Hawaii's Kilauea volcano eruption

[OmCheeto]

Well. my flight for Maui leaves in just a few hours. If all goes to plan, I'll arrive on the Big Island on Saturday. If there is a steam/ash explosion while I'm there, that will be the second time in my life of being within 50 miles or so of such an event. (I lived some 40 miles as the crow flies from St. Helens when she blew in '80.) That last one indirectly led to my getting 10 stitches on the top of my head, so let's keep our fingers crossed . If something does happen while I'm there, If possible, I'll post an update. But it will likely be brief. I don't have an unlimited data plan on my phone, and unfortunately my hotel in Kona doesn't have free wi-fi ( and I'm not paying for it).

You should have told us earlier, as I would have started a Go-Fund-Janus page for you!

hmmm... How much is the WiFi? If it's less than $100, I'll wire you the funds.

As I mentioned earlier, I've never been to the big island.
But I've watched at least 3 hours of videos, and read up on the history of recent (past 100 years) eruptions, and now appreciate that someone who has never been there, has no clue what they are talking about. [I'm referring to myself, of course]

 

[davenn]

I finally figured out why I was confused about what "Kilauea" meant.
It's a region.

Om ... I meant to comment on this bit of the post of yours ...

Not so much a region but a particular volcano. Kilauea is one of 5 volcanoes on the Big Island. Kohala being the oldest and they get progressively younger towards the SE of the island. Mauna Loa is considered dormant with a possibility of future eruption. Kilauea is the youngest and still active.
The area highlited in yellow is the area over which the lava flows from Kilauea have been covering.
The Kilauea lava doesn't flow the other direction ( to the NW) because the land rises up in that direction as you head towards the summit ridge of Mauna LoaDave

 

[BillTre]

What makes them separate Dave?
I would guess its based on their tubes going down separately to some depth.
Do they join together at a single hot blob?
Are the others connected to cooled down hot blobs?

 

[Lee Duke]

Om ... I meant to comment on this bit of the post of yours ...

Not so much a region but a particular volcano. Kilauea is one of 5 volcanoes on the Big Island. Kohala being the oldest and they get progressively younger towards the SE of the island. Mauna Loa is considered dormant with a possibility of future eruption. Kilauea is the youngest and still active.
The area highlited in yellow is the area over which the lava flows from Kilauea have been covering.
The Kilauea lava doesn't flow the other direction ( to the NW) because the land rises up in that direction as you head towards the summit ridge of Mauna LoaDave

I'm not sure about Kohala, but the other four volcanoes are all considered active. Only Kilauea is currently erupting.

 

[OmCheeto]

...someone who has never been there, has no clue what they are talking about.

It's like reading stuff in a textbook; "Blah, blah, blah. Numbers, numbers, numbers."

And then you stop and look at the numbers, and go; "wow..."

And there's been only one person killed in the last 94 years.
And he was an idiot, IMHO; "The last serious eruption in 1924 resulted in one fatality, when a photographer ventured too close to the action."

 

[davenn]

What makes them separate Dave?
I would guess its based on their tubes going down separately to some depth.
Do they join together at a single hot blob?
Are the others connected to cooled down hot blobs?

They were/are all fed from the same hotspot (magma source). As the Pacific Plate motion carries the ocean floor over that hotspot,
the upwelling magma produces new volcanoes that eventually break the sea surface and produce islands. Of course, that motion is pretty small, 5 – 10 centimeters (2.0–3.9 in) a year, so multiple vents can produce a large island.

credit USGS

I'm not sure about Kohala, but the other four volcanoes are all considered active. Only Kilauea is currently erupting.

not quite ... see below

I wanted to find some dates for the different vents ...

from Wiki or USGS

Kohala is the oldest of five volcanoes that make up the island of Hawaii. Kohala is an estimated one million years old—so old that it experienced, and recorded, the reversal of earth's magnetic field 780,000 years ago. It is believed to have breached sea level more than 500,000 years ago[1] and to have last erupted 120,000 years ago. Kohala is 606 km2 (234 sq mi) in area and 14,000 km3 (3,400 cu mi) in volume, and thus constitutes just under 6% of the island of Hawaii

Mauna Kea (/ˌmɔːnə ˈkeɪ.ə/ or /ˌmaʊnə ˈkeɪ.ə/, Hawaiian: [ˈmɐwnə ˈkɛjə]) is a dormant volcano on the island of Hawaii. Standing 4,207 m (13,802 ft) above sea level, its peak is the highest point in the state of Hawaii making the island of Hawaii the second highest island in the world. Most of the mountain is underwater; when measured from its oceanic base, Mauna Kea is over 10,000 m (33,000 ft) tall and is the tallest mountain on Earth. Mauna Kea is about a million years old, and has thus passed the most active shield stage of life hundreds of thousands of years ago. In its current post-shield state, its lava is more viscous, resulting in a steeper profile. Late volcanism has also given it a much rougher appearance than its neighboring volcanoes; contributing factors include the construction of cinder cones, the decentralization of its rift zones, the glaciation on its peak, and the weathering effects of the prevailing trade winds. Mauna Kea last erupted 6,000 to 4,000 years ago and is now considered dormant.

