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2 April 2004

Pu`u `O`o crater and `a`a-pahoehoe

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Left. Aerial view looking east across Pu`u `O`o's crater. Farthest incandescent spatter cone is part of East Pond Vent. Nearest two cones are in West Gap. Note that near crater rim is overtopped and far rim is nearly so. 1114. Right. Similar view as to left, but showing less of crater and more of southwest flank of Pu`u `O`o. The two small fuming cones are at Puka Nui (distant) and 55 cone/pit (nearer). The two West Gap cones are prominent near left side of image. 1115.

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Left. Aerial view looking southwest across eastern part of Pu`u `O`o's crater. Nearest two cones form East Pond Vent. Fuming cone slightly farther away is January Vent. Note large mound of lava flows built against south wall of crater, host to South Wall Complex and Dave's Pit/Vent. 1052. Right. Aerial view of `a`a (brown) and pahoehoe (shiny gray). Though hard to see in image, lava that develops pahoehoe crust comes out of March 4 flow with `a`a crust. Source of this lava is likely from Kuhio flow but could come from adjacent rootless shield. 0824.

6 April 2004

Pu`u `O`o's crater

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Left. Nearly vertical view of East Pond Vent, in Pu`u `O`o's crater. Note the "soft-appearing" blanket of spatter surrounding the larger, incandescent cone. 1558. Right. Aerial view, looking west, of crater of Pu`u `O`o on a murky afternoon. Visible vents: East Pond Vent, lower right; January Vent, center; Drainhole (heavy fume cloud); South Wall Complex, lighter fume left of Drainhole; Beehive, mound in center of image; eastern West Gap spatter cone, mostly hidden in fume at far end of crater. 1559.

9 April 2004

Pu`u `O`o's crater, flank, and upper Mother's Day flows

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Left. Aerial view looking south of eastern part of Pu`u `O`o's crater. East Pond Vent is cluster of two spatter cones emitting blue fume. January Vent, right of East Pond Vent, gives off white fume. In foreground is north rim of crater and upper slope of Pu`u `O`o scored by remobilized, rootless flows of agglutinated tephra. Note how shallow crater floor is below east end of crater. 0849. Right. Tilted aerial view of crater, looking southwest. Visible vents beyond January Vent are Beehive and the cones in West Gap. In foreground is East Spillway, coated by flows that spilled from crater in late 1990s. 0849.

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Left. Tilted aerial view into sun of northwestern flank of Pu`u `O`o. Some tephra that forms cone agglutinated during rapid accumulation of fallout from high fountains in mid-1980s. The hot, sticky material then remobilized and oozed  downslope, breaking into large masses along the way. The resulting rootless flows score the flank of Pu`u `O`o. 0846.  Right. Looking east at West Gap shield surmounted by two steep-sided spatter cones, with Pu`u `O`o's crater behind. Shadowed cliff is same as along right edge of left image. 0846.

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Left. Lava flows from Okita shield, high area in upper left, moved onto blanket of fallout tephra west of Pu`u `O`o. Tephra coats foreground and mantles old spatter rampart and related fissures near bottom of image. Two small fuming areas are along Mother's Day lava tube; large fume cloud blows downwind from Pu`u `O`o. 0848. Right. Thin pahoehoe moved across loose tephra as in left image, in places lifting up small pieces of pumice and scoria and in other places--most notably in right-center of image, bulldozed and even burrowed into tephra. Width of view, 4-5 m. 1053.

16 April 2004

Murky views of flow field

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Left. Aerial view looking toward Pu`u `O`o (background)) showing active flows spreading downslope from rootless shield complex (middle ground). Top of Pulama pali is at bottom of image. Smoke in left center comes from small kipuka--Banana Tree kipuka in local parlance--a local landmark headed for oblivion. 0839. Right. Aerial view looking upslope at narrow flow on upper part of Pulama pali. Helicopter rotor blade in upper left. 0840.

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Left. Aerial view looking at active terminus of flow in above-right image. Terminus is at approximately the 1,800-foot elevation. 0839 Right. Small hornito, actively growing, above lava tube in Kuhio (PKK) lava flow south of Pu`u `O`o. White flight helmet and adjacent pack (at 10 o'clock from top of hornito) give scale. 1015.

