Hawaii's Kilauea volcano eruption

[davenn]

live streaming … NOW

 

[davenn]

new live stream video

for this current live stream, it is now night time over there and the activity as appeared to seriously increased since this morning

make sure you turn the sound up to hear the lava and gasses venting

 

[Fewmet]

An overview of the geologic setting that I found useful.

 

[BillTre]

Here is a great video that a friend just sent me.
https://player.vimeo.com/video/270773299

 

[Janus]

A few days ago, I noted that the anniversary of the Mt. Saint Helens' 1980 eruption was coming up, which is today, so I did some "independent" research.

View attachment 225894

Fortunately, the USGS came to the same conclusion, as far as I can tell:

Can the position of the moon or the planets affect seismicity? Are there more earthquakes in the morning/in the evening/at a certain time of the month?

"...The increased probability is a factor of ~3 during high tides."​

But, as anyone with half a brain knows, there is an alignment of the earth, moon, and sun every two weeks.
And there are not "world altering" earthquakes every two weeks.
I should probably clarify something I said earlier;
At the ripe old age of 21, I got about as close as I could get to St. Helens. A place called:

Ape Cave

Ape Cave is a lava tube located ... just to the south of Mount St. Helens in Washington state. Its passageway is the longest continuous lava tube in the continental United States ... Lava tubes are an unusual formation in this region, as volcanoes of the Cascade Range are mostly stratovolcanos and do not typically erupt with pahoehoe (fluid basalt).​

IN

India
During the summer of '81 I was taking flying lessons out of Kelso , WA. They were making sightseeing tours by plane over the mountain. One of my solo flights was to Yakima, WA , which took me right past St. Helens, so I got to view the crater and devastation from the air.

 

[OmCheeto]

new live stream video

for this current live stream, it is now night time over there and the activity as appeared to seriously increased since this morning

make sure you turn the sound up to hear the lava and gasses venting

One of the things I've decided I've never liked about the videos from Hawaiian volcanoes, was the lack of vertical perspective.
Another thing, was that they all seemed to be in slow motion.

So yesterday, I put my mind in gear.

The videos are not in slow motion. They just appear that way, due to telephoto lenses.

Here are the results of my efforts:

Yesterday, I counted the seconds from apex to ground for a different spot, as being 4 seconds long, which, from the equation, meant the lava was flying 256 feet in the air.
Which is over twice the height of my 100 foot tall trees in my back yard.
And that, impressed me.

Anyways, if anyone should watch future videos, count the seconds from apex to ground, and use the following chart, for how high the FREAKIN' LAVA is shooting into the air:

sec   feet
 1      16
 2      64
 3     144
 4     256
 5     400
 6     576
 7     784
 8    1024
 9    1296
10    1600
11    1936

 

[nsaspook]

http://www.wfla.com/video/hawaii-volcano-fissures_20180520113030/1189323410

Aerial footage taken Saturday of lava fissures near Leilani Estates Hawaii Source: Paradise Helicopters

 

[OmCheeto]

An overview of the geologic setting that I found useful.

They pointed out another impressive number that I glossed over and completely ignored:

@3:05; "...when the south side moved 2 meters to the south."​

I actually didn't believe it, so I did some research and found:

Hawai‘i Volcano Watch: Slow Slip on Kīlauea’s South Flank Expected this Year
By USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory
February 23, 2018, 12:22 PM HST

Today’s Volcano Watch begins with a question: Can you guess when the next slow slip event will happen on Kīlauea Volcano’s South Flank? As a hint, the last one was in October 2015, and before then, events occurred in May 2012, February 2010 and June 2007. If this seems like a pattern, you’re right.
What is a “slow slip event” anyway?

Slow slip events are sometimes called “slow earthquakes” or “episodic slip events.” They happen when a fault begins sliding, just like in a regular earthquake, but so slowly that it takes several days to finish instead of several seconds.
...
However, slow earthquakes produce no seismic waves and, therefore, none of the damaging shaking of a regular earthquake.​

I think this kind of answers @berkeman 's thread question a bit more to my liking: Magnitude 6.9 Earthquake in Hawaii versus on the Hayward Fault -- What am I missing?

I guess I now have to figure out what "seismic wave" and "earthquake" actually mean.

ps. It looks like they nailed their prediction;

Because the most recent slow slip event on Kīlauea happened in October 2015, and the events have a recurrence time of 2.5 years (give or take three months), we can forecast that the next one might occur between now [Feb 23, 2018] and August 2018. But remember, there won’t be any shaking or other effect that could be easily felt by individuals.​

Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug

Scientists are kinda smart.

