Wow, I think it’s throwing lava completely outside the crater right now, most easily seen on the v1 cam.
All 3 cams are showing spectacular views right now, even the normally voggy v2 cam.
I was hoping something was going to happen. There was a lot of spitting yesterday morning.
The V3 cam view is the best in my opinion.
FYI if you like, the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory sends out periodic emails detailing the situation. They’ve got all the links, etc…
Here’s the sign-up link:
https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/vns2/
Also, here’s the consolidated USGS YouTube site with all three live cams:
It’s “bloopy” again at around 8:40am HST and I guess has been for several hours.
I think the technical term for “bloopy” is “precursory activity.” V3 is showing it most clearly at the moment.
Right now, ~25 minutes after Carol’s post just above and at (1500 ET, 0900 HT) V3 shows a continuous flow of lava out of one vent and down onto the crater floor. The vent is bubbling up like a bubble-style drinking fountain. Not tall, not dramatic, but boiling vigorously and continuously.
Go Pele!
ETA: In the few minutes it took me to write and edit this post the activity has waxed and waned a couple times. Just now as I’m ETAing, the activity is down to splashing, but with no flow out of vent. Very different than even 5 minutes ago. Volcanoes are worse teases than teenagers.
ETA - 2: And now a minute later there’s nothing. Just a thin wisp of steam / smoke & zero visible lava.
I wouldn’t really know what “precursory activity” would look like, but I know exactly what “bloopy” looks like.
Yep, that seems to be the pattern of the last few episodes. It can go from “promising” to “nothing but smoke” and back again very quickly.
It’s bloopy and lively again! The bubbling reminded me of the witches speech in Macbeth:
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and caldron bubble.
And now, 8 hours later (~0700 ET, 0100 HT) there is bright light & strong steam flow, but no visible lave in the vent pool, but there is a tongue of fresh lava with still-glowing spots leading away onto the crater floor. So it has been recently active.
Rewinding, it seems to have been intermittently busy until about 3 hours ago then subsided & stayed that way.
The lava level looks even with the top of the vent and there is intermittent sputtering and spitting.
It looks like the Hellmouth.
It’s erupting. Looks like it got going 30 - 40 minutes ago, and now the height of the fountaining is pretty significant.
Yaay! In the V3 view there’s a steam / smoke plume rising off in the middle distance to the right of the fountain. Maybe 5 or 10 miles away?
Wow, I wonder what that is?
Don’t ask me! I was hoping you had enough local area knowledge of the crater and which way the cameras point to say something like “Oh, yeah, that’s the other vent system over at Kahunamaia.” [made up name].
ETA: Wow. the fountaining is now (1930 ET 1330 HT) double or more as high as it was in my post 40 minutes ago at ~1850 ET, 1250 HT. Truly hugest I’ve ever seen. I bet it makes one hell of a noise.
Damn - that’s fricking huge. Kilauea has been putting on quite a show this year.
That mystery plume subsided fairly quickly. There is not too much beyond barren landscape off in that direction, but there is one small community (consisting of maybe ~100-200 houses, post office, small grocery, a “hospital” which is more of a health clinic, and a Buddhist retreat).
So, my best guess is a fire in that town, which was put out fairly quickly.
Still looking great as I type, but already subsided from its highest fountaining.
An hour or two ago I got a Civil Defense message warning me about congested traffic on Hwy 11 - that’s all the people who hopped in their cars and drove over to see the spectacle. A lot of them probably won’t make it in on time, given that the big show is usually just a few hours in length recently.
I’m so glad that 2 out of 3 of our recent “volcano runs” yielded satisfactory results. Assuming this keeps up (and it’s gotta stop sometime!), we’ll only do it if we can leave immediately as soon as it transitions from “bloopy” to “truly fountaining.” Not worth it if we get stuck in traffic/miss the show.
Now (0600 ET 0000 HT) there’s gentle steaming / smoking, no lava flow, but much of the crater floor is glowing festively, and much more bright yellow than dull red. With no sense of scale you might imagine it’s an oblique aerial photo of a large well-lit city.
Another of the sad outcomes of social media. There’s no secret insider knowledge anymore. As soon as anyone knows anything, everyone knows about it. And reacts accordingly.
For us around here the corresponding thing is hurricane evacuation. As soon as the public wakes up and tries to evacuate, everything clots instantly. The only way to win is to leave a bunch early. Where “bunch” = 48 hours. Delaying is simply playing “chicken” with the skittish horde.
Only-- ONLY on the SDMB–could a possible volcanic eruption be regarded as lucky.
Here is some video of it:
