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Summary
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17 April 2003
New ocean entry at Lae`apuki
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| Left. Lava cascade down old sea cliff and onto previously formed delta at Lae`apuki. Height of cliff, 5-6 m. 1245. Right. Same cascade, but viewed from surface of old delta. This cascade had crusted over to form a tube by next morning. 1300. | |
18 April 2003
Subdued activity at new ocean entry
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| Left. Lava enters sea at eastern of two entry points on front of new Lae`apuki delta, which started yesterday at about 0800. Note dimly visible freely falling lava faucet. 0608. Right. Same view, but using digital telephoto. 0607. | |
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| Left. Aerial view of inactive new ocean entry and its gray feeding flow. Old Lae`apuki delta extends to right edge of image. Width of new entry, about 100 m. 1115. Right. West Highcastle lava delta, now only weakly active after an early morning of several entries off east side. Discoloration water, typical of delta areas and downcurrent drift, is caused by suspended sediment of glassy, water-quenched debris from entry points. 1115. | |
19 April 2003
Kohola breakout 880 m north of coconut grove
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| Left. Western margin of advancing breakout. Advance fire is burning on tumulus with trees, started by strong winds blowing embers from burning grass nearer lava. Pulama and Holei pali in background. 0545. Right. Trees, one live, one dead await almost certain fate as lava nears. 0553. | |
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| Left. Tongue of lava actively moving at front of Kohola breakout. Same tumulus as shown in above left in background. 0601. Right. Lava gushing from sudden breakout at front of advancing Kohola. Width of view, about 2 m. 0602. | |
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| Left. Active front of Kohola breakout. Half an hour earlier, entire tumulus in upper center lifted up about 30 cm and then immediately dropped down, accompanied by large dust cloud, during methane explosion viewed from photographer's locality. 0632. Right. Lava oozing from side of breakout shown in left image. Width of view, about 3 m. 0637. | |
20 April 2003
Easter morning at Kohola west arm
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| Left. Tree about to go, surrounded by lava in moving west arm of Kohola flow 750 m north of coconut grove. 0550:55. Right. Tree now aflame 1 minute later. 0551:46. | |
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| Left. Toe breaking out from inflating Kohola arm and crossing grassy surface. Width of toe front, about 1 m. 0557. Right. Deep furrows have developed by compression at snout of small breakout, where lava slows on flat ground. Width of view, about 75 cm. 0559. | |
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| Left. Small breakout sends lava into crack of old, grassy tumulus. 0603. Right. With a crack and thick gushing sound, lava burst from under crust of inflating flow 30 m east of left image. This photo taken about 25 seconds after gush started. Such a sudden breakout is on the large size; most are far smaller and less rapid. Length of flowing lava, about 6 m. 0606:04. | |
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| Left. Same breakout as in upper right, 40 sec later. Lava has moved so quickly that even now only a very thin crust has formed. Length of flow 7-8 m. 0606:44. Right. Head-on view of slowing breakout, looking upstream at developing, already wrinkled crust. Width of stream nearest camera, about 6 m. 0607:58. | |
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| Left. About 6 minutes later, most of breakout is crusted, with only the source area and a new breakout at the snout of the large one remaining uncrusted. 0614. Right. Four minutes later, looking across terminus of breakout. The show is mostly over. Figure in upper left is photographer, not Peter Cottontail. 0618. | |
| Video of eruptive activity |
19 April 2003
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April 19, 2003; 0602. Lava moving rapidly at front of breakout 880 m north of coconut grove. Width of view, about 1.5 m. |
| Maps of lava-flow field, Kilauea Volcano |
Map of flows from Pu`u `O`o: 21 March 2003
Map shows lava flows erupted during 1983-present activity of Pu`u `O`o and Kupaianaha (see large map). Red colors, both dark and light, denote Mother's Day flow, which began erupting on May 12, 2002. Different shades of red indicate different stages of activity of Mother's Day flow. These different stages are still considered part of Mother's Day flow, because they all come from same tube system near base of Pu`u `O`o.
Most recent--and ongoing--activity has produced two slender, dark red flows, one along western edge of flow field and one slightly farther east. Kohola flow, along western margin, entered sea late on Valentine's Day to form Kohola ocean entry. Lava is slowly widening Kohola flow eastward on March 21. Visitors now can drive to Holei Sea Arch, 1.1 km from Kohola flow, and walk to see flow.
Other dark red flow is also active part of Mother's Day flow. Fed by breakouts from lava tube in main Mother's Day flow, it had advanced along eastern margin of main flow and down Pulama pali to about 800-foot elevation by March 21. This flow is visible during darkness from Chain of Craters Road.
Lava from main Mother's Day flow (light red) reached sea at West Highcastle early on July 19, at Wilipe`a early on July 21, and at Highcastle on August 8. From near southwest base of Pu`u `O`o, Mother's Day flow passes along west side of flow field and into forest, where it started large wildfire in May that continued into late July. By June 10, Mother's Day flow had reached base of Paliuli, the steep slope and cliff below Pulama pali and just above coastal flat. At base of Paliuli, Mother's Day flow abruptly spread laterally in series of small budding flows to cover an area nearly 2 km wide, gradually moving seaward until West Highcastle and Wilipe`a lobes finally reached water and started building lava deltas. Activity at West Highcastle ended in early August, but entry began soon thereafter at Highcastle, eventually burying tiny kipuka of Chain of Craters Road. Wilipe`a entry died away slowly and had ended by mid-August. Highcastle and neighboring Highcastle Stairs entries ended on about August 23. For a time there were no active entries. Then Wilipe`a was reactivated on September 3 but stopped in December. West Highcastle likewise renewed activity on September 16-17, died away during night of September 18-19, and returned soon thereafter to continue through March 21. East arm of Mother's Day flow branched from Highcastle lobe in late October and sent three fingers into ocean at Highcastle on November 15, West Lae`apuki on November 19, and Lae`apuki on November 20. Lae`apuki entries had stopped by November 29. If this sounds like soap opera, the truth is even more confusing than the simplified version of activity given here.
Contact: hvowebmaster@usgs.gov
Updated: 16 May 2003 (DAS)