Scientists tracking new Kilauea lava flow (Honolulu, Volcano: tenant, dangerous, agriculture)

[OpenD]

After reading that last alert, this song came to mind...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NwP3wes4M8

[OpenD]

HVO Photos... a fascinating ThermoScan view from the other day, showing how the tip of the "front" has gone cold, while the breakouts on the flanks remain HOT!





HVO Photos & Video

[OpenD]

Road Work!


Photo by Volcanoes National Park

Bulldozers working from opposite ends of the blocked portion of Chain of Craters Rd to clear 8 miles of old lava have met in the middle. Next the removed material will be crushed to make a gravel road up through the Volcanoes National Park from Kalapana. It is expected to be completed by December, but will not be opened to the public, and will not be opened at all unless Highway 130 gets cut off. Residents of Lower Pahoa will be given window stickers that grant them access if required due to emergency conditions.

Cindy Orlando, the park's superintendent, said Thursday that when Chain of Craters Road opens, only area residents, vendors and invited guests will be allowed to use it. The road's operational and management costs are estimated at $1.7 million annually, she said. The park has spent $800,000 so far.

Orlando said the park will request funding from the federal government to recover the costs.

Since it opened in 1965, 19-mile long Chain of Craters Road has been blocked by lava for 37 years of its 49-year existence, according to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. About 8 miles of the coastal section of Chain of Craters Road is covered by lava, park officials said.

In addition, tomorrow tests will start on paving materials that might be used to restore traffic over cooled lava.

The state Friday will begin testing surface materials on lava-covered Apaa Street to evaluate possible solutions for rebuilding Puna's main highway if the flow from Kilauea Volcano continues along its current course.

Workers will be applying aggregate material at different depths and thicknesses of the flow on Apaa Street, Hawaii County Civil Defense Director Darryl Oli-veira said. They'll be looking into how heat from the flow transfers to the new materials and measure temperatures below the surface. The state will be using high-tech equipment that identifies anomalies in the flow, along with a ground-penetrating radar system that looks below the surface.

The tests are being conducted with the idea of re-establishing Highway 130 in mind, Oli-veira said. "Re-establishment of the highway would be a definite benefit to return the community to some form of normalcy," he said.

Tests in preparation for possible highway damage from lava - Hawaii News - Honolulu Star-Advertiser

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[OpenD]

Civil Defense alert for Fri 11/7 - Lava front is still stalled. It's been a week!

Eruption Information Update For Friday, November 7th At 8:00AM


This is an eruption and lava flow Information Update for Friday, November 7th at 8:00AM

This morning’s assessment shows that the flow front remains stalled with very little activity and has not advanced over the past week. The flow pad continues to show signs of inflation which could result in breakouts and more activity. The front remains approximately 480 feet from the Pahoa Village Road. The upslope breakouts remain approximately .7 to 1.5 miles above the Apa’a Street area and along the north side of the flow and moving in a north/northeast direction. Active burning along the flow edges in the areas of the cemetery and above the transfer station continues and limited to the vegetation in contact with the flow. The smoke from the active burning may be visible throughout the day however there is no brush fire threat at this time.

County of Hawaii - Civil Defense Alerts and Information

[OpenD]

From the HVO, here's what one of the breakouts near the Pahoa cemetery looks like.



HVO Photos & Video

[hawaiian by heart]

Mahalo for the updates OpenD

[OpenD]

So far the June 27 Flow has been stalled at the front for a week, but that doesn't mean there isn't activity along the flanks. It also hasn't caused much destruction so far, but a crew from HVO came close to losing some expensive equipment due to a recent overflow back up along the lava path.

Here's a view of the area where the unexpected overflow occurred, spilling the lighter colored lava over the older, darker lava. Pu'u 'O'o is off in the distance to the upper right.



And here is the skylight down into the fresh lava flow below. The hole on top is about 7.5 yards across. This is what the HVO crew was monitoring with time lapse cameras.



Here's a view of what the HVO camera looked like before the overflow.



And here's what it looked like after the overflow, with melted case, power cable burnt through... they were lucky not to lose it completely. Fortunately the camera and electronics were not damaged.



HVO Photos & Video

[OpenD]

Saturday The CD alert today was the same as every day for the last week... no forward motion, lava breakouts on the sides.

Here's the HVO map as of yesterday afternoon. Bright red areas are the fresh lava.



HVO Maps

[Buckeye77]

At least once a week somebody asks us why we are moving to the BI, and aren't we worried about the lava flow. Duh, we live in Florida, and we don't worry about hurricanes or sink holes.

Mahalo again OpenD for the updates.

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by Hoot N Annie

At least once a week somebody asks us why we are moving to the BI, and aren't we worried about the lava flow. Duh, we live in Florida, and we don't worry about hurricanes or sink holes.

Mahalo again OpenD for the updates.

You're very welcome Annie. Or is it Hoot? I'm glad these curated posts, out of the wide range of info available in many places, are proving to be interesting and useful to so many people. That's really the whole idea.

As far as the threats from lava, or whatever the disaster/threat du jour might be, it just shows that people don't understand how big the Big Island is, and how isolated the lava threat is in the day to day scheme of things. I just had friends in France ask me how close the flow is to our mutual friend's house in Kurtistown, wanting to know whether they were in danger. I sent them the district wide map from today's Civil Defense alert to help them understand how very safe our friends are.