Hualālai (pronounced [huwəˈlaːlɐi] in Hawaiian) is an active volcano on the island of Hawaiʻi in the Hawaiian Islands.[4] It is the westernmost, third-youngest and the third most active of the five volcanoes that form the island of Hawaiʻi, following Kīlauea and the much larger Mauna Loa. Its peak stands 8,271 feet (2,521 m) above sea level. Hualālai is estimated to have risen above sea level about 300,000 years ago. Despite maintaining a very low level of activity since its last eruption in 1801, and being unusually inactive for the last 2,000 years, Hualālai is still considered active, and is expected to erupt again some time within the next century. The relative unpreparedness of the residents in the area caused by the lull in activity would worsen the consequences of such an event.

Mauna Loa (/ˌmɔːnə ˈloʊ.ə/ or /ˌmaʊnə ˈloʊ.ə/; Hawaiian: [ˈmɐwnə ˈlowə]; English: Long Mountain[3]) is one of five volcanoes that form the Island of Hawaii in the U.S. state of Hawaiʻi in the Pacific Ocean. The largest subaerial volcano in both mass and volume, Mauna Loa has historically been considered the largest volcano on Earth, dwarfed only by Tamu Massif. It is an active shield volcano with relatively gentle slopes, with a volume estimated at approximately 18,000 cubic miles (75,000 km3),[4] although its peak is about 120 feet (37 m) lower than that of its neighbor, Mauna Kea. Lava eruptions from Mauna Loa are silica-poor and very fluid, and they tend to be non-explosive.

Mauna Loa has probably been erupting for at least 700,000 years, and may have emerged above sea level about 400,000 years ago. The oldest-known dated rocks are not older than 200,000 years.[5] The volcano's magma comes from the Hawaii hotspot, which has been responsible for the creation of the Hawaiian island chain over tens of millions of years. The slow drift of the Pacific Plate will eventually carry Mauna Loa away from the hotspot within 500,000 to one million years from now, at which point it will become extinct.

Mauna Loa's most recent eruption occurred from March 24 to April 15, 1984. No recent eruptions of the volcano have caused fatalities, but eruptions in 1926 and 1950 destroyed villages, and the city of Hilo is partly built on lava flows from the late 19th century. Because of the potential hazards it poses to population centers, Mauna Loa is part of the Decade Volcanoes program, which encourages studies of the world's most dangerous volcanoes. Mauna Loa has been monitored intensively by the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory since 1912. Observations of the atmosphere are undertaken at the Mauna Loa Observatory, and of the Sun at the Mauna Loa Solar Observatory, both located near the mountain's summit. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park covers the summit and the southeastern flank of the volcano, and also incorporates Kīlauea, a separate volcano.

Kīlauea (/ˌkiːlaʊˈeɪə/, US: /ˌkɪləˈweɪə/; Hawaiian: [tiːlɐwˈwɛjə]) is a currently active shield volcano in the Hawaiian Islands, and the most active of the five volcanoes that together form the island of Hawaiʻi. Located along the southern shore of the island, the volcano is between 300,000 and 600,000 years old and emerged above sea level about 100,000 years ago.

It is the second youngest product of the Hawaiian hotspot and the current eruptive center of the Hawaiian–Emperor seamount chain. Because it lacks topographic prominence and its activities historically coincided with those of Mauna Loa, Kīlauea was once thought to be a satellite of its much larger neighbor. Structurally, Kīlauea has a large, fairly recently formed caldera at its summit and two active rift zones, one extending 125 km (78 mi) east and the other 35 km (22 mi) west, as an active fault of unknown depth moving vertically an average of 2 to 20 mm (0.1 to 0.8 in) per year.

Kīlauea has been erupting nearly continuously since 1983 and has caused considerable property damage, including the destruction of the town of Kalapana in 1990. On May 3, 2018, several lava vents opened in the lower Puna area, downrift from the summit. The new volcanic episode was accompanied by a strong earthquake of Mw 6.9, and nearly 2,000 residents were evacuated from Leilani Estates and the adjacent Lanipuna Gardens development. By May 9, 2018 the eruption had destroyed 27 houses in the Leilani Estates subdivision.

