Small-scale map of June 27th flow in Kīlauea's ERZ

This small-scale map shows the June 27th lava flow in Kīlauea's East Rift Zone in relation to lower Puna. The area of the flow on November 14, 2014, at 1:40 PM is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as mapped on November 17 at 2:00 PM is shown in red.

Only one hot spot, identified by infrared camera and suggestive of at least a very recent breakout, was sighted along the front part of the flow from the East Rift Zone cracks west of Kaohe Homesteads to the stalled flow tip near Pāhoa Village Road. The lava tube feeding this part of the flow field may have been abandoned following the onset of a large breakout from the tube near Pu‘u Kahauale‘a, just downslope from Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō.

This afternoon, however, there were lots of breakouts between Pu‘u Kahauale‘a and the East Rift Zone crack system, the larger of which are noted on the map. A downslope progression of breakouts along the lava tube since yesterday afternoon, visible via webcam and aerial observation, suggests a gradual refilling of the tube in this area. We can only wait to see how much of the tube system within and below the crack system is reoccupied with lava.

The blue lines show steepest-descent paths calculated from a 1983 digital elevation model (DEM; for calculation details, see http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2007/1264/). Steepest-descent path analysis is based on the assumption that the DEM perfectly represents the earth's surface. DEMs, however, are not perfect, so the blue lines on this map can be used to infer only approximate flow paths. All older Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō lava flows (1983-2014) are shown in gray; the yellow line marks the recently active lava tube.