Volcano Eruption Update

Just a quickie..........things may be stopping. But we won't relax just yet. Yesterday the lava river crusted over. The lava erupting from fissure 8 is significantly reduced. And the earthquakes at the summit have plunged from 30 an hour on average to zero for the past 3 hours. Yes, zero. It's been months since we've seen zero earthquakes in a 3 hour stretch. 

Not one red dot on the earthquake map! Red dots indicate earthquakes within the past 2 hours. 

And captured from Facebook......

That black snaky lava channel has been a glowing red river up until now. 

Now we wait and see what happens next. 

Eruption Update

Things keep oozing along here. Fissure 8 hasn't slowed down. An incredible amount of lava gets pumped out each minute, maintaining the large lava river snaking through Puna. More houses have been destroyed, somewhere around 700 total to date. In addition, lots of outbuildings and businesses have bit the dust too. 

Fissure 8, a close up view from a heliocopter ....

Below, a view of the lava river.....

All the brown vegetation is not due to drought. That's right. It's once lush tropical greenery killed by the volcanic gasses. Needless to say. Nobody is living in those houses near the lava flow. 

No one can say how long this eruption will last. Weeks more. Perhaps months. Maybe even years. But until it stops, thousands of people's lives are disrupted. But that's the risk one takes when living in a lava zone on an active volcano.

Meanwhile up at Kilauea summit, the stored lava is apparently still draining out of Kilauea. Thus the summit keeps caving in on itself, resulting in hundreds of small earthquakes every day plus a few larger ones. The ground around the summit is cracking and slumping in. The highway there is experiencing damage ...... cracks, slumps, and recently a significant sinkhole at a location that had a previously slumped and been patched. 

Turns out that the hole was humongous under the 5 foot diameter hole in the asphalt. I captured these photos off of a friend's Facebook page........

The width and length of the underlying hole was the size of a pickup truck. I happened to drive by Volcano today and saw that there were several new repair jobs, several cracks, and many new slumps that I hadn't seen on my last drive by. If this weren't the only road connecting Ka'u to Puna, I suspect that the authorities would close it. There is a high risk of more damage occurring and sinkholes opening up. 

People here live with volcanoes all the time. They deal with the inconveniences. And have to accept the possible damage. People who can't accept that simply move away....to places where they have to deal with other types of problems : tornadoes, hurricanes, flooding, heavy wind, lightning, blizzards, civil unrest, pollution, etc. Personally, I'd rather live with this volcano than be someplace else. To each their own choice. 

Eruption Update

Fissure 8 is continues spewing lava, showing no signs of quitting or even slowing down. Photos show a 165 high spatter cone now surrounding the fountain. At times the fountain is grandly visible over the lip of the cone, other times it appears level with the top of the walls. To one side of the cone no wall has been built due the gushing lava, which forms a inspiring set of lava rapids, continuing on to a flowing lava river.....a river of melted rock. Contrary to Internet b-s, the lava is leaving the cone area at 17 mph (measured by USGS geologists), slowing down a bit as the lava river fans out. No, it's not going 45 mph, or 90 mph, depending upon which Facebook or forum you're reading. Then again, those purveyers of misinformation also think that the entire island (or state) is engulfed in lava. 

Above photo beautifully shows the spatter cone, lava fountain within, and the lava river tumbling through the wall.

Officially this eruption has claimed 617 houses, but the total in reality is higher. Many "homes" don't qualify as houses, so they don't get counted. Many homes aren't on the county tax map, thus not always being counted. Many more structures have also been destroyed -- barns, sheds, greenhouses, livestock shelters, garages, etc. Miles of fencing, plus their fence gates are gone. Around 9000 acres have been covered in lava. And about 9 square miles of new lava land has been created. The toll of possessions lost can never be accurately tallied. There is simply too much lost to be recalled. 

This eruption gives all the appearance of continuing for a while. Below is another view of fissure 8 and dramatizes just how close the eruption is to people's houses. Yes, it opened right in the middle of a housing development. 

Meanwhile, up at Kilauea summit, things have not been quiet. Hundreds of earthquakes occur all day long, many large enough to be felt locally. Halema'uma'u is collapsing into itself, dragging the crater walls into the hole along with surrounding portions of the main caldera. Tiny Halema'uma'u, which at one time I considered to be huge, is now massive and still enlarging. It presently compasses 9+ acres in the corner of the large caldera. Every day it grows larger, becoming an impressive pit crater. How amazing it has been to watch a pit crater being born!! 

