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1 March 2003

Eastern side of Kohola flow

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Left. Small toes advancing in tandem, with incandescent cracks in crust separating them. Grass burns at leading edge of flow, which is about 10 cm thick. 0618. Right. Same area is in left image, viewed head-on. 0620.

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Left. Large toe of lava breaks out from inflating flow. Length of liquid toe, about 3 m. Holei Pali in background. 0626. Right. Lava slowly advancing through grassland. Note white ash of burned grass on top of flow. Ash was uplifted as flow advanced. Some ash can be seen on rising front of flow, and other ash rests on burned area just ahead of flow. See video for this day to see process of uplifting in action. 0633.

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Left. Large overturned blocks from surface of flow under Kohola flow, evidence of horrendous methane explosion sometime in past few hours. Explosion occurred in advance of flow, which laps onto dislodged blocks. Largest block is 1.5 m across. 0634. Right. That's the way it came from the camera, folks. Careful squinting can spot incandescent cracks in surface of Kohola flow (large view only). 0641.

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Left. Looking northeast along buried Chain of Craters Road. Small kipuka of road in distance. West Highcastle laze plume in upper right. 0655. Right. No Parking sign at edge of buried turnaround at former end of Chain of Craters Road. During past 8 months, several hundred thousand visitors swung through this turnaround before parking and walking to the Mother's Day flow.

5 March 2003

Breakouts in Kohola flow

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Left. Lava breaks out from crust of inflating Kohola flow  and pours downslope about 50 m from ocean. Note how crust cools and darkens away from breakout point. Width of view, about 5 m. 0621. Right. Deeply furrowed crust on lower part of breakout shown in left image but 5 minutes later. Furrows are troughs of coarse folds (actually folded folds or even folded folded folds) that develop in crust as flow slows. Width of view, about 2 m. 0626.

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Left. Breakout in Kohola flow has lit brush below visitor, 50 m from ocean. Large image shows track of flying ember. 0608. Right. Photographer watching same breakout as above. 0627.

6 March 2003

More breakouts in Kohola flow

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Left. Toes of lava along edge of Kohola flow within 50 m of ocean. Lava is leaving toes mainly along ground surface. Width of view, about 5 m. 0629. Right. Actively expanding and advancing toe, coming from under crust along edge of Kohola flow. Width of view, about 2 m. 0631.

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Left. Curling toe, same one as at bottom of upper right image. Note stretched skin and bubbles. Width of view, about 50 cm. 0632. Right. Lava starting to escape from crack developed in inflating Kohola flow. Note how crust has been uplifted along crack (background is higher than foreground), owing to pressurized lava. Width of view, about 2 m. 0634.

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Left. Looking upstream at stream of lava that broke out from under crust at upper right from inflation crack. Width of view nearest camera, about 2.5 m. 0640. Right. Stream of lava pouring across Kohola flow. Relief is about 5 m; width of stream nearest camera, about 1.5 m. 0643.

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Left. Slowing moving toe of lava at tip of active breakout shown in upper right.. Width of view, about 1.5 m. 0645. Right. Looking downstream, showing notch where lava is anticipated to plunge over sea cliff if it makes it that far. West end of Wilipe`a lava delta is left of notch. Steam rises from hot front of delta recently exposed to water by collapse. 0652.

9 March 2003

Kohola flow: ground-level and more

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Advancing toes of lava, from the perspective of grass and shrubs. Left. Width of view, about 50 cm. 0610. Right. Width of view, about 30 cm. 0612.

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Advancing toes of lava II, from the perspective of grass and shrubs. Left. Width of view, about 40 cm. 0618. Right. Width of view, about 50 cm. 0629.

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Left. Breakout started several seconds ago from inflating flow. The uplifting crust broke with an audible cracking sound, and lava poured out. Width of view, about 2 m. 0643. Right. About one minute later, gush has slowed and developed crust in most places. Width of view, about 2 m. 0644.

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Left. Images above were taken in this area, near western tip of Kohola flow. In background, most prominent line of fuming is along master lava tube that feeds West Highcastle lava delta. Fume near left edge of image is from tube feeding Kohola flow. All lava pictured above was transported through the Kohola tube system. 0632. Right. Bonus for those who like the morning sky. From Kealakomo overlook, looking down Holei Pali across the sea to a glorious sky. 0716

Video of eruptive activity

6 March 2003

March 6, 2003; 0538. Toe of lava moving fairly rapidly down moderate slope along edge of Kohola flow. Note that lava moves more rapidly at top than at base of toe, in contrast to lava in video for March 1, which was moving across nearly flat ground. Note also developing wrinkles in moving crust. Width of view, about 1 m. QuickTime mov (1.4 mb) Windows avi (2.2 mb)

March 6, 2003; 0541. Lava moving down rather steep slope and burning bush at snout of stream. Width of burning bush, about 1 m. QuickTime mov (1.4 mb) Windows avi (1.4 mb)

1 March 2003

March 1, 2003; 0628. Details of flow advance shown in 25-second clip. Lava oozes outward from base of flow, picks up loose flakes of crust (1-3 cm across) on ground surface, and lifts them up as flow thickens. This is how material once on ground surface gets onto top of flow. This is a common mode of advance of lava on nearly flat slope. Note: This is a large file because of its instructional value. Be patient, even those with broadband connections. And, turn down your sound; lots of wind noise. QuickTime mov (3.4 mb) Windows avi (5.7 mb)

Maps of lava-flow field, Kilauea Volcano

Map shows lava flows erupted during the 1983-present activity of Pu`u `O`o and Kupaianaha (see large map). The most recent--and ongoing--activity has produced the lender, dark red flow along western edge of flow field. This flow entered the sea late on Valentine's Day to form the Kohola ocean entry. Lava is actively widening the flow on February 17, and the western arm is nearing the Chain of Craters Road. Visitors now can drive to Holei Sea Arch, 1.1 km from the Kohola flow, and walk to see the new flow. The new flow is part of the Mother's Day flow, which began erupting on May 12, 2002.. Lava from the Mother's Day flow (broad red flow on west side of flow field) reached the sea at West Highcastle early on July 19, at Wilipe`a early on July 21, and at Highcastle on August 8. From near the southwest base of Pu`u `O`o, the Mother's Day flow passes along the west side of the flow field and into the forest, where it started a large wildfire in May that continued into late July. By June 10, the Mother's Day flow had reached the base of Paliuli, the steep slope and cliff below Pulama pali and just above the coastal flat. At the base of Paliuli, the Mother's Day flow abruptly spread laterally in a series of small budding flows to cover an area nearly 2 km wide, gradually moving seaward until the West Highcastle and Wilipe`a lobes finally reached the ocean and started building benches. Activity at West Highcastle ended in early August, but entry began soon thereafter at Highcastle, eventually burying tiny kipuka of the Chain of Craters Road. The 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 its activity on September 16-17, died away during the night of September 18-19, and returned soon thereafter to continue to time of mapping. 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. The Lae`apuki entries had stopped by November 29. If this sounds like a soap opera, the truth is even more confusing than the simplified version of activity given here.