HILO — Lava from Kilauea Volcano continues to enter the ocean at Kamokuna in lower Puna, but a newer branch of the 61g lava flow is active near the Puu Oo vent’s East Rift Zone and is advancing slowly to the east, according to the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.
Volcanologists say the small breakout near the vent started Nov. 21 and is advancing at a rate of about 10 yards a day. The active lava flow is mostly covering cooled flows from earlier episodes of the 61g flow.
“The path of steepest descent that it’s on would take it to the ocean,” HVO volcanologist Janet Babb said Friday. “In the past 15 days, it has traveled about 640 meters, about 700 yards — which calculates to an average advance rate of about 40 meters or 44 yards per day.”
Babb said the leading edge of the flow is about 10.6 kilometers or 6.6 miles from the ocean, as measured along the most likely path of steepest descent.
“Given the flow’s present rate of advance, it is 265 days from reaching the ocean,” she said. “In that time, the flow could continue as is, slowly advancing, or its advance rate could increase or decrease — or the flow could stop altogether before ever reaching the ocean.”
No populated areas or infrastructure are being threatened by the flow. Babb said it is “much too far away from any infrastructure and moving much too slowly to be able to forecast what impacts it might have in the coming months.”
The ocean entry at Kamokuna is being fed by lava tubes.
“It’s not just a single tube; it’s really a lava tube system that’s carrying lava to the ocean entry,” Babb said. “Once in awhile, there are surface breakouts along that path, but at the moment, I think, the lava is being efficiently carried through the tubes to the ocean entry.”
Meanwhile, the lava lake at Kilauea’s summit continues to circulate, with periods of spattering occurring sporadically and seismic activity continuing at a low rate.
The summit continued to inflate late in the week, and the level of the summit lava lake was approximately 25 meters (82 feet) below the vent rim when measured Thursday evening.
Asked why Kilauea’s current flow is called “61g,” Babb said that’s the subject of HVO’s upcoming Volcano Watch column, which will appear in Sunday’s West Hawaii Today in the Home section.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.