 

[OmCheeto]

...
Scientists are kinda smart.

Men, on the other hand, as I pointed out earlier...

Hawaii volcano: Man hit by lava in first serious Kilauea injury [BBC ]

The first serious injury has been reported as Hawaii continues to grapple with weeks of volcanic eruptions and lava flow.
The injured man was sitting on a balcony at his home when "lava spatter" - projectile molten rock - landed on him.
"It hit him on the shin and shattered everything there down on his leg," a spokeswoman for the county mayor said.
Lava spatters can weigh "as much a refrigerator", she told Reuters.​

Guessing this "spatter" was not the size of a refrigerator, and the man, is an idiot, who didn't evacuate.

 

[OmCheeto]

Thank god for women's lib.

 

[OmCheeto]

Was watching the live feed this morning when I was given some more data regarding "broken leg guy" and where the camera is in relation to the eruption:
[caveat: this information is from non-scientists, as far as I can tell]

paraphrased; "broken leg guy's house was about 100 meters away from the lava fountains."​

I researched some maths yesterday, and discovered that the maximum lateral distance of projectiles is twice the height of vertical projectiles.
This kind of implies that the lava fountain was only 50 meters high.

hmmm...

My takeaway: Learn some maths, and stay away from lava fountains.

 

[Janus]

Update from the island of Hawaii. Since we've arrived, we've been dealing with a bit of vog. Visibility has been low. Of course they are not letting tourists into the active area (and I don't believe my PF ex-mentor status would pass muster as press credentials. ) Yesterday we drove down to the south as far as Punaluu black sand beach. (about 30 miles SSW of the Kilauea crater. ) On the way back we hit some rain, but not the normal type. It was leaving a gray residue behind. Obviously, there was some volcanic ash mixed in. Here's a photo of some of the ash left on the car. (The whitish-gray stuff. The. Green is just the reflection of a tree).

 

[Janus]

Today we drove north and were able to escape the vog. While there we saw what looked like a tall cloud to the south. It grew taller as we watched. It was in the direction of the volcano , and I understand that there was another eruption today, so this might have been associated with it. I haven't heard that the eruption involved a steam plume, but maybe it produced enough heat to create a convection cloud. We took some pictures , but I'll have wait until we get home to post them. (Slow Internet connection with phone, I was only able to post the ash picture by severely cropping it)
P.S. after posting, I noticed that the picture I tried to upload shows up as an attachment even though I got a failed upload message. Does anyone else see this or do I see it just because the image is stored on my phone?

 

[OmCheeto]

...
Does anyone else see this or do I see it just because the image is stored on my phone?

I see it!

 

[Janus]

I see it!

Good. Assuming this is caused by Kilauea, it's a bit ironic that I had to go away [\i] from the volcano to see volcanic related activity.

 

[OmCheeto]

Good. Assuming this is caused by Kilauea, it's a bit ironic that I had to go away [\i] from the volcano to see volcanic related activity.

It's hard to tell what caused that particular plume. There are lots of them!

1. Lava entering the ocean
2. Rift vents
3. Kilauea caldera
4. Puʻu ʻŌʻō [? quite cloudy. can't tell]

Might be a merger of all of them. [refs: USGS webcam still photos & https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/multimedia_chronology.html]

ps. If it's any consolation, the USGS is also complaining about the "WiFi service".

Kīlauea Eruption FAQs: General Questions
USGS Volcanoes·Monday, 21 May 2018

Why is there no streaming video of the eruption?

Hawai’i does not have the same internet capabilities as the mainland. Bandwidth is often limited, and HVO must give preference to monitoring instruments before cameras.​

Their FAQ is a great source of information, IMHO.
They even give the URL for the civilian live feed: "...local reporting for streaming videos (https://www.facebook.com/civilbeat)."

And unlike most Facebook comment sections, this one is NOT filled with IDIOT nose-picking booger-eaters.

