Sixteenth Fissure Eruption
The sixteenth fissure of the current eruption opened up shortly before our lava overflight this morning. It is along the same line as the first fifteen fissures, but has skipped over the Lani Puna Gardens subdivision, just below the Puna Geothermal Ventures plant. The low fountaining fissures were about 20-40 feet high in a 150 foot fissure… the size of her flows doubled in the forty minutes we flew above. The breakout is about 3/4ths of a mile from the Pohoiki Road, and a mile from Highway 132. There is still no active surface lava activity in the Leilani Estates subdivision on the Big Island of Hawaii. Flows crossed the Pohoiki Road a couple days ago, skirting the Puna Ventures Geothermal property. That flow has apparently stalled. Several other fissures have opened up on and above Highway 130, southeast of Leilani, but have not produced surface lava. Todays overflight again revealed a long line of steaming fissures that ripped Leilani this past week. Hopefully we can further assess the damage from the air again tomorrow morning.
Mahalo to Paradise Helicopters and Bruce Omori at Extreme Exposure