Satellite image of area around front of Kīlauea’s East Rift Zone lava flow

January 6, 2015

Satellite image of area around front of Kīlauea's East Rift Zone la... — This large-scale map uses a satellite image acquired in March 2014 (provided by Digital Globe) as a base to show the area around the front of Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow. The area of the flow on December 30 at 2:30 PM is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as mapped on January 6 at 11:30 AM is shown in red.The most active parts of the flow were in an area 400 to 900 m (440 to 980 yards) behind the stalled tip of the flow above Pahoa Marketplace, and at the front of a flow lobe that branches off to the north about 3 km (2 miles) behind the stalled flow tip. Other active breakouts on the distal part of the flow were scattered between these two areas.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.

Title	Satellite image of area around front of Kīlauea’s East Rift Zone lava flow
Record Source	USGS Publications Warehouse