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Glow extends along line from point of eastern Banana lava delta (right) for several tens of meters. It comes from a narrow lava flow on the seafloor, fed by an ocean entry hidden by glow at point. Seafloor flow is visible only as water level drops between waves.
Same scene as at left, but now a small explosion is taking place from seafloor flow. Water trapped by a toe of the flow heats to steam and blasts through its molten trap.
Same scene as above, but light now shows ragged top of seafloor flow. Note that all four images today were taken from same location at same magnification.
Map shows lava flows erupted during 1983-present activity of Pu`u `O`o and Kupaianaha.Shades of red denote Mother's Day flow, which began erupting on May 12, 2002 and continues to the present. Darkest shade indicates lava flows erupted in November 2003-21 May 2004, including the labeled Banana flow, which developed gradually starting in the middle of April. Yellow stars indicate centers of formerly active, but now dead, rootless shields built along lava tube in Mother's Day flow. Yellow shade indicates Kuhio (Prince Kuhio Kalaniana`ole) flow, active most of the time from March 20 to May 21. As of May 21, most activity was located south of the rootless shield complex in the Banana flow, fed by the Banana branch of the Mother's Day tube. The Kuhio flow remains active, too.Through September and into early October 2003, lava was moving along the east and west sides of the Mother's Day flow. The east-side lava (known as the August 9 breakout) came from the August 9 rootless shield, itself fed by the main Mother's Day tube from Pu`u `O`o. The west side lava, known as the Kohola arm of the Mother's Day flow, branched off the tube system below the rootless shield.In early October 2003, the August 9 breakout stopped moving, the Kohola died back to a trickle, and the one labeled rootless shield gained prominence. By October 16, however, the shield had partly collapsed, leaving several drained perched ponds behind. Upstream from the shield, many hornitos and small flows formed over the Mother's Day tube. Soon thereafter, other rootless shields began to form over the Mother's Day, August 9, and Kohola tubes.New vents opened at the southern base of Pu`u `O`o on January 19 and fed Martin Luther King (MLK) flows, which remained active until March 5. Several small vents formed during this time. On March 20, Prince Kuhio Kalaniana`ole (PKK) flow originated from two vents, main one about 250 m south of base of Pu`u `O`o. This flow has remained active most of the time to the May 21 date of this map.The Banana flow developed from breakouts from the Mother's Day lava tube, centered near the former Banana Tree kipuka. The breakouts become prominent in the middle of April, and lava started down Pulama pali shortly thereafter. This is the time that we assigned the name Banana to the flow.Vents in West Gap Pit became active in early October, were quiet for 3 weeks, and then resumed intermittent activity that continued well into December. Other vents were also sporadically active in Puka Nui (near West Gap Pit) and in the crater of Pu`u `O`o.
Map shows vents, lava flows, and other features near Pu`u `O`o frequently referred to in updates. These features change often, but this map should help those viewers lost in the terminology. The cones in West Gap are just outside the boundary of the crater--the oval shaped depression containing the seven numbered vents (now down to 6, as Humble Vent has been buried by a mound of lava flows erupted from Dave's Pit/Vent in March. Red color denotes flows--the Mother's Day flows--erupted since May 12, 2002. Light orange color indicates episode-55 flows erupted between March 1997 and August 2002 (exclusive of Mother's Day flows). Darker orange represents MLK flows, and yellow, PKK flow. Vents for these two sets of flows shown by indicated symbols. Gray shows flows of earlier episodes.
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