The summit activity has more or less settled into a cycle of deflation and explosion. A small steam & ash explosion occurs around every 24 hours. People have become accustomed to the 24 hour cycle so much that they get on edge when it's overdue. The last few explosions have carried very little ash, generally just affecting the Ka'u desert, Kapapala Ranch, and Wood Valley areas. Other areas on Ka'u are getting only the merest dusting. 

Above shows the tiltmeter graft for the past week. The "heartbeat" of Halema'uma'u. People here check the daily tiltmeter readings to guess when the next explosion will occur. 

How will the summit eruption end? We still don't know. 

Eruption Update

In general, things are maintaining the status quo. Fissure 8 is continuing to fountain lava at about the same height, but it's not so visible because the spatter has built a cone around it that's a bit over 150' high now....and growing. Will it slow down or get bigger? When will it stop? No one knows. 

(USGS photo) Above, that's fissure 8 on the right and the lava river in the left. There's some beautiful photography coming out of this eruption. 

The lava river is still flowing with incredible volume, about 25,000 gallons of molten lava a second. Yes, a second. It ends up flowing into the ocean down at Kapoho and has created around 250 acres of new land. Hey, wanna buy cheap land in Hawaii? 

(USGA photo) Above, the new lava land. The red is pahoehoe lava flows down by the coast. At night the lava glow turns the clouds brilliant red. 

Kilauea summit is in a cycle of deflating then producing a minor explosion of ash and steam. It's happening about every 20 hours. The floor and walls of Halema'uma'u are gradually crumbling into the hole left by the receding lava. The caldera is also sinking. Giant ground cracks are appearing around the crater as the ground subsides. The summit is gradually caving in. As more material sinks into the throat of the volcano, earthquakes occur with the shifting and the cracking. Eventually the pressure gets too high and boom....an explosion of ash and stream, generally going 5,000 to 10,000 feet (as measured above sea level, and since the summit is already 4,000 feet high, so the plume isn't all that spectacular as it first sounds.) for the past several days Kilauea has been maintaining this cycle and no one knows what will happen next. 

(USGA photo) If you haven't seen Halema'uma'u before, you have nothing to compare this photo to. But take my word for it, the summit has changed dramatically. It's all sinking into a gigantic pit. 

By the way, each time the summit explodes, the people living in Volcano Village feel shaking like a 5.4 earthquake. It's not truly an earthquake, but that's what it feels like. Now imagine what's that like every night. Yup, the cruel sadistic gods are timing the explosion for between midnight and 5 am. 

Visited Pahoa Today

My intention wasn't to drive through Pahoa today, or to get close to the eruption site. Actually, I was heading to Hilo with a friend for each of us to get a dozen little tasks done that gave been accumulating for some time now. Trips to Hilo are not taken lightly, considering the cost of the gasoline plus 1) the risk of driving past Kilauea summit, and 2) the exposure to much thicker vog than we are use to. But go, we did. And don't ask me how we came to the decision to sidetrack to Pahoa, but it seemed like a nifty idea at the moment. The excuse was, "Lets check out the Mexican restaurant for lunch." Sounded good, even though it was only 10 am. And no, in case you're curious, we never found the restaurant nor stopped for what would have been a very, very early lunch. 

Wow, what a thrill. Perhaps we're just easily entertained, but to see the site from a distance was amazing. 

From a distance it looked all the world like a storm with a funnel cloud. But that's no tornado under that dark cloud. It's the fissure 8 eruption. Because it was daytime, you can't see any red. But at night, I'm told by the locals, the sky is brilliant red. Meanwhile over by Kapoho where the ocean entry is, a broad swatch of the skyline is nothing but dark grey cloud, looking like a nasty thunderstorm heading this way. 

I had "E" ask me, "How aware are the people in Pahoa of the eruption? Can they see it? Or is it life as usual?" No, life surely isn't normal. The sky makes it quite evident that there's an eruption going on only a mile so from town. Those clouds are never out of sight. Plus the main roads have roadblocks. Plenty of police and National Guard are visible. No, daily life isn't normal. 

We drive down to the two roadblocks, waved a friendly hello to the officials, the. Headed on toward Hilo. 

Latest map: 

Ash Cleanup

Now that Halema'uma'u is taking a rest from ash erupting, we put the effort into cleaning up ash. Since my last mention of ash clean up, lots of you have offered suggestions. Thanks! Your ideas were great!

Here's the ash that we're trying to clean up. Enough collected on our solar panels for me to collect some as a souvenir. A lite dusting looks whitish grey, but a pile of it shows its true color -- moderate ashy grey. 

 

First of all, "W" directed us to a pressure washer that he thought would work with our marine pump. 

By using a different hose than we normally use ........we hooked up the pressure washer using a 25' hose, 1" diameter hose.....the washer works just fine. A standard 100' 5/8" garden hose couldn't deliver enough water fast enough. This is a small pressure washer but it is doing a good job for our needs. We were able to clean the solar panels fairly well. 

It blasted the black ohia tree gunk off, and it appeared to take the ash off too. But when the panels dried, they still had a light covering of ash. That ash is really persistent. So we moved on to the next suggestions. Many people suggested hardwood floor mops. And one friend actually presented us with a gift of a mop this past weekend. It's a flip mop for hardwood floors. We gave it a try......

Worked super!!!!! Having blasted off 99% of the ash, the mop was able to clean the panels the rest of the way. 

Thanks everyone for your suggestions! 

 

Eruption Update

Things at the summit are generally quiet. 

No plume coming from Halema'uma'u. 

Earthquakes are still occurring but at a lower frequency, SO2 emissions are down. Very little ash is reported downwind. Recent earthquakes have damaged the park, so repairs will be in order before the park can reopen.

Above, this is the patio of the overlook area outside the Jagger museum. Normally packed with tourists, it now has numerous cracked areas. 

Down along the coast right by the sea arch, a long ground crack has developed, along with numerous smaller ones. I doubt that anyone will be allowed to view the sea arch again. 

Three park buildings have structural damage, so will be out of commission for awhile.....including the Jagger observatory. 

Meanwhile at the eruption site in Puna, destruction continues. The massive lava flows continues. 

Fissure 8 is still continually fountaining lava, though at a slightly lesser degree. 

The massive lava flow has reached the coast, destroying much of Vacationland and Kapoho. Hundreds of homes and structures lost. Many farms destroyed. 

Kapoho Bay is no more. It's completely filled in with a massive lava delta which currently extends 0.7 miles past the original coastline. 

And we're not done yet. 

Record Earthquakes

Kilauea summit may look like it's quiet, but it's not. Today there was a record 500 hundred earthquakes at the summit area in the past 24 hours. The largest was a 5.5

All those red circles are earthquakes that occurred between 3:30 this afternoon and 5:30 pm (right now as I write this entry). The red circles are right atop Kilaeua summit -- specifically Halema'uma'u. 

The above satellite image may be difficult for you to interpret, but it shows that the active vent and slumping takes up over half of what Halema'uma'u looked like a month ago. What you can't see is that the caldera itself is also sinking, up to 5 feet in some locations. 

Below is a photo captured from drone video footage, looking down the throat of Halema'uma'u. It shows the side walls caving in to fill the throat with rocky rubble and dust. This vent use to be 1/10 th the size that it now is. Until these past couple days, the steam plume coming from the vent was thick and aggressive. You could not get an image down the throat. Now the plume is essentially gone. Just some steam, but plenty of volcanic gas. 

ps------

I just got notice that there has been a minor explosion at the summit vent, causing an ash cloud that rise to 8000'. 

Drats. I must have something to do about causing it because I just spent the day cleaning up the ash from the solar panels, vehicles, farm equipment, and farm buildings. Got everything nice and clean. And here comes some more ash! Drats. 

Eruption Map & Photo

OThe main, wide lava flow still trundles onward through the Kapoho area. Last report it was only 400 yards from the coast. It appears to be poised to wipe out both Kapoho Beach Lots and Vacationland. There's a whole lot of homes there. Only a miracle shutdown of fissure 8 may save them, and the chances of that don't look favorable at the moment. 

