September 6, 2018 | Pele Stays Sleeping (VIDEO)

September 6, 2018 Pele Stays Sleeping from Mick Kalber on Vimeo.

Clouds obscuring our view over most of the LERZ eruption of Kilauea Volcano… but we did get a good look within Fissure 8 this morning. Bruce Omori said he saw a tiny glow inside a hornito (spatter cone) within the vent… but pilot Sean Regehr and I saw nothing. Vents were steaming steadily, but we observed no active lava along the line of fissures. Pele’s lava is not entering the ocean… and we caught only enough of Pohoiki Bay to confirm that it’s still there. Pohoiki’s sand bar persists, and the beach there wraps around from dead trees to the south end of the bay. Several black sand beaches have popped up on both sides of the initial ocean entry at Mackenzie… the road covered by the flow near the park will need to be repaired to give access to Isaac Hale Beach Park.
It is now nearly a month since the eruption went into a pause… or lull, as scientists call it. She is showing no signs of reactivation… almost no seismic… and may not resume eruptive activity. The lack of seismicity both at the summit and the lower east rift zone seem to support that projection, but time will tell.
Since we were thwarted in our attempt to access the flow field, we took the opportunity to check out the Pu’u ‘O’o vent… she was steaming like crazy… but still void of lava. And we caught a few shots of Halemaumau crater… clear as a bell, and a shocking sight compared to earlier this year!
Leilani, USGS Ducky, Special Guest Kara Regehr, Bruce Omori and I were back up with Paradise Helicopters’ pilot Sean Regehr. Paradise Helicopters and Sean… you guys no ka oi!