From the Web site
Some photos on the Web site display the same view
some tourists pay $140 to see -- via a helicopter ride.

A front-row
seat at Puu Oo

Volcano Observatory's
Web site is really hot

By Rod Thompson
Star-Bulletin correspondent

HILO -- For a superb view into the mouth of Puu Oo crater in the Big Island's lava flow fields, you could fly to Hilo, then pay another $140 or so for a helicopter ride to the crater.

Or you could see the same view by logging onto the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory's World Wide Web site for free.

The observatory is receiving up to 1.5 million "hits" each month from around the world, said observatory webmaster Pauline Fukunaga.

Comments from site visitors have come from as far away as Uganda in east Africa, she said. Visitors range from elementary school children to professional geologists.

"It's awesome, man," said one e-mail message.

"Neat stuff. Thank you. Keep it up," said another.

From the Web site
Among the pictures you can see on the Hawaiian Volcano
Observatory Web site is this close view of lava channels
at the 600-foot elevation on Pulama pali. The channels
feed lava to a spot less than a half mile from the ocean where
lava is pooling and may enter the sea sometime next week.

After several years without much attention, the Web site got a new format in March 1998, Fukunaga said. "Our hits totally skyrocketed."

As more and more photos were added, the hits averaged more than a million a month when school is on and about 800,000 a month in the summer, said Don Swanson, the observatory's scientist-in-charge.

The text was updated about once a month until recently, Swanson said.

The observatory began daily updates about the time of the Sept. 12-23 pause in surface flows and the accompanying underground lava intrusion.

Lava currently flows from Puu Oo to an upland pond, then from the pond down the steep Pulama Pali to coastal flatlands.

Lava has alternately approached and receded from the coastal area. The latest report puts the flow front about a half mile from the sea.

The observatory hopes to post photos of the flow when it reaches the sea, Swanson said.

Most of the photos on the site were taken from helicopters, but the observatory can't be sure it will fly the day lava reaches the ocean, Swanson said. "Money is not in plentiful abundance. We normally only fly one day per week."

The observatory may send geologists hiking to the site, about three miles from the end of Chain of Craters Road.

To see photos and the latest update, log onto hvo.wr.usgs.gov/kilauea/update/main.html. Placing www before that isn't necessary, but if you do, be sure not to put the normal "dot" after www.