March 10, 2016 Forest Flows
A beautiful chilly sunny winter day allowed us to access the entire flow field this morning. Special guest, Bonnie Clubb Nim, Bruce Omori, Leilani, Lava Ducky and I enjoyed the expert flying of Paradise Helicopters’ pilot, Ryan Moeller, who guided us safely above Pele’s fiery flows! Most of the activity this morning was confined to the north forest, which continues to burn over an even broader area up to about 4 1/2 miles from the Pu’u ‘O’o vent. We also caught a quick glimpse of the lava lake on the western end of Pu’u ‘O’o, even though it was 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 were also hidden by smoke and steam, but the lowest one revealed the rushing river of lava below. Forest activity is now within a couple miles of the closest infrastructure, but is only marginally moving in that direction, and mostly downh8ill to the northeast. Pele is not threatening any communities at this time. Pu’u ‘O’o’s plume was blowing strongly toward the south today. Skies in east Hawaii were only somewhat voggy today.

Mahalo to Paradise Helicopters and Bruce Omori at Extreme Exposure