Posted on: Friday, August 23, 2002
Thousands go with the flow
Associated Press
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| The moon gets some competition for loveliest sight on the Big Island, as lava from Kilauea Volcano pours into the ocean. Visitors continue to flood the area in numbers never seen since the volcano began its Pu'u 'O'o eruption 19 years ago. This breakout of lava began May 12, and first reached the Puna coast July 19.
Associated Press |
VOLCANO, Hawai'i — Lava from Kilauea Volcano cascaded into the ocean at three points yesterday as thousands of visitors trekked to witness the latest display.
Kilauea has drawn hundreds of thousands of lava watchers to Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park in the 19-year Pu'u 'O'o eruption, but never in the numbers seen since lava began several weeks ago flowing across an accessible area near the ocean, park officials said.
On Wednesday, the park recorded 2,800 visitors, said Mardie Lane, spokeswoman for the park. Up to 4,200 people a day have made the 20-mile drive down Chain of Craters Road to see the oozing lava, she said.
"I remember hundreds and hundreds of people, even 1,500 people," said Lane. "I just don't remember the numbers soaring up to 3,000 and 4,000."
The current breakout of lava began on Mother's Day, May 12, and first reached the sea on July 19.
Yesterday morning, the lava finished covering the last remaining isolated segment of Chain of Craters Road at an area known as Highcastle — a popular viewing spot in the early 1990s.
"All that remains of the road there are memories," said yesterday's posting on the U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory Web site. Part of a stone wall along the seaward edge of the road remains, as does the west end of the wall at a visitor overlook below the road, it said.
Kilauea has added 535 acres of land to the Big Island since it began erupting on Jan. 3, 1983 — 10 of those acres since May, said Lane.
Don Swanson, scientist in charge at the observatory, said while the flow doesn't seem to be letting up, it is "maturing" so there isn't as much lava to see as it cools at the surface.
The lava is flowing from the top of the mountain near the Pu'u 'O'o vent primarily through underground lava tubes, Swanson said.
"That's why the visitors see breakouts near the coastline that don't appear farther inland, because the lava is coming out of the tubes close to the shoreline," he said.
Swanson, at Kilauea for six years, said the newest activity is the most visible to the public he's seen.
Although visitors are allowed an up-close view, park officials continue to warn people of the lava's dangers. They say new lava surfaces are sharp, and breathing the lava haze, or "laze," can aggravate heart and lung conditions.
• On the Web:
USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory: Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park:
http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/
http://www.nps.gov/havo/
