Volcano acting up

[oink]

http://www.hawaiiinformation.com/REsearch/IDX/mlsHawaii/IndividualListing.asp?page=1&MLS=199434

What a deal!

Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.

[robguz]

the map is updated again and most of the flow is still on 83-96 flow, although you can see Black Sand Beach in the map and it's not that far. Hopefully it won't continue downhill in that direction and will go towards the ocean. It's flowed quite a distance in the past 2 weeks.

[Jeffhale]

Now I would not panic, for several reasons: I am not an expert, nor scientist, or anything with any sense of validity, to be making judgments or opinion.

I have made a picture from the Island topographical map, which is so large, just down-loading this map can or will crash many computers. But I've cropped a section of this map and turned it into a jpg. (photographic image type).

I've painted the current area red/orange and drew a line of where it looks like it MIGHT go, in yellow, based on the topographical lines in the Hawaii map..

Also keep in mind, this maps detail in smaller terrain is not very good too. The yellow line I've drawn, is just where it looks like TO ME where the easiest down hill flow MIGHT go.. Also At the Volcano site, (http://volcano.wr.usgs.gov/hvostatus.php ) they have posted several photographs, which indicate that it would have to go up-hill to flow to the south, Kalapana and Blacksand beaches subdivisions.. Lava does many strange things so you really never know, but generally like water it is going to go down hill.

If i am right, whatever, wrong, I hope it turns around and flows south, for one main reason, If the highway, 130, gets cut off there's going to be a lot of people in trouble, with no route to food, water, gas, etc..

But please, THIS IS NOT A prediction, only a guess-DA-mation, nobody knows where it will go, yet. Or nobodies, (the experts who have better topographical maps) do not seem to be willing to discuss possible directions. I guess.

Lets say for entertainment purposes, here's a sketch, of one of the thousands of possibilities, providing it continues in a north-easterly direction..

Link to drawing:
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y176/je...a-flow.jpg







Edited by - Jeffhale on 08/08/2007 09:31:01

[Kapohocat]

Hwy 130 you mean? Or am I looking at it incorrectly?

Ah the fun of living on a active volcano! Not for the faint of heart!

Edited by - kapohocat on 08/08/2007 09:26:16

[Jeffhale]

Yeah Cat, just goes to show, "do not panic" like I said, I aint Purr-fect, ha 'opps' 130.



Edited by - Jeffhale on 08/08/2007 09:40:28

[Kelena]

Good work, Jeff, even if it is just guesstimation. That's what I was trying to figure out. Where could this go. Maku'u Drive? Way to scare a guy in escrow. That's okay. I knew there was volcano here! And coquis! And caterpillars! And blue tarps! And tsunamis! Love it anyway.

[bystander]

The thing about lava is that it can travel underground. As long as the supply is constant, the lava will be sustained by it's own heat and can travel long distances underground. Don't be fooled into thinking surface topography dictates which way the lava will go. The 1841 flow reached the ocean right next Hawaiian Beaches and origninated from such an underground flow.

[glennoid]

Jeff,
Thanks for providing this map and drawing. Hopefully (for a lot of folks anyway), it does turn to the south or quit altogether. Maybe we can all go to the south side of the island for a few days to "tip the bus", so to speak, to change the flow...

But I have been following this particular flow as well, like many people. And I think that due to the contours as well as the prevailing directions of the 83-86 flows (http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/kilauea/update/maps.html), that if it keeps up, it will in fact turn to the right, and head down to the Kalapana area. It may be a toss-up to see which side of the east rift zone it ends up on. Right now, if you look at the most recent map (as of Aug 7th - yesterday), you can already see it turning to more of an easterly direction, and if you follow the primary lobes from 83-86 in that area, they do start to turn south at that point.

Just remember, duck and cover!

Hold tight for that gin, Pele!

[JerryCarr]

Just to further complicate matters, lava DOES flow uphill under the right circumstances. Depending on its viscosity, momentum, and the weight of the lava upstream, all kinds of counterintuitive things can happen. The Italians built some elaborate diversion structures on Mt. Aetna which relied somewhat on the premise that it wouldn't go uphill. About half of them worked.

Cheers,
Jerry

[Tahunatics]

I too made a composite map using 4 pages of a Hawaii Atlas and the latest August 7th USGS map to get a better idea of where it is. It's much closer to our place in Hawaiian Acres then I thought.

http://www.visitingmaui.com/punalavamap8.8.07.jpg