Eruption Continues

Although Kilauea summit has settled down somewhat, the lava eruption in Puna has been going on full speed ahead. The current lava flow is a monster. It extends over a half mile wide. It's deep aa lava. Totally an unstoppable force, it has overrun the last access road, and now is destroying one farm and building one after the other. 

The amount of lava is mind boggling. The entire front is moving, creeping along. It's heading for the densely housed residential area of Kapoho Beach Lots and Vacationland Subdivision. Those two housing areas on the right of the photo below are in eminent danger. In the next few hours, they may be completely overrun by lava. 

(Below, a satellite photo from google maps) 

More sadness. One of my friends just informed me that their newly purchased home is gone, destroyed by the lava. While it's a complete financial loss, they are not in desperate straits. Others aren't as fortunate. Via the coconut wireless we are hearing news of suicides. The tragedy of this eruption just grows and grows. 

A Brief Update

I have a morning of no rain, so I'm busy catching up on tasks. So here's a very brief update in what's happening with the eruption. 

The summit has dramatically scaled back on the plume production and ash emissions. In fact, I've seen almost no ash in the farm since at dawn yesterday morning. The earthquakes at the summit continue. 

Mean while down in Puna, things are still aggressively erupting. Fissure 8 is sending sustained fountains 200' into the air. 

That lava is following a downward grade, heading for Kapoho. Presently it's about 1/2 mile from cutting the access road. If the flow keeps going, by tomorrow anyone who hasn't evacuated will be trapped. 

Summit Change

I don't know the significance of it, but the summit has stopped emitting a giant steam plume this morning.  It's eerie. 

Could this mean that the throat is becoming clogged? 

Could this mean that lava has risen above the ground water level? 

Brief Morning Update

The lava flow heading to Kapoho has thankfully slowed down in advancing. Instead of marching onward, it is spreading out. This gives the residents of Vacationland and Kapoho more time. The flow front is now advancing at only 50 yards per hour, far slower than yesterday. But fissure 8 is still maintaining fountains 200'-250' high, so there's lots of lava still erupting from below ground. 

With this volcano, I never knows from day to day what will happen. 

Eruption Update

This disaster continues in Puna. More structures are destroyed. More lava flows are traveling a distance. Route 132 is effectively blocked. One flow is heading for Beach Road where, if it crosses the road, will trap anything not evacuated from Pohoiki area. Another flow is heading for Kopoho, where if it continues, will isolate Vacationland subdivision and Kapoho Beach Lots. People are being warned to evacuate NOW. 

Geologists report the fissure 8 is erupting sustained fountains 200' in height, with a significant volume of very hot, fluid lava feeding a rapidly moving flow. The flow front is currently moving 600 yards per hour, heading down that blue line in the map above, leading to Kapoho. Once it reaches Kapoho and crosses the road, lower Puna is effectively isolated.....cut off. Evacuating via vehicle will be impossible. 

Meanwhile up at the summit, the volcano isn't taking a rest. Since I got up this morning there have been close to 200 earthquakes of around 2.0 magnitude or greater. A 5.3 quake happened recently that must have scared the bejeezus out of Volcano Village residents. Perhaps that got their attention enough to think about evacuating. Steam plumes are constantly coming from the Halema'uma'u vent, often laden with ash to some degree or other. Repetitive rockfalls have enlarged the vent considerably, plus the caldera floor has dropped several feet. ......... We are waiting for the second shoe to drop. 

I'm attending an informational meeting tonight in Pahala. I'm hoping the summit doesn't blow it's top tonight. I feel like I'm playing Russian roulette. How many times can I drive by or close before it blows? Unless I have to go the Pahala to pick up a prescription from the drugstore, I think this may be my last drive that direction. 

Lava Q & A

Here's some of the questions I'm getting about the lava eruption........

... Why aren't people doing something to protect their homes? 

           In reality, there is nothing they can do. 

... Would spraying the house with fire retardants or foams save them? 

          No. The lava presses right up against the house structure, igniting it. It would have little difficulty pressing right past a barrier. Also, it's intense heat alone has caused fire to start before the lava actually touched the structure. Fire aside, the lava is essentially an unyielding force. Even without burning the structure, the weight and force of the lava field could destroy it or cover it. 

... Why don't people bulldozer a dike or moat around their homes to channel the lava around them? 

