Kīlauea Still Erupting

Kīlauea is still erupting! This is a great USGS video that provides a lot of information about this eruption. It also has great maps! And notes the closed viewing area & the open areas.

 

These are photos from the USGS Kilauea summit webcams from various points around the Halemaʻumaʻu caldera. These are screenshots of photos from around 6 pm; views after sunset show the glow of the molten magma in cracks between the cooler surface layers of lava.

This is the thermal image taken from the same viewpoint as the previous photo.

View is from the north rim of the downdropped block and looking west.

Here is another video that explains more about the eruption & its potential effects on the community. They provided information about the sulfur dioxide levels as well as potential vog problems for adjacent communities. The video also shows scientists sampling the lava.

The weather this morning looked promising; there were a few light clouds in the sky. As I left for Lapakahi State Historical Park the clouds looked even thinner than earlier in the morning.

1 hour 17 minutes after sunrise.

While at Lapakahi this morning I let tourists know that Kīlauea had started erupting again & found only about half of them had heard the news. Dane had bought Chocolate Banana Cream Pie for dessert with lunch; but since he did not have his cooler today we ate dessert 1st! Jaime came by after lunch. We talked about new interpretive projects that she is hoping to work on this year. I stayed about an hour longer than I usually do so I went up to close of the entry gate at 3:15; Dane & Jaime closed the main park gate later.

This half of the gate has a sign saying entry is closed at 3:15 pm.

There is a disturbance in the Eastern Pacific basin near longitude 125W, about 2100 miles east-southeast of Hilo. This morning it was forecast to have a 60% chance of becoming a tropical depression within the next 7 days; by the evening that went up to 70% chance in 7 days. It is moving northwesterly. 

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Kathleen!