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18 November 2001

Kamoamoa on Sunday morning after the Leonids

Small skylight, about 1 m wide, along tube that carries lava into the core of the Kamoamoa bench. Lava falling over old sea cliff is just out of view to left. Reflection of this lava from the wall of the tube, and incandescence of the rock in the wall, are visible in the predawn shot.

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Looking head on into the skylight. The lava in the tube is falling vertically down the old sea cliff. Only in the large view, and then barely, can vertical streaks be seen that show the trajectory of the lava.

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The sun, fresh from its rise a few minutes earlier, brings day to Kamoamoa. Steam rises from the only area along the front of the bench where lava is pouring into the water. The lava there is fed through the tube shown above.

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At about 0630 the sun backlights the puffing steam plume from the entry site at Kamoamoa.

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Still more comparisons showing bench growth

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Left: November 3. Right: November 18. Looking west from same location in both images. Only small changes can be seen, mostly right next to the feeding tube, which forms the apex of the lava fan. The skylight shown above is near the top of the apex.

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Left: November 3. Right: November 18. Looking east along bench toward unstable point in background. Very small changes are visible, because bench growth has been mainly along its front and by slight inflation, not by breakouts. Note the skylight in the tube on November 3 (large view best) is the same one shown above.

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Left: November 3. Right: November 18. Looking east from above west end of bench. Both images taken from nearly the same place. The front of the bench has changed markedly, and the beach in the foreground is larger than previously. Note wave-tossed sand inland from the beach. Also note that no lava is entering the water in the middleground on November 18, whereas it is visible on November 3.

29 November 2001

New and old skylights above Pulama pali

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Left, newly named skylight at 2290 feet elevation along master lava tube before it splits into the East Kupapa`u tube system and the Kamoamoa tube. The skylight has lots of treacherous ground around it, and it is difficult, though possible, to sample lava through it. Right, smooth-surfaced active breakout from new branch of the Kamoamoa tube above Pulama pali. Pu`u `O`o in background. Lava in tube can be seen in tiny skylight just beyond breakout.

Aerial view showing that the 1800-foot skylight is now roofed over, though lava continues to flow unseen beneath the roof. This is the fate of many skylights and is one of the reasons that sampling can rarely be done from the same skylight for more than a couple of months.

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Map shows lava flows erupted during the 1983-present activity of Pu`u `O`o and Kupaianaha (see large map). The flows active from December 17, 2000 through November 13, 2001 are shown in red; the active Kamoamoa flow is the westernmost red flow descending  Pulama pali and entering the ocean at Kamoamoa. Lava is also pouring into the sea at the long-lasting East Kupapa`u entry and at a relatively new entry, Kupapa`u, 600 m farther southwest.

Most of the recent flows are fed from breakout points at 1920-1700 feet, above Pulama pali in the northern part of the large red area. Lava re-entered the sea near Kamokuna (just east of Kamoamoa) on January 21, 2001, but soon stopped when activity shifted from the western to the eastern branch of the flow. Since then, activity has been divided between the eastern and western branches. Breakouts from the eastern tube system have destroyed hundreds of meters of the Royal Gardens access road.

Lava has been entering the ocean and building a large bench at East Kupapa`u since April 25. A tiny trickle of lava fed through the western tube system dripped into the water just east of Kamoamoa on May 31 but stopped within a day. Thereafter, all lava leaving the island went through the East Kupapa`u entry until September 28-29, when the entry at Kamoamoa started. Yet a third ocean entry began on October 29, near the old Kupapa`u point, 600 m southwest of East Kupapa`u.