           It's been tried but it doesn't work in the long run. A dike would need to be solid enough and high enough plus be built at a 45° angle to the flow. That's just about impossible. Making it solid enough would require lots of material which is not readily available. Plus it would takes days of bulldoze work to construct and compact such a dike. Plus, you don't know in advance from what angle the lava will be approaching your property, so getting the 45° angle would just be sheer luck. The chance of it being made high enough is practically nil. 

          Building a moat has its own challenges. Most areas have solid, though fractured, lava under the top layer of ground. It's our own substitute for bedrock. So a bulldozer can only scrape away so much before it hits solid lava. Thus only a shallow moat could be bulldozed in most cases. 

          Lava does not flow like water. While it generally flows downhill, it is capable of actually climbing uphill. This happens because of the way the surface of lava cools and solidifies, plus fresh lava pushing on from behind. The fresh lava often moves and lifts the cooled crust, thus causing the lava front to rise dramatically in elevation and "climb" obstacles. On top of that, while some lava flows may only be a couple feet thick, others can easily be 20' thick! So you'd have to have an incredibly high dike or deep moat for it to have any hope of being effective. In experiments that the government here has done in the past, lava flows easily crossed fairly high dikes, especially those built perpendicular to the flow. 

... Why aren't people evacuating the area? 

          Most people close to the eruption have indeed evacuated. Some have chosen to stay because they fear losing everything to looters. Historically, Hawaii officials have done an abysmal job when it comes to controlling looting. Homeowners have returned to empty houses where even the sinks, toilets, and copper pipes were taken! Even with this eruption situation, where supposedly the police and National Guard are protecting the area, looters have been ransacking some of the houses where there are no neighbor's keeping guard. A couple of them have been arrested, but most are evading the police. 

... What happens when the lava cuts off the escape road? 

          Simple -- people and animals get trapped. Some people will chose to ride it out until the lava gets real close rather than safely evacuating. There have already been cases where people have called for evacuation. In some cases, people can walk out via routes that cars cannot get across. In other cases, the Marines are on standby to conduct heliocopter evacuations, but lack of landing sites plus ashy smoke might interfere. I am guessing that small animals may be evacuated along with their owners, but that will not be possible for large animals who will have to be left behind to a horrifying fate. 

... How long will this go on? 

          Nobody knows. It could last a few more days, weeks, months. Or years. Pu'u O'o erupted lava for 25 years, with just a few breaks in the action here and there. This could become the new replacement for Pu'u O'o. 

... Why don't they just bulldoze the lava away? 

           First of all, the lava is too hot to get near. It's over 2000°. I've personally been within 10 feet of a shallow, small pahoehoe flow.....very small slow flow.....and it was bearable only for less than a half a minute. All the hair got singed in my arms and legs even with that very brief exposure. 

           This lava that's erupting is hotter than what I experienced. Plus it is a far greater volume. My lava flow was about a foot or two in height. The lava in Puna is many, many feet thick. The sheer volume of molten rock is staggering. 

           A bulldozer could not possibly push molten lava aside. The metal of the dozer would become red hot, plus the paint, hydraulic fluid, lubricants, and fuel would burn along with any non-metal parts. The operator would be overcome by the fumes and heat. So there is zero chance of bulldozing flowing lava. 

... Why don't they dynamite the front of a lava flow to stop it? 

          It won't help. In the past they tried dropping bombs in a flow to stop it or change its route. Didn't work. 

... Why don't they pump ocean water onto the flow like they did in Iceland? 

          First of all, it's not close enough to the ocean. Secondly, the coastline is too dangerousness to bring a firefighting boat in close enough to shoot water inland. Third, the lava field is immense. There is more than one flowing front. It would take a fleet of boats, which are not available. Plus the lava fields are mostly inland. Four, the fumes coming off the lava eruption could overcome those on the boats, depending upon how the wind shifts.  Right now it's blowing right out to the coast. Five, there's nothing in the lava's path along the coastline that is valuable enough to justify the expense and jeopardize the lives of those on the boats. And six, it won't do anything to stop more lava from coming out of the ground. 

...Wouldn't  the a good rainstorm stop the lava? 

           Simple answer, no. Raining on this lava is like spitting into the ocean. It won't make a bit of difference. Rain just results in more steam driven clouds of noxious gas. The lava is erupting out of the ground from the massive pressure behind it. Cooling the surface with a bit of rain (or ocean water) won't do anything to combat the incredible underground pressure that's driving the flows. 

