From the Honolulu Advertiser (11-6-2009). Images Courtesy Hawaii Volcano Ovservatory (USGS).
Kilauea Surface Flow - Ocean Entry
VOLCANO, Big Island >> Erupting Kilauea volcano is sending dozens of small lava flows to the ocean.
Jim Kauahikaua is the scientist-in-charge at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory on the Big Island.
He said a flow destroyed a cabin this week. It was the last remaining structure in a flow field.
Kauahikaua added that the flows have come close to the trailhead leading to a lava viewing area, and have entered the ocean about 2,300 feet west of the still-active ocean entry at Waikupanaha.
He said flows are also creating a new lava tube system next to and over the main tube that has supplied lava to the ocean since March 2008.
Ocean Entry Viewed from the Air
Lava continues to flow into the ocean at the well-established Waikupanaha ocean entry. About 700 yards to the west (up the coastline in this photograph), the new ocean entry puts off a small plume that is barely visible from this vantage point. Surface flows (light grey flows) in between the two ocean entries were only 100 yards shy of reaching the ocean, but did not appear active from the air.
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