26 April 2004

Fume and lava

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Left. Plume of volcanic gas rising above Pu`u `O`o (hidden) and drifting down trade winds across Pulama pali, with incandescent lava flow near top of pali. 1081. Right. Similar view as in left image, but plume rises much higher above Pu`u `O`o. 0541.

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Left. Just before sunrise, curtains of fume dirty air and create gorgeous color. Fume gives splotchy appearance to image above bright color (for you digital camera buffs, this is not noise). Coastline visible in foreground. 0543. Right. Rising sun, hidden by `ohi`a in lower right, lights puffs of fume. View looks east along Holei and Pulama pali. 0556.

27 April 2004

Sampling lava and Banana flow

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Left. Sampling lava with modified hoe from small flow just east of Banana flow. 1052. Right. Front of Banana flow (shiny flow with largest smoke plume) in kipuka along relatively flat part of Pulama pali. Relatively flat area heads toward photographer and is site of flow front on April 28. 1329.

28 April 2004

Lava on the pali

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Left. Front of Banana lava flow at about 1700-foot elevation on Pulama pali. The front is on relatively gentle slope of stair-step pali and is about 50 m wide. Note dead trees in front of flow--same ones as in right image below. 0524. Right. Similar view as in left image but without telephoto, to show context of Banana flow on Pulama pali. Note fume cloud from Pu`u `O`o on left. 0537.

29 April 2004

Lava and burning trees

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Left. Channel of lava flowing across `a`a of Banana flow in small kipuka at about 1250-1300-foot elevation. Flow front is advancing rapidly and emerged from kipuka as photographer watched. 1800.  Right. Channel passes through kipuka, starting trees on fire. 1830.

Map of flows from Pu`u `O`o: 9 April 2004

Map shows lava flows erupted during 1983-present activity of Pu`u `O`o and Kupaianaha (see large map).

Shades of red denote Mother's Day flow, which began erupting on May 12, 2002 and continues to the present. Darkest shade indicates lava flows erupted in November 2003-9 April 2004. Yellow stars indicate centers of recently active rootless shields built along lava tube in Mother's Day flow. As of April 9, no shields were active except for Okita shield, uppermost in the rootless shield complex. As of April 9, most activity was located south of the rootless shield complex and was fed by breakouts from the Mother's Day tube, which now carries lava beneath the shields to the breakout points.

Through September and into early October 2003, lava was moving along the east and west sides of the Mother's Day flow. The east-side lava (known as the August 9 breakout) came from the August 9 rootless shield, itself fed by the main Mother's Day tube from Pu`u `O`o. The west side lava, known as the Kohola arm of the Mother's Day flow, branched off the tube system below the rootless shield.

In early October 2003, the August 9 breakout stopped moving, the Kohola died back to a trickle, and the one labeled rootless shield gained prominence. By October 16, however, the shield had partly collapsed, leaving several drained perched ponds behind. Upstream from the shield, many hornitos and small flows formed over the Mother's Day tube. Soon thereafter, other rootless shields began to form over the Mother's Day, August 9, and Kohola tubes.

New vents opened at the southern base of Pu`u `O`o on January 19 and fed Martin Luther King (MLK) flows, which remained active until March 5. Several small vents formed during this time. On March 20, Prince Kuhio Kalaniana`ole (PKK) flow originated from two vents, main one about 250 m south of base of Pu`u `O`o. That flow was sluggishly active when map was made on April 9.

Vents in West Gap Pit became active in early October, were quiet for 3 weeks, and then resumed intermittent activity that continued well into December. Other vents were also sporadically active in Puka Nui (near West Gap Pit) and in the crater of Pu`u `O`o.

Map of Pu`u `O`o and vicinity: 9 April 2004

Map shows vents, lava flows, and other features near Pu`u `O`o frequently referred to in updates (see large map). These features change often, but this map should help those viewers lost in the terminology. The cones in West Gap are just outside the boundary of the crater--the oval shaped depression containing the seven numbered vents (now down to 6, as Humble Vent has been buried by a mound of lava flows erupted from Dave's Pit/Vent in March. Red color denotes flows--the Mother's Day flows--erupted since May 12, 2002. Light orange color indicates episode-55 flows erupted between March 1997 and August 2002 (exclusive of Mother's Day flows). Darker orange represents MLK flows, and yellow, PKK flow. Vents for these two sets of flows shown by indicated symbols. Gray shows flows of earlier episodes.