So two classed as dormant and three classed as active ( having erupted in the last ~200 years)Dave

 

[BillTre]

I don't have a feeling for the depth at which these things are occurring.
How deep are:

• the magma chambers vs. the bottom of the crust?
• magma chambers of different neighboring volcanoes vs. distance between the neighboring volcanoes?
  
• length/depth of the sideways plumbing connecting the big volcano caldera pool with the vents that are active now?

 

[davenn]

I don't have a feeling for the depth at which these things are occurring.
How deep are:

• the magma chambers vs. the bottom of the crust?
• magma chambers of different neighbouring volcanoes vs. distance between the neighbouring volcanoes?
  
• length/depth of the sideways plumbing connecting the big volcano caldera pool with the vents that are active now?

just some round figures

1) the magma chambers vs. the bottom of the crust?

The magma chambers, for the most part, are between the top of the oceanic crust ( the lithosphere is that above diag.) and the top of each volcano.
So they are relatively shallow. The oceanic crust (the lithosphere) is a relatively constant ~ 10km thick. But you can see as the diag. hints at, how the mass of the islands depresses the crust

2) magma chambers of different neighbouring volcanoes vs. distance between the neighbouring volcanoes?

On the Big Island ? or are referring to the extinct ones as well on the islands to the west ?
The individual magma chambers are pretty much directly below each vent. Tho one large chamber may feed several vents.
You could use Google Earth and its measuring app to measure horizontal distances between the centres of the various vents, for both between those on the Big Island and between them and those on the other Hawaiian Islands to the west

eg. one I just did for the Big Island vents ...

3) length/depth of the sideways plumbing connecting the big volcano caldera pool with the vents that are active now?

I would have to do some searching for that info ... there probably has been some mapping done of underground structures using earthquakesDave

 

[BillTre]

Great!
So something like 10 km down but separated by 3-5 times that distance.
Seem pretty well separated.

In thinking that the vertical scales of these diagrams are usually exaggerated vs. the horizontal scale.
Then the shape of the blobs would be much more flattened, as if they came up and stopped at some layer for whatever reason. Is that the case?
Of course they may just be artistic shapes.

 

[davenn]

So something like 10 km down

I would estimate around half that ... 3 to 5 km

OK here we go, I was in the ball park from Wiki ...

Simplified geophysical models of Mauna Loa's magma chamber have been constructed, using interferometric synthetic aperture radar measures of ground deformation due to the slow buildup of lava under the volcano's surface. These models predict a 1.1 km (1 mi) wide magma chamber located at a depth of about 4.7 km (3 mi), 0.5 km (0 mi) below sea level, near the southeastern margin of Mokuʻāweoweo. This shallow magma chamber is significantly higher-placed than Mauna Loa's rift zones, suggesting magma intrusion into the deeper and occasional dike injections into the shallower parts of the rift zone drive rift activity; a similar mechanism has been proposed for neighboring Kīlauea.[25] Earlier models based on Mauna Loa's two most recent eruptions made a similar prediction, placing the chamber at 3 km (1.9 mi) deep in roughly the same geographic position.[26]

I doubt that the magma chambers for the other vents vary too much from those of Mauna LoaD

 

[BillTre]

So, I am considering these volcano concepts (tell me what I got wrong):
1) different volcanos have separate plumbing systems for thee magma, if one part is draining to another part, they are of the same volcano.
2) Different volcanos would seem to be spatially separate from each other at the level of their hot magma load coming up from the mantle as separate events (but probably with a larger more distant common source, like a hot plume).
3) In Kileuea (see map, from here), magma can flow under ground through cracks (perhaps areas of weakness) of some kind (very linear on the map), before coming up to the surface. I guess these would be close to the surface.

I wouldn't call these lava tubes (issue with relatives) because they are pre-made in the ground rather than a solidified surface of a flow of lava, but maybe I'm wrong.

What about possible Manipulations:
1935 Bombing of lava tubes to expose a flow to greater cooling is claimed to have saved Hilo.
However, its effectiveness has been disputed.
1) Would that be legal in HI these days?
2) I could see some other possible purposes:

• Trying to direct a surface flow; like making a trench for it flow in, or making a berm.
  
• Trying to greatly increase flow out at one place to alleviate pressure on the whole system in a controlled manner, say at a location where the flow would go right into the ocean (the blue lines in the map above are the lines of greatest fall, paths surface lava should like to follow).
  
• Trying to create fractures (fracking or putting bombs down drilled holes) to direct the underground flows).

Do people do any of these these days?

 

[davenn]

1) different volcanos have separate plumbing systems for thee magma, if one part is draining to another part, they are of the same volcano.

