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Left. East Pond Vent (left) and January Vent (right), two complex spatter cones on eastern floor of Pu`u `O`o's crater, just before dawn. View is from north rim of crater. 0634. Right. Spatter cones atop West Gap shield, viewed from north rim of Pu`u `O`o's crater. Western cone, source of main outflow starting on Lincoln's Birthday, is partly hidden by taller eastern cone. Each is incandescent. 0641.

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Left. Similar view to above right but after dawn, more clearly showing the two cones. 0722. Right. Wide-angle view showing shieldlike edifice in southwestern part of crater, formed by outflow from South Wall Complex and possibly Dave's Pit Vent in past 10 days or so. This edifice poured lava over crater rim into Puka Nui and West Gap (see images for February 13). Remnant of crater rim behind shield in center of view. Cones in West Gap are at right. 0728.

20 February 2004

Breakout and spatter cone

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Left. Breakout (shiny) from Okita shield, uppermost rootless shield along Mother's Day flow. In background is Pu`u `O`o and West Gap shield, on western flank of Pu`u `O`o. Cones atop West Gap shield are barely visible in large image. In foreground is ground coated with tephra--in this case pumice and scoria--from high fountaining episodes between 1983 and 1986. Note cracks, some steaming, cutting the tephra. 0838. Right. Pieces of tephra picked up by moving lava and stuck on upper crust. As lava wells out from front of flow, it picks up small pieces of tephra. As flow inflates, the pieces are lifted up onto top of flow. The pieces have only moved up, not backward. 1202.

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Left. Active spattering from nearer (eastern) of two cones at East Pond Vent, viewed from air. 1139. Right. View of East Pond Vent from eastern rim of Pu`u `O`o. Not long ago, one looked down onto top of cones. As crater filled, cones grew upward until now they tower above eastern crater rim. 1023.

22 February 2004

View of activity south of Pu`u `O`o

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Left. Bright glow above lava flow south of Pu`u `O`o. This flow is probably fed from vent at south or southeast base of Pu`u `O`o. North flank of Kane Nui o Hamo, a lava shield probably 600-1000 yr old, obscures flow to right. Pu`u `O`o is to left, with several incandescent vents in its crater. Lone incandescent vent in lower center of image is in Puka Nui. Image taken from Pu`u Huluhulu. 0614.  Right. Nearly same view as to left but 6 minutes later, with more light from dawning sky. Pu`u `O`o cone more clearly shown, as is relation of Puka Nui vent to Pu`u `O`o. 0620.

27 February 2004

Murky day near Pu`u `O`o

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Left. Lava shield under construction at south base of Pu`u `O`o. The shield started to form during a substantial deflation of Pu`u `O`o on February 21. It had three vents, all near the MLK vent (near center of image, partly buried by growing shield. Two of the shield's vents are now submerged. To left is scallop of Puka Nui. Cracks on Pu`u `O`o opened or widened during MLK event on January 18. 1010. Right. Closer view of lava shield, showing active flows spilling down gentle flanks. 1004.

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Left. Lava flow gradually spreading across brown tephra deposit produced by high fountains from Pu`u `O`o in mid-1980s. Flow is fed by Okita shield, in upper center of view, the uppermost shield along the Mother's Day lava tube. 0956. Right. Loud hissing sounds and spitting spatter come from these spires at Cookie Monster hornito, currently the uppermost manifestation of the Mother's Day lava tube. 1033.

Map of flows from Pu`u `O`o: 22 January 2004

Map shows lava flows erupted during 1983-present activity of Pu`u `O`o and Kupaianaha (see large map). Yellow lava flows began erupting from new vent (green star) at base of Pu`u `O`o on January 18, 2004; it is named the MLK flow.

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-January 2004. Yellow stars indicate centers of recently active, or still active, rootless shields in Mother's Day flow. New shields often form, so it is hard to show all shields on this map.

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. These shields have been active throughout November and December.

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: 26 January 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. Red color denotes flows--the Mother's Day flows--erupted since May 12, 2002. Orange color indicates episode-55 flows erupted between March 1997 and August 2002 (exclusive of Mother's Day flows). Gray shows flows of earlier episodes.