2016) are shown in gray. The yellow line is the trace of the active lava tube.
The blue lines over the Pu‘u ‘Ō‘Šflow field are steepest-descent paths calculated from a 2013 digital elevation model (DEM), while the blue lines on the rest of the map are steepest-descent paths calculated from a 1983 DEM (for calculation details, see http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2007/1264/). Steepest-descent path analysis is based on the assumption that the DEM perfectly represents the earth’s surface. DEMs, however, are not perfect, so the blue lines on this map can be used to infer only approximate flow paths. The base map is a partly transparent 1:24,000-scale USGS digital topographic map draped over the 1983 10-m digital elevation model (DEM).
This map is similar to the map above but shows a thermal map over the Episode 61g lava flow. Cooler colors (blue and green) show cooled, inactive portions of the flow surface. Hot colors (red and orange) show areas of active surface breakouts. Areas of the Episode 61g flow not covered by the thermal map – because of clouds, rain, or incomplete image coverage – are shown as dark gray.
The thermal map was constructed by stitching many overlapping oblique thermal images collected by a handheld thermal camera during a helicopter overflight of the flow field.
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