PHOTO BY JENNIFER ADLEMAN / HAWAI`I VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK Raven Morgan, left, and Angela Helzberg-Rahmer of Puna stood by a mannequin yesterday in a suit used at the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.

Kilauea anniversary
draws scores of visitors

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Associated Press

VOLCANO, Big Island >> Visitors filed into Hawaii Volcanoes National Park yesterday to attend activities marking Kilauea's 20th anniversary of continuous eruption.

KILAUEA'S 20-YEAR ERUPTION SPECIAL REPORT

"We're very busy as expected," Ranger Ruth Levin said. "Most are tourists, but there's a great many local residents."

The anniversary was Friday, but the activities were held yesterday, including open houses at scientific facilities, which are normally closed to the public. Special guided tours were also available for visitors and the park also waived its $10 per vehicle entrance fee for the day.

Since Jan. 3, 1983, the eruption has added 544 acres of lava and black sand beach to the Big Island's southeastern shore, covered the community of Kalapana with lava, destroyed homes and led to the deaths of a handful of people who tried to get too close.

The current Puu Oo-Kupaianaha eruption is Kilauea's 55th eruptive episode, and ranks as the most voluminous outpouring of lava on the volcano's east rift zone in the past six centuries, according to the observatory.

Beginning in 1983, a series of short-lived lava fountains built the massive cinder-and-spatter cone of Puu Oo to the point that it now is visible at sea.

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USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park