1) yes, and that is what is happening here. The magma is moving eastwards through the rift system, the result of which is that magma is draining from the main caldera of Kilauea

The vents/feed system of the eastern area of the island ( the Kilauea volcano) is quite complex. It isn't the ummm, "reasonably typical" one or 2 feed tubes branching off from the magma chamber. This is because of all the rifting that is giving magma many, many possible paths with which to push through on the way to the surface.

2) Different volcanos would seem to be spatially separate from each other at the level of their hot magma load coming up from the mantle as separate events (but probably with a larger more distant common source, like a hot plume).

2) Don't forget that the Hawai'ian Is. chain and hotspot spot is reasonably unique. It is one of only a tiny number of hotspot volcanoes that can be easily observed on land. 99% of them are under sea in various places around the world.

The majority of land based volcanoes seen around the world are the result of subduction zone tectonics and mantle plumes and the like are not a factor.
The magma isn't coming up from the mantle, rather it is a melt produced from the mix of subducting oceanic floor and continental crust. This is why these type of volcanoes are more explosive than the Hawai'ian ones.

3) In Kilauea (see map, from here), magma can flow under ground through cracks (perhaps areas of weakness) of some kind (very linear on the map), before coming up to the surface. I guess these would be close to the surface.

3) Yes, they do come up close to the surface. In one of those links above, can't remember which, there are comments that the rifting and fissures also go very deep.
The rifting and fissures really do aid in the propagation of magma into other areas.
From what I have read and understand, there is much more rifting associated with the eastern side of the Big Island that on the other side.
And that leads to one of the big concerns for the SE side of the island of a flank collapse along the Eastern Rift sections on the SE side of the Kilauea Volcano.

here's some interesting stuff …..
https://hilo.hawaii.edu/~kenhon/GEOL205/Flank/default.htm
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2007JB005124

I wouldn't call these lava tubes (issue with relatives) because they are pre-made in the ground rather than a solidified surface of a flow of lava, but maybe I'm wrong.

Correct, lava tubes are a very specific thing and are formed from the flow of lava/magma. The last time I was in Hawai'i, my mate from Kona took me to a big lava tube NW of Kona. It is accessible from the side of the road and isn't overly old. was formed during one of the last lava flows from the Hulalai Volcano.
A lot of the tube was around 3 - 4 metres in diameter … I'm almost 2 metres tall (6'4") so I could walk through much of it without ducking my head.

What about possible Manipulations:
1935 Bombing of lava tubes to expose a flow to greater cooling is claimed to have saved Hilo.
However, its effectiveness has been disputed.
1) Would that be legal in HI these days?
2) I could see some other possible purposes:

• Trying to direct a surface flow; like making a trench for it flow in, or making a berm.
  
• Trying to greatly increase flow out at one place to alleviate pressure on the whole system in a controlled manner, say at a location where the flow would go right into the ocean (the blue lines in the map above are the lines of greatest fall, paths surface lava should like to follow).
  
• Trying to create fractures (fracking or putting bombs down drilled holes) to direct the underground flows).

Do people do any of these, these days?

1) Would that be legal in HI these days? …. probably not , imagine the public uproar. Apart from that, would you want to take responsibility if the activity caused a huge increase in volcanic activity ? Considering the flank instability of the Eastern Rift Zone,
it could induce a major disaster.

Do people do any of these these days?

I know of only two cases where active efforts were done to divert lava flows...

1) In the Iceland Island of Heimaey, 1973
https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1997/of97-724/methods.html

2) On Mt Etna, Sicily, the use of huge concrete blocks dropped from helicopters to divert the flows.Dave

 

[nsaspook]

 

[OmCheeto]

...
I know of only two cases where active efforts were done to divert lava flows...

1) In the Iceland Island of Heimaey, 1973
https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1997/of97-724/methods.html

2) On Mt Etna, Sicily, the use of huge concrete blocks dropped from helicopters to divert the flows.Dave

I ran across the following about a week ago.

Jan-Feb 1960 Kilauea eruption, at about the same location as the current activity:

@ 08:00: "Bulldozers are called to work..."


CSAV Hawaii: 1960 Eruption of Kapoho
LongVideosCSAV [Center for the Study of Active Volcanoes]
Published on Jan 10, 2011

@ 09:46 "...every bulldozer in the area is mobilized to build the highest dike yet attempted."

The video is interesting in that it wasn't publicly available until 2011.
ref: Fred Rackle, born in 1920, moved to Honolulu in 1938 as an Army Corps photographer.

 

[OmCheeto]

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.

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.

Correct, lava tubes are a very specific thing and are formed from the flow of lava/magma.

I should probably clarify something I said earlier;

Mount St. Helens is only 50 miles from my house, and I stay the hell away from it.

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).​

 

[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