Mike Kingston; "USGS Volcanoes, What about the presence of andesite in fissure 17 lava, as confirmed by Hamilton Analytical Lab and discussed in the West Hawaii Today article? This is highly unusual for Hawaii lava and, from everything I've read, is not consistent with the idea that this component of the lava is coming from the two vents mentioned or from the 1955 magma. Could you share with us 1) what percent of the fissure 17 sample was andesite and 2) has that percentage changed in this short period of time? (As alternative to that question, what was the silica content percentage, and did that change over time?) Also, what is the source of the andesite lava? Does this lava ultimately come from a different depth or layer of the earth? Aloha"

USGS Volcanoes; "Mike Kingston, Good catch on the andesite! This is unusual, and is clearly not summit/Pu`u `O`o magma nor 1955 magma. Instead, it is probably something much older -- perhaps magma that intruded in 1924 but never erupted, or magma left over from 1840, or even before? The older, more silica-rich magma might also explain why Fissure 17 has behaved a bit differently than the other fissures, with higher spattering and more discrete events. At this point, we only have some preliminary chemical analyses. But we know from past experience that the rift zone is full of unerupted pods of magma from past intrusions of a variety of different ages. Apparently, Fissure 17 is sampling one of these pods that is different from 1955. When this is all over, one of the things we hope to have learned is more about just how much magma, and how many different vintages, is stored within the rift zone."​

Quite fascinating.
Again, just MHO.

 

[OmCheeto]

Anyone know what: Azimuth/Bearing: 081° N81E
means?

It's from an image by those Vulcanologists at the USGS.

I am not a navigator.

Trying to determine if I have the math skills to determine the height of those lava plumes, based on the above, the coordinates, and this image:

 

[Tom.G]

Anyone know what: Azimuth/Bearing: 081° N81E
means?

That's the direction the camera was aimed. 0°=North, 90°=East, so the camera was aimed 9°N of E.

 

[davenn]

Kīlauea Eruption FAQs: General Questions
USGS Volcanoes·Monday, 21 May 2018

Why is there no streaming video of the eruption?
Hawai’i does not have the same internet capabilities as the mainland. Bandwidth is often limited, and HVO must give preference to monitoring instruments before cameras.

fortunately people other than the USGS are live streaming

that guy I posted youtube links to a few days ago has been live streaming 24/7 for at least 2 weeks now :)

 

[davenn]

Good. Assuming this is caused by Kilauea, it's a bit ironic that I had to go away [\i] from the volcano to see volcanic related activity.

great to hear from you Janus ... hope you are having fun

well not directly caused by Kilauea

Kilauea, Puʻu ʻŌʻō and the currently active fissures are all fed from the same magma chamberDave

 

[Janus]

great to hear from you Janus ... hope you are having fun

Dave

Well are. Have seen some great scenery, saw green sea turtles basking on beaches of two islands, and even caught sight of a dolphin jumping out of the water during breakfast the other day. Am spending the afternoon of our last night at hotel watching the waves crash against the rocks, before heading for dinner. Catch a red-eye tomorrow night for home.

 

[davenn]

The lava fountain from the fissure 20 area is still pounding out tons of lava
a few screen captures I have done from the live stream today

first one around 1pm 23 May 2018 Hawai'i time
second one close to midnite 23 May 2018 Hawai'i time

courtesy of Honolulu Civil Beat live feed
Dave

 

[davenn]

The fountaining went through a quieter session early today

Strangely, I have noted on a number of days now and I cannot explain it. Maybe just coincidence with the changes of activity and timing.
I have noted that activity is often quieter during the day than the night.Dave

 

[OmCheeto]

...

Strangely, I have noted on a number of days now and I cannot explain it. Maybe just coincidence with the changes of activity and timing.
I have noted that activity is often quieter during the day than the night.Dave

It might be the change in contrast, and camera aperture setting. Hard to tell without being there.

Friday, May 18, 2018 [ref video]

Maybe they should add a thermal imaging camera.

One reason I won't try and quantify it is because I just scrolled through the video, and the plume changes shape and direction over time.

2:18 Fan to the right. 3:30 shoot straight up. 4:32 fan to the left.
Using the blue highlighted tree in the foreground as reference.
Same video.

 

[nsaspook]

 

[nsaspook]

Crazy dangerous.

 

[BillTre]

Here is a zoomable Google map of the lava areas, with several interesting overlays.
I have spent a lot of time in the Kapoho tide pools (to the east of the lava) which are great. Have friends with a house very close to there.

Several of the videos I have seen here have a lot of chirpy sounds in the background. They are from invasive tree frogs. I like tree frogs and don't mind the sounds, but a lot of people around there are annoyed by them because they increase the ambient sound levels.

 

[nsaspook]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44294418

The US Geological Survey has responded to a social media query on whether it is safe to roast marshmallows over a volcanic vent.

The answer is no.

It's good to see that things are returning back to normal.

 

[OmCheeto]

...
Strangely, I have noted on a number of days now and I cannot explain it. Maybe just coincidence with the changes of activity and timing.
I have noted that activity is often quieter during the day than the night.Dave

I just watched a live feed with geologist Philip Ong, and the cameraman mentioned the same thing, that the activity is quieter during the day.
Phillip didn't mention anything that I mentioned (being a possible optical illusion), so maybe things are more active at night.

