(ABOVE PHOTO) This satellite image courtesy the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory was captured by the Advanced Land Imager instrument onboard NASA’s Earth Observing 1 satellite. “Although this is a false-color image,” wrote USGS, “the color map has been chosen to mimic what the human eye would expect to see. Bright red pixels depict areas of very high temperatures and show active lava. White areas are clouds.”

NEWS BRIEFS

• Upslope breakouts remain active on the June 27 lava flow. The breakouts are located 3.6 miles from the Apa’a Street area.
• The effort to reopen Pahoa Village Road will begin tomorrow (Monday, November 24th) as utility crews begin to remove the protection placed around the utility poles. Work is expected to take a few days to complete.

PRIMARY SOURCES

This morning’s assessment shows that the upslope breakouts remain active. The breakouts are located approximately 3.6 miles upslope of the Apa’a Street area and consist of surface breakouts and breakouts along the edges or margins of the flow pad. Presently, all breakout activity does not pose an immediate threat to area communities and the flow activity will continue to be monitored.

Residents in the down slope areas will be kept informed of any changes and the flow status and advancement.

The Pahoa Village Road between Apa’a Street and the Post Office Road will remain closed and limited to area residents only. Access to the businesses and commercial areas of the Pahoa town can be made through the Pahoa Village Road at the intersection of Highways 130 and 132 and the Post Office Road. We apologize for any inconvenience the road closure may be presenting with and remind everyone that the Pahoa town center and businesses are open and accessible. The reopening of the Pahoa Village Road will be initiated starting tomorrow Monday November 24th and may take a few days to complete. Utility crews will begin to remove the protection placed around the utility poles and this work will require the road to remain closed while equipment is operating in the area.

Civil Defense and public safety personnel will continue to maintain close observations of flow activity.

Additional updates will be posted as conditions change.

We would like to thank everyone for your patience and understanding and your cooperation and assistance is greatly appreciated.Hawaii County Civil Defense on Nov. 23 at 8 a.m. HST

A cloud-free satellite image collected at 10 am today (Saturday, Nov 22) showed that active breakouts are focused in two areas on the June 27th lava flow. In the upper part of the flow field, a breakout was active about 4 km (2.5 miles) northeast of Puʻu ʻŌʻō. The second area of breakouts was active around the ground crack system. The front of these breakouts has advanced roughly 370 meters (0.2 miles) north over the past day, following the western margin of the existing June 27th flow. The front of these breakouts was roughly 5.8 km (3.6 miles) upslope from Apaʻa St., as measured along a straight line.

An overflight is scheduled for Monday.USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory on Nov. 23 at 8:11 p.m. HST