While it’s not advancing, glowing or steaming, officials said Monday they were not yet ready to call the lower half of the June 27 lava flow dead.
While it’s not advancing, glowing or steaming, officials said Monday they were not yet ready to call the lower half of the June 27 lava flow dead.
But that doesn’t mean there’s no room for optimism.
Since about March 13, the flow has shown no signs of activity near Pahoa, which it has kept in an almost constant state of worry since August.
As of Monday, Pu‘u ‘O‘o, the flow’s source on Kilauea’s East Rift Zone, continued to erupt, and was feeding active areas within six miles of the vent. The lower eight miles of the flow remained inactive.
Hawaii County Civil Defense Administrator Darryl Oliveira said he didn’t even see steam rising from the lower portions of the flow during an overflight, despite recent rainfall.
“That’s a good sign,” he said. “I’m optimistic.”
Even so, he wasn’t ready to rule out the possibility that the lower portions could see a return of activity.
“The tube system is still a viable conduit,” he said. “If we see any kind of surge or increase up at the summit, it has the potential of transporting lava down.”
Oliveira was referring to thermal images taken by Hawaiian Volcano Observatory last week that showed that the tube remained hot enough to pass molten rock down to the inactive flow area.
Geologists could find out today if that has at all changed.
Janet Babb, HVO spokeswoman, said thermal images will be taken again during an overflight.
That’s expected to shed more light on what’s actually going on within the system.
Email Tom Callis at tcallis@hawaiitribune-herald.com.