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Kilauea back at it...


Patrick

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Looks like things are heating up again over at the volcano. Any "boots on the ground" observations of the stuff going on at the national park? Here's the USGS update I check on a consistent basis:

https://www.usgs.gov/center-news/photo-and-video-chronology-k-lauea-december-20-2020

 

Oakley, California

55 Miles E-NE of San Francisco, CA

Solid zone 9, I can expect at least one night in the mid to low twenties every year.

Hot, dry summers. Cold, wet winters.

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Just woke up checking online news and shocked to see the NBC News article on it. 165 feet in the air is a good fountain. Pele waking up I guess shouldn’t be all that surprising but last updates I saw showed the water lake rising. Just hope the lava tubes to Leilani Estates don’t become viable releases of excess magma and sure that is on everyone’s mind in that direction. I haven’t been on the old sites monitoring the area for some time but wondering what Phillip and partners have been saying now. I remember they had their own site a while back and were giving talks.
 

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/kilauea-volcano-erupts-hawaii-residents-asked-stay-indoors-n1251898

Big Island Video News had this report on Kileau just 2 days ago:

 

Scott is on now with a live feed from Kilauea. Someone on his live chat just asked about activity at Fissure 8 and he said that it's just doing what it's been doing. All 24 fissures in the Leilani Estates area are just steaming. Scott's been up since last night, said he was in bed and the earthquake last night woke him up.

Scott's live feed has now concluded 9:29am PST. Not much to see but conditions of the area at the Kilauea summit over looking the rising steam now. You can replay for discussions.

 

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Zone 9b (formerly listed as Zone 9a); Sunset 14

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Philip Ong (geologist) and Dane DuPont living on the Big Island still have their Hawai'i PODD YouTube site up and running. Here's a link to the site for a more scientific look at what's happening. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRRmrU5d1KWIliIQULGMNBg

The Hawai'i PODD video below is currently LIVE. Philip and Dane have always been a wealth of info and highly recommended checking out their videos. 

If you are unfamiliar with YouTube, click on the Videos tab to bring up all their published video  and the most recent ones will be at the top. Nice for a look back leading up to last night's erruption. They have a flyover of Fissure 8 in Leilani Estates as recent as 11/19 listed.

Dane and Philip have indicated to people hoping to go and live stream from there thinking they will see the fountaining, that it won't happen. The view we're seeing from USGS images are from an area not accessible to the public so we are relying on USGS for views of what is happening inside the crater. The guys are also discussing the news reports (like the NBC News one above) being sensationalized and unnecessarily fear mongering. They caution taking what you see on many of these sites as being click bait using old images that aren't even related to the current erruption.  BTW the image shown on NBC News’ article is actual footage from the current USGS images. The guys objected to the warning about staying inside making this eruption seem more dangerous to the public than it is.

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Zone 9b (formerly listed as Zone 9a); Sunset 14

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Nice USGS video, graphic and text transcript summary of the lava lake as of Christmas Eve from Big Island Video News

For transcript and graphics: https://www.bigislandvideonews.com/2020/12/24/video-kilauea-eruption-day-four-rising-lava-lake-update/

"As of just after 7 a.m. Thursday morning, the lava lake surface is was 1,483 feet below the crater rim observation site, indicating that the lake is 554 feet deep. Scientists estimate the lake rose 39 feet in just under 24 hours."

"The approximate surface area of the new lake is now 69 acres. The lake is in the shape of an oval, and is roughly 780 yards long and 500 yards wide."

The lava lake is fast approaching the opening of the vents and scientists aren't sure what to expect when that happens.

Here's a a link to Philip Ong and Dane DuPont's Hawai'i PODD's video chat on Christmas Eve (Day 4). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRMX_rIMR9E

Scott (Apau Hawaii Tours' videos:  https://www.youtube.com/c/ApauHawaiiTours/videos ) has been posting daily videos of the area. He was there prior to sunrise on Christmas morning. On a drive to the summit the day before 12/23, he drove past steam vents that were very active, more so than he said he's seen before. He also commented on the high sulfur odor which he said was pretty bad. The Big Island Video News article quotes USGS figures on that (est. at 35-40K tonnes/day).  Worth mentioning he also did a Christmas Eve Day video of a walk to steaming Fissure 8 and surrounding area. 

 

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Zone 9b (formerly listed as Zone 9a); Sunset 14

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This is one of my favorite videos from 2018, it shows the caldera collapse in time lapse photography. Fun!

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Oakley, California

55 Miles E-NE of San Francisco, CA

Solid zone 9, I can expect at least one night in the mid to low twenties every year.

Hot, dry summers. Cold, wet winters.

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I drove up from Leilani Estates to the Park (HVNP) late Monday night, December 28th, roughly 24 hours after the eruption had kicked in, and took a few photos. This is probably one of the better ones. Quite a show and lots of people were there. It goes without saying that nobody knows what's "going to happen next" but personally I have zero concerns about it starting up in Leilani Estates again.

DSC_0102.JPG

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Leilani Estates, 25 mls/40 km south of Hilo, Big Island of Hawai'i. Elevation 880 ft/270 m. Average rainfall 140 inches/3550 mm

 

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Correction to my post above - it was Monday December 21st (and not the 28th) when I took the photo. (And apparently too late for me to correct the post itself).

