(ABOVE VIDEO) Tuesday morning’s Hawaii County Civil Defense message with images courtesy USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory

NEWS BRIEFS

• The lava flow front has advanced approximately 45 yards since yesterday, civil defense reports. The lava is 0.6 miles from the Apa’a Street area near the Pahoa Transfer Station.
• There is no brush fire threat at this time. Smoke conditions were moderate to heavy this morning in the Kaohe Homesteads area with light winds.

PRIMARY SOURCES

This morning’s assessment shows that the flow front continues to be active and has advanced approximately 45 yards since yesterday. The flow continues to move in a northeast direction and is presently approximately 0.6 miles from the Apa’a Street area near the Pahoa Transfer Station. All burning activity is limited to vegetation that is in direct contact with the flow and there is no brush fire threat at this time. Smoke conditions were moderate to heavy this morning in the Kaohe Homesteads area with light winds.

Current flow activity continues to move in a northeast direction and does not pose an immediate threat to area communities and no evacuation is needed at this time. Area residents will be given adequate notice to safely evacuate should that be necessary.

The public is reminded that the flow is not visible and cannot be accessed from any public areas. Access to the Kaohe Homesteads subdivision will remain restricted to area residents only. Hawaii County Civil Defense on Oct. 14

Hawaii County Civil Defense map plotting the flow front advance, posted on Tuesday morning

Activity along the June 27th lava flow continues, with lava moving through the tube from Puʻu ʻŌʻō to the flow front. HVO’s Monday over flight showed that the flow front has advanced downslope about 220 m (240 yd) since October 10, with an average advance rate of approximately 75 meters/day (80 yd) since October 6. The flow front is 1.4 km (0.9 mi) upslope from Apa`a St. along the steepest descent path and 1.1 km (0.7 mi) upslope from Apa`a St. along a straight line. Active breakouts were scattered along the leading 2.1 km (1.3 mi) of the flow, midway along the length of the flow where lava first entered the crack system, and along the flow between these two main areas of activity. This morning’s Civil Defense over flight observed that the flow has advanced only 40 m (45 yards) toward the northeast since yesterday. Vegetation in direct contact with the flow is burning. The next HVO over flight is scheduled for Wednesday.

Puʻu ʻŌʻō Observations: A brief period of inflationary tilt was recorded at Puʻu ʻŌʻō yesterday afternoon, within the normal range of observed tilt changes at this location. Glow was visible overnight above several out gassing openings in the crater floor, but there were no significant changes in activity within the crater over the past day. The most recent sulfur-dioxide emission-rate measurement for the East Rift Zone was 450 tonnes per day (from all sources) on October 9, 2014. Seismic tremor has been low and constant.

Summit Observations: No significant change in ground tilt has been observed at the summit since yesterday evening, and the pond level within the Overlook vent is fairly stable. There was no major change in seismicity on Kīlauea over the past day.USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory on Oct. 14

USGS HVO photo from October 13 shows “active breakouts are also scattered around the area that lava first entered ground cracks. The smoke plumes mark spots where individual breakouts are burning vegetation.”