 

[BillTre]

Here is a local news conference (short text and video) from Hawaii earlier today.
Discusses recent news, changes, and some hypotheses about what might be driving the eruption.
Good Pictures/videos.

 

[nsaspook]

Looks like the crater is blocked.

 

[NTL2009]

Question: When we see 'geysers' of lava bubbling up into the air, is that a continuous supply of 'fresh' lava from below, or is much of that lava dropping down and being thrown up again? I'm guessing it is mostly (90% ?, 99% ?, ?) 'recycled' lava, or a mountain/river would build up quickly, but it's hard for me to tell from these videos.

 

[nsaspook]

Question: When we see 'geysers' of lava bubbling up into the air, is that a continuous supply of 'fresh' lava from below, or is much of that lava dropping down and being thrown up again? I'm guessing it is mostly (90% ?, 99% ?, ?) 'recycled' lava, or a mountain/river would build up quickly, but it's hard for me to tell from these videos.

From what I can tell it's mainly fresh lava now. Very liquid, hot and full of gasses that cause it to bubble up in the air. Once that falls down it travels down the lava river rather quickly now as the areas near the supply have buildup high banks that increase the slope down around the fountains.



This Google map shows the current path of the lava is expected to cross right through the beach side housing.
https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?urp=https://www.facebook.com/&mid=1CvBhH9wEeztBrqYbsGDi4YjU1k1QH5AL&ll=19.50403815516964,-154.8307863302307&z=16

 

[nsaspook]

 

[nsaspook]

 

[BillTre]

Well, there goes the Kapoho tide pools and all the houses in that area.

I wondering how much volume of lava this eruption has put out.

 

[davenn]

Well, there goes the Kapoho tide pools and all the houses in that area.
I wondering how much volume of lava this eruption has put out.

we need a "sad" button as well. Clicking the "like" button just doesn't seem right

My heart goes out to all the people that have lost their homes and businesses over the last 5 weeks
'Dave

 

[dlgoff]

we need a "sad" button as well. Clicking the "like" button just doesn't seem right

It's good that @Greg Bernhardt kept the Retro Smilies so we can show how sad we really are.

 

[davenn]

lava flow maps for the 5th June and the 6th June

5th

6th

The whole subdivision has now pretty much gone

 

[BillTre]

The white (on the maps) offshore in the ocean, defines the outer reaches of the tidepools.
That's where the waves break as the water gets shallow just off shore of the tidepools.
They were many acres in size.
Taught my kids snorkling there.

 

[OmCheeto]

...
I wondering how much volume of lava this eruption has put out.

Between 6 and 9 million cubic meters.
ref: 4:10 in the following video


Scientist [Steve Brantley, Deputy Scientist-in-Charge, USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory] Describes Eruption Changes (Jun. 6, 2018)
Big Island Video News
Published on Jun 6, 2018

One fun thing I've been doing over the last few days is trying to figure out what "Earthquake numbers" mean, as there have been A LOT in the Kilauea caldera.
I came up with: joules = 2.825×10^(1.5×(Magnitude+2.9))

It seemed to match pretty closely what the pdf chart on page 4 from the British Geological Survey stated, so, I'm sticking to it.
https://www.bgs.ac.uk/downloads/start.cfm?id=661
Earthquake_magnitude.pdf

 

[Borg]

From the HVO Webcams:

Live Panorama of Puʻu ʻŌʻō Crater Single Frame from the North Rim [POcam]
Last Updated 2018-06-08 06:12:11 (HST)

I'm guessing that they might have to replace that camera.

Doh. Thanks Om!

 

[OmCheeto]

From the HVO Webcams:

Live Panorama of Puʻu ʻŌʻō Crater Single Frame from the North Rim [POcam]
Last Updated 2018-06-08 06:12:11 (HST)
https://www.physicsforums.com/attachments/226724

Ummmm... Before anyone interprets that image as "It looks like ejecta!", I would like to point out that camera has a dirty lens.

It's looked like that for about a month.

 

[Borg]

I was wondering why the image appeared to get brighter over the last hour. I saw that the 'ejecta' hadn't moved but it didn't occur to me that the lens was just dirty.

 

[OmCheeto]

I was wondering why the image appeared to get brighter over the last hour. I saw that the 'ejecta' hadn't moved but it didn't occur to me that the lens was just dirty.

Aside from the rise and fall of lava levels in that vent/tube, there has been almost no seismic activity there over the last 30 days.