Leilani Estates, 25 mls/40 km south of Hilo, Big Island of Hawai'i. Elevation 880 ft/270 m. Average rainfall 140 inches/3550 mm

 

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Hey Bo always love your photos and that’s gorgeously framed with the branches and crater rim area. 

My husband asked if Leilani Estates would be affected and I told him it took a strong earthquake and two lava lakes dropping out last time so didn’t think so. I know there’s still hot magma in the tubes and will be for decades to come. I occasionally check out some of the local YT videos to see what’s been happening there. Saw they were “plowing” Leilani Avenue. What’s the plan there? Is this by the County? Still see lots for sale. Did your old lot sell? Good to see you posting. Imagine it’s been harder to get back there this year.

Zone 9b (formerly listed as Zone 9a); Sunset 14

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WestCoastGal, I had heard that a private land owner took their own initiative and did some work on Leilani Ave. I get the community association emails and it was written the individual "brought in an excavator to level the lava field to the base of Fissure 8 on Luana Street. His action was a violation of the provisional policy cited above and the community working together to solve its own problems.  If other individuals follow Sam's course of action, serious legal, liability, environmental, aesthetic, and neighborly challenges might ensue."

 

I'm guessing this is on the south side of Luana from Malama heading north. If the work was done from Leilani avenue the lava channel would have to be worked with, which is a 20+ foot drop where the flow used to be vs the levee walls that were created by the flow. Just a guess as if they do decide to rip the roads again Leilani ave. and the channel will have to be mitigated eventually...

 

So there's that.

Oakley, California

55 Miles E-NE of San Francisco, CA

Solid zone 9, I can expect at least one night in the mid to low twenties every year.

Hot, dry summers. Cold, wet winters.

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@Patrick thanks for that. I saw a short video from Scott (Apau Hawaii Tours) as he walked past the earthmoving equipment towards Fissure 8. I think he was walking from his lot which would be on the highway/entrance to LE if I’m not mistaken. I also got that impression from the shape of Fissure 8 but could be wrong. Here’s the video. 

 

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Zone 9b (formerly listed as Zone 9a); Sunset 14

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Here’s the latest video from USGS on the crater lake at Kilauea. Definitely rising and filling in.

Mesmerizing to watch.

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Zone 9b (formerly listed as Zone 9a); Sunset 14

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Just finished watching last year’s 1/21/20 live presentation by USGS on the lower east rift zone (incl Leilani Estates) that was held in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. 48 minutes. Starts with some past background of lava flows but bulk was of the 2018 eruption and subsequent quiet time of 2019 timeframe. How did the land deform and rise, chemical compositions of the magma, how land with dikes under it are heating and cooling the area in general (being experienced by some homeowners now), why the shelfs at ocean haven’t cracked and dropped off into the ocean. Oh and an explanation for the Fissure 8 pulses of magma/lava we saw near the end of its eruption phase. Nice graphics, clear explanations, photos and video. 

 

Zone 9b (formerly listed as Zone 9a); Sunset 14

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@Patrick Ran across this article from Hawaii West Today on the resident who plowed his way to Fissure 8. 
https://www.westhawaiitoday.com/2020/12/25/hawaii-news/leilani-estates-residents-divided-about-road-up-fissure-8/

If he intends to start up his plant nursery I have to wonder about the likelihood of potential gas emissions (thinking SO2) in any concentration that close to a vent. Scott has occasionally mentioned in his videos he could smell some sulfur. 

If I was an owner there not sure how I would vote on changes to the area. 

Zone 9b (formerly listed as Zone 9a); Sunset 14

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I walked from my place on Pomaikai over to south Luana several days ago. I was curious about what had been done. Took me about half an hour. Didn't want to drive in case there was still a lot of commotion going on. Well, I needn't have worried. Not a soul - NOBODY! Place was completely empty, no people, no equipment, nada. Took a few photos, including the one I'm attaching here. What was done was simply to grade the lava right on top of Luana Street, all the way to the base of Fissure 8, to make it driveable. Whether that was a good decision or not is not for me to decide. I don't live on the street and it doesn't affect me much. I stopped by and talked with friends who actually do live right there on Luana Street, just a few properties away from the lava and they seemed to have an open mind about it as well.  Bottom line - too early to tell. As far as growing stuff: all sorts of vegetation including many palms that are downwind from Fissure 8 have really come back to life and are doing great. That was certainly true in my friends' garden, which looked like a disaster zone two years ago.  I seriously doubt that there's much of ANY poisonous gases that could affect palms or other plants in a negative way. Needless to say, we never know what will happen next week or next month, or next century! :mrlooney:  Oh, my old property on Malama Street was sold in October 2019. The new owners, whom I've met, are definitely plant people and very much interested in the palms and they are enthusiastic about the garden.

DSC_0112.JPG

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Leilani Estates, 25 mls/40 km south of Hilo, Big Island of Hawai'i. Elevation 880 ft/270 m. Average rainfall 140 inches/3550 mm

 

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Clearly I need to spend more time on PT as I missed this entirely! Great photos all.

Good to hear that your old property is being cherished too Bo.  

Cindy Adair

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