VOLCANO LAVA WATCH
Lava flowed over a seaside cliff into the ocean yesterday for the first time since July. Hawaiian Volcano Observatory head Don Swanson predicted more ocean entries like this will be happening if the supply of lava to the coastal area continues.
PUNA COAST, Hawaii >> By dawn's early light, the lava's red glare was hailed by a handful of photographers yesterday as it flowed over coastal ramparts of stone and into the sea as a geologic tribute to Memorial Day.
It was the first time that lava had spanned the six-mile distance from its source at Puu Oo to the sea since early July last year, said Don Swanson, head of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.
Swanson, who makes a pre-dawn trek to the lava flows nearly every day of the year, was one of the few to see the event because it's in a dangerous area closed to the general public by Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
But in another -- safer -- area past the end of Chain of Craters Road, park rangers allowed visitors to hike right to the edge of the still-expanding flow field. "It was hot. It was really hot," said Darlene Jolly of Raleigh, N.C.
The first trickle of lava into the sea at a spot called Wilipea probably reached the water Sunday night, Swanson said.
The "Banana" lava flow -- named because it started near a banana patch -- broke out far upslope beginning in the middle of April.
For the past several days, two "prongs" of the lava have been headed seaward over roughly a quarter-mile stretch of coast, he said. As more lava builds up on coastal flatlands, and assuming no change in the supply from uphill, Swanson predicted more will spill into the sea along a front possibly more than a half-mile long.
That could also bring one or more ocean entries close to where park visitors could view them from a safe spot, he said.
Brian Elms, a self-described "lava junkie" from Volcano village, described some of the dangers.
Using a laser-activated measuring device, he showed the surface temperature of freshly hardened rock as 250 degrees Fahrenheit, hot enough to boil water. That was the cool spot.
Two feet away, another rock was 400 degrees, and the interior of lava flows are typically around 2,000 degrees.
People who come to the area in jogging shoes and step from old rock to a recently hardened new flow might worry that their shoes' rubber soles will melt.
Actually, the heat first melts the glue that holds jogging shoes together, Elms said, leaving the careless hiker with only socks between his feet and that 400-degree rock.
Elms wears boots with the soles sewn on, and geologist Swanson recommends boots with the soles nailed on.
A photographer recorded small flows of lava cascading over a seaside cliff yesterday, a short distance from the ocean. Small fingers of lava were reaching the sea for the first time since July, and larger volumes may soon emerge if the lava supply continues.
Another danger for those who venture onto new rock is a sudden whiteout of steam created by a passing shower.Elms said sometimes he can't see the rock under his feet in those conditions. He carries a global positioning system device to tell him where he is and a compass to tell him where to go.
Although some visitors forget basics like water and a flashlight at night, most experience the fascination in safety.
Rick Spence of Kailua-Kona came to the area two weeks ago on Mother's Day when the flows were still inland.
"Even with the photos that I was taking, there's no way to describe what I was seeing," he said. "I had to come back out again."
An Air Force veteran of the 1990 Desert Shield build-up, Spence planned to attend Memorial Day ceremonies at Kilauea Military Camp in the national park later in the day.
"I come out here to see something born again, the land. And then I try to put things in perspective. Where am I compared to something like this?" he wondered.
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park:
www.nps.gov/havo/
