August 22, 2019

August 22, 2019

Work crews have made great progress restoring Highway 132 from Pohoiki Road to Four Corners (the Red Road) following Kilauea Volcano’s lower east rift zone eruption. Still more sand has been deposited at Pohoiki Bay. But perhaps most interesting are the changes that continue to reshape Halemaumau Crater and Kilauea Caldera.

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July 10, 2019

July 10, 2019

Mauna Loa from normal to advisory. There is no immediate threat of an eruption, but magma is started to fill the storage chambers below the summit at a shallower depth.

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November 20, 2018

November 20, 2018

A brand new road connecting the red road from Mackenzie to Pohoiki is now complete. Numerous sea arches and black sand beaches dot the coastline from Mackenzie to Kapoho… some of the nicest new beaches are along the sea cliffs of Mackenzie at the beginning of the new road.

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October 16, 2018

October 16, 2018

We got our first close up look at the newly remodeled Halemaumau Crater at Kilauea’s summit this morning… and she is absolutely stunning! Halemaumau has grown to over a mile wide… and is somewhere in the neighborhood of 15-hundred feet deep.

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October 3, 2018

October 3, 2018

This morning was our first day visiting the eruption site without the TFR in place, which prevented us from flying below 3 thousand feet. We got some great shots of the new beaches from Kapoho to Pohoiki. The ponds to the north that have existed since shortly after the lava hit the ocean are now gone… filled in with black sand.

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September 20, 2018

September 20, 2018

In spite of cloudy conditions this morning, we were able to access the entire flow field of Kilauea Volcano’s lower east rift zone eruption. We got a clear look within Fissure 8 this morning, and saw zero lava… not even a small glow.

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September 6, 2018

September 6, 2018

Clouds obscuring our view over most of the LERZ eruption of Kilauea Volcano… but we did get a good look within Fissure 8 this morning. Bruce Omori said he saw a tiny glow inside a hornito (spatter cone) within the vent… but pilot Sean Regehr and I saw nothing.

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August 16, 2018

August 16, 2018

Dozens of brand new black sand beaches have appeared all along the southeast coast of the eruption site… even as far down as Mackenzie State Park. Several have popped up on both sides of the initial ocean entry at Mackenzie… and the black sand beach at Pohoiki continues to grow daily.

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August 12, 2018

August 12, 2018

Pohoiki has survived Pele’s visit, and gained a gorgeous black sand beach. Even though part of the new beach covers the entrance to the boat ramp, it can no doubt be dredged to make the ramp serviceable again, or may actually be washed away by waves over time.

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August 9, 2018

August 9, 2018

Pohoiki still stands, but is now basically surrounded by Pele’s residual lava as she continues to slowly encroach on the boat ramp. Lava has flowed in front of the parking lot and and black sand has reached all the way up to the boat ramp.

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August 6, 2018

August 6, 2018

Activity within Fissure 8 remains at a very low level… with small spattering and intermittent pahoehoe flows issued briefly from her mouth. The river channel is crusted over and appears not to be moving at all. Pohoiki still stands, although residual lava in the system continues to slowly encroach on the boat ramp.

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August 5, 2018

August 5, 2018

Big changes at the Leilani eruption on the Big Island of Hawaii today! Activity at Fissure 8 has slowed to a crawl. The river channel has crusted over and is moving very little. Pohoiki still stands, although residual lava in the system continues to slowly encroach on the boat ramp.

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August 2, 2018

August 2, 2018

Fissure 8 was still effusing plenty lava this morning, but overall the activity throughout the flow field was extremely sluggish. Numerous fingers of lava pour or drip into the sea, the the volume appeared considerably reduced.

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July 29, 2018

July 29, 2018

A wildfire, apparently sparked by a lava flow below the braided channel, and not far above Kapoho Crater burned several homes and farms east of PGV yesterday.

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July 26, 2018

July 26, 2018

Interestingly, the entire flow field was greatly slowed down today. The fissure seemed to be putting out about the same amount… or maybe a little less… but the channel is very slow… crusting over to a large extent.

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July 25, 2018

July 25, 2018

Once again, Pohoiki stands strong… but for how long? Both the major surf spots, Bowls and Shacks, have been wiped out, and the ocean entry delta continues to grow. A very large a’a flow made it’s way to the edge of the park above the road, but appears to have not progressed much further. Remarkably, as of this morning, the park, upper parking lot and boat ramp have been left untouched.

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July 24, 2018

July 24, 2018

As of this morning, lava had reached the lower parking lot at Pohoiki… and was just 50 yards from the boat ramp. A very large a’a flow made it’s way to the edge of the park above the road, and the plume from the ocean entry covered most of the area, making viewing difficult.

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July 23, 2018

July 23, 2018

Even before I got this posted today, Ikaika reported that lava is in the parking lot at Pohoiki and about 50 yards from the boat ramp! Bruce and I are working on a flight in the morning… hopefully we can update you tomorrow. In the meantime… this is what it looked like this morning…

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July 22, 2018

July 22, 2018

Pele continues to keep her distance from Pohoiki (at least for now)… but the huge flow atop the previous one that took Ahalanui has made it’s way to the ocean, and moved only somewhat south toward the bay. The flow can clearly be seen looming over Pohoiki to the northeast.

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July 19, 2018

July 19, 2018

As of July 12th, the USGS reports that the current Leilani eruption had covered 12.1 square miles of land. The lava delta had also added 655 acres of new land off the southeastern shore of the Big Island. The cone around Fissure 8 has slumped about 20 feet… but the vent is still issuing about the same amount of lava every day.

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