Cleaning Ash From Our Solar Panels

Ash is accumulating on the solar panels. This ash from the volcano tends to be sticky once it is moistened. So removing it requires more than just a hose. Aside from the growing things on the farm (both plants and animals), the ash also is causing problems with our solar electric generation. Laying atop the panels, the fine layer of ash is interfering with generating electricity by blocking the sunlght and thus we're not getting our batteries properly charged. Being totally off grid and not wishing to run the generator all the time with the price of gasoline being $3.80 a gallon, getting those solar panels cleaned is a high priority.!!!

Initially we were hosing them off twice a day. This removed some of the ash, but we noticed it gradually building up. Soon it became obvious there was a problem. If I used a rag and I could reach a 3 foot wide area around the border of the solar panel set up, but couldn't reach further. A better solution was needed. Someone suggested a pressure washer. Good idea but we can't run one without buying a bigger water pump. Our water system uses a dc marine pump, too small to supply the necessary water volume for a pressure washer. So I was looking around for a different solution. I rag on a stick might not be a good idea, because if the stick poked through the rag it would damage the solar panels. 

I thought of a car washing brush, the kind that runs water through it. Might do the job nicely and quickly. A good friend of ours lent me theirs. So far, so good. If it works well, I plan to order one. I already tried our two local hardware stores and auto store, but no luck. So I'll need to look further afield.

Setting things up was easy. Attach hose, turn in water. Watering the panels down and rinsing off what ash I could, I then sloshed on a couple buckets of soapy water, just for good measure. Now it's time for the hose/brush. 

Quickly I learned that I needed a step stool. The brush with hose attached was heavy and awkward to use from the ground. I retrieved the stepstool from the kitchen. Too short. Replaced that with a step-ladder. Ok, I'm in business now I thought. 

Using the hose/brush, I quickly learned a few things....

...It's heavy. The brush and pole are light but add water and the weight piles on. 

...It's very awkward to use while balanced atop a ladder. It's a bear when reaching the center of the panel bank.....no leverage, really difficult to steer. 

...Once the panels are wet it's impossible to see where I've brushed them already. The brush seemed to work, but it was very difficult to make sure it's got the entire panel effectively. The brush needs to be at the right angle or it doesn't remove the ash. General swishing about doesn't do work. Once the panels dried, I saw that I missed about 50% of the surface. 50% removal of ash isn't good enough, especially since some parts were fairly clean and other areas still heavily coated. 

...The plastic pole isn't strong enough. This tool might be perfect for washing a car at ground level. But holding it higher above the ground appears to put more pressure on the plastic pole than it can deal with. The water on/off piece broke almost instantly, necessitating a trip to the hardware store to buy a replacement. The weight of the hose filled with water was too heavy. 

So I'm back to looking for an easy yet efficient way to clean the solar panels each day that we have ashfall. I might be looking closer to that rag-on-a-stick idea. Perhaps I just need to modify it a bit. 

Eruption Update

Hubby & I took a couple days off for the holiday, which was a nice excuse for getting a break from the vog and ash. Home again, yup we're back to dealing with the volcano. Things have escalated, as expected. 

Down in Puna, lava is still erupting from the various fissures. More lava has flowed over the ground. One flow has overrun two of the geothermal wells there. There has been much anxiety about what would happen if that occurred, but apparently nothing of out of the ordinary happened. No explosions, no gas eruptions, nothing. Just more land covered by lava. More lava is flowing in other areas, destroying more homes, at least 10 but probably more. At least one fissure has fountained very high into the air, creating Pele's hair, fine golden strands of volcanic glass. The advancing lava is forcing more residents out of their homes. 

Here's some maps that we reference in order to keep an idea of what's going on.....

Meanwhile up at the summit, things are also escalating. More earthquakes, some now in the 4 magnitude category. More frequent ash plumes. In fact, on our way out past the volcano Sunday morning, we witnessed an ash eruption. Very, very impressive. Just a small one, but still amazing. We also noticed that there are a lot more cracks in the roadway up there. 

On our approach to the volcano we passed by ash laden rain clouds hanging over Kapapala Ranch.