January 7, 2016 Big Middle Flow
Another beautiful sunny winter day allowed us to access over the entire flow field this morning. Special guest, Tommy Walker, Bruce Omori, Leilani and I enjoyed a huge breakout in the middle of the flow field, some three miles northeast of the vent… an area where we have not seen much a captivity as of late. As always the expert flying of Paradise Helicopters’ pilot, Ryan Moeller guided us safely above Pele’s fiery flows! This outbreak was very large, but still several miles from the crack that carried lava downslope to Pahoa a year ago.Several more pahoehoe surface flows were spotted between that outbreak and Pu`u `O`o. The north forest continues to burn over an even broader area some three miles from the Pu’u ‘O’o vent. We caught only a quick glimpse of the lava lake on the western end of Pu’u ‘O’o, as it was again obscured by the vent’s heavy plume. Most of the skylights… windows, or breaks in the lava tube on the north flank of the vent have sealed up, no longer revealing the rushing river of lava below… but the top one, consisting of three skylights remains, glowing ominously like a huge red mouth. This skylight is becoming more picturesque by the day. All activity remains three miles or more away from the closest infrastructure, and is not threatening any communities at this time. Pu’u ‘O’o’s plume was blowing straight up and then lightly toward the south today. Skies in east Hawaii were clear, but somewhat voggy today.