Now, although not quite as "Hollywoodish" as vent #8 and its flows, the Halema'uma'u crater expansion is a great maths/physics problem.

According to my always suspicious maths, the earthquake (energy) activity in the vent matches, within an order of magnitude, the energy released by the collapse of the east crater wall.

Expressed as a function of volume:

9,000,000 m^3 (magnitude of earthquakes)
13,000,000 m^3 (eyeballing the volume)​

 

[OmCheeto]

hmmmm...

That's weird. I've seen that number before:

Expressed as a function of volume:
9,000,000 m^3

9 million cubic meters.

Might be just a coincidence.

 

[davenn]

Between 6 and 9 million cubic meters.

and that's not total

that is PER DAY !

 

[BillTre]

So this seems like a rather smallish eruption by volume.
This one might be 9 x 30 days (my approximation) = 270 x 1,000,000 cubic meters

Big eruptions seem to usually be measured in cubic kilometers (1,000,000,000 cubic meters).

It looks like explosive type volcanoes eruptive volumes are usually measured as volume of tuff, which to me seems like a fluffed up version of lava (due to released dissolved gasses) while effusive eruptions are just a volume of lava (gas free).
Big eruptions of both kinds can be 1,000's of cubic kilometers.

 

[OmCheeto]

and that's not total

that is PER DAY !

Good catch! Not sure why I left off the "per day" in that post.

Now I want to kick myself for not posting what I saw just a few minutes later.

USGS Volcanoes
Yesterday at 12:12

How much lava has erupted since May 3?
113.5 million cubic meters (0.11 cubic kilometers, 4008.2 million cubic feet)
That's enough to fill 45,400 Olympic-sized swimming pools, cover Manhattan Island to a depth of 6.5 feet, or fill 11.3 million average dump trucks.​

I recall thinking, "11 isn't that much more than 9", I'll just leave it at that.
Maybe this is why people keep sending me links to "eyeglass sales".

So this seems like a rather smallish eruption by volume.
This one might be 9 x 30 days (my approximation) = 270 x 1,000,000 cubic meters

Not that bad for an approximation.

Big eruptions seem to usually be measured in cubic kilometers (1,000,000,000 cubic meters).

It looks like explosive type volcanoes eruptive volumes are usually measured as volume of tuff, which to me seems like a fluffed up version of lava (due to released dissolved gasses) while effusive eruptions are just a volume of lava (gas free).
Big eruptions of both kinds can be 1,000's of cubic kilometers.

Someone should calculate the volume of "The Big Island", from its peak down to the sea floor. It's all old (and new) lava.
hmmm... I've got nothing to do.

Roughly 100,000 km³

Age of the island: 500,000 years ?
(Is it really that young?)

If so, that's only 1/5 km³ per year.
Or 200,000,000 m³ per year.

hmm... If these calculations are anywhere close to being correct, it would appear that the people living in the "rift zone" have been very fortunate.

From the USGS reference above; "That's a lot of lava, but it's only 1/2 the amount of the 1984 Mauna Loa eruption."

But then again:

Mantle supply rates [ref Oregon State University]:

...
Because the discharge rates of almost all tube-fed pahoehoe eruptions on both and Mauna Loa seem to have been between 2 and 5 cubic meters per second, this has been proposed to be the supply rate to each volcano from the mantle (Swanson 1972; Dzurisin et al. 1984; Rowland & Walker 1990). You may recall from the beginning of this review that dividing the total volume of Mauna Loa by its estimated age yields essentially the same value. This would imply that all magma supplied from the mantle is erupted onto the surface; this is definitely not the case. When the volume of lava erupted onto the surface at Mauna Loa since the arrival of westerners (1778) is divided by the time since 1778, the rate is only 1 cubic meter per second, and a similar calculation for Kilauea yields a value of only 0.2 cubic meter/sec.

These values are 3 and 15 times smaller than the proposed supply rate of about 3 meters per second. These relationships point out the pitfalls of looking only at the surfaces of volcanoes for short periods of their lives, and suggest that the ratio of intruded:erupted magma is high at both Mauna Loa and Kilauea.​

2 m³/sec = 60,000,000 m³/year
5 m³/sec = 160,000,000 m³/year (Woo hoo! My maths might be correct!)

0.2 m³/sec = 6,000,000 m³/year

Conclusion: None.
But it's interesting to think about.

 

[davenn]

Age of the island: 500,000 years ?
(Is it really that young?)

The oldest above sea level part is a bit older than that at around 700,000 to 1 million yrs.
Refer to one of my earlier posts describing the 5 volcanoes of the "Big Island"
So the undersea parts go back a number of millions of years earlier