...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 PM HST THIS EVENING...
* WHAT...Northeast winds 15 to 25 knots.
* WHERE...Oahu Leeward Waters and Maui County Leeward Waters.
* WHEN...Until 6 PM HST this evening.
* IMPACTS...Conditions will be hazardous to small craft.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
Inexperienced mariners, especially those operating smaller
vessels, should avoid navigating in these conditions.
&&
The Mauna Loa flow can be seen through the clouds from Old Saddle Road, an official viewing area.
Viewing Mauna Loa is no easy task, whether on the ground or up in the air. KITV4 had the opportunity to shoot video from a bird's eye view of the Mauna Loa eruption.
HILO, Hawaii (KITV4) -- Viewing Mauna Loa is no easy task, whether on the ground or up in the air. KITV4 had the opportunity to shoot video from a bird's eye view of the Mauna Loa eruption.
Mother Nature is far from predictable. Many a helicopter tour misses the main event with Mauna Loa shrouded in cloud cover.
For those setting up off of Daniel K. Inouye Highway, attempting to view the north face of Mauna Loa, is entirely up to the weather.
The same goes for up in the air.
“Mostly it's dictated by the weather. We are doing our very best to at least get out to Halemaumau, the summit caldera of Kilauea, because there's lava there too, which is very cool,” Samantha Hansen of Safari Helicopters told KITV4. “So we just try as best to be honest with our customers."
And honestly, it can be a wait.
But after a weather-related rescheduling with Safari Helicopters, KITV4 finally had an opportunity to meet up with clear skies. From Hilo, a near 20-minute flight leads to the Mauna.
"You can see where the access road, where the lava flow has completely crossed over the road right there,” Safari Helicopters pilot David Machuca told KITV4, pointing to the Mauna Loa Access Road.
Within two miles from Daniel K. Inouye Highway, smoke could be seen as could the approaching flow front, which is threatening the main artery connecting Kona in the west with Hilo on the east.
Will the lava flow reach the highway, still fueled from its origin point? Fissure 3 sits about two miles east of the caldera.
A view from the aircraft soon revealed the fissure 3 lava fountain in all its glory, but not without the disruptive push from hot air below.
"So lava is upwards of 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. So when you're flying close to these lava flows they're putting off a lot of heat and a lot of turbulence that can affect the flight up near the lava as well," Hansen said.
Some of these lava fountains have reached 200 to 300 feet. It's a phenomena captured by local photographer Erik Kabik, who took photos on a Paradise Helicopters flight in the first days of the eruption. There was no glass between him and mother nature.
"You're 10,000 feet [in the air]. The doors are off the wind is blowing. Suddenly there's a rush of heat that comes up from the lava,” Kabik described. “And you just go wow, this is...this is real.”
Fissure 3 can be observed in real time on the USGS live cam, as it continues to supply the flow.
[M8cam] Mauna Loa - Northeast Rift Zone Fissure 3 Eruption Live View
Live video of fissure 3 erupting on the Northeast Rift Zone of Mauna Loa volcano. The camera is located roughly 1 mi (1.6 km) East of fissure 3 and looks west.
Disclaimer: The webcams are operational 24/7 and faithfully record the dark of night if there are no sources of incandescence or other lights. Thermal webcams record heat rather than light and get better views through volcanic gas. At times, clouds and rain obscure visibility. The cameras are subject to sporadic breakdown, and may not be repaired immediately. Some cameras are observing an area that is off-limits to the general public because of significant volcanic hazards.
To get a sense of the distance that the lava has traveled, the plume of Mauna Loa can be traced over nine miles from fissure 3, in the direction of Mauna Kea.
The flow's advance rate slowed significantly once on level ground, decelerating from over 100 yards per hour to roughly 50 feet per hour. The glow inches closer and closer towards the Big Island's observation roadways which offer viewing opportunities for tourists and locals alike.
"You can see all of Pele's magic hard at work here. Yeah it's really special and sacred for a lot of us as well,” Justin of Keaau told KITV4.
With no life or property facing imminent danger, official escorted excursions have been allowed near the flow front, a restricted area to the public. A temporary flight restriction makes the early opportunities pilots and press had to see the lava up close rare.
Yet, with no threat to life or property, Machuca describes the opportunity to view the Mauna from up high.
“Even more guilt-free in enjoying it and appreciating it. And I came back that first day and I was just buzzing a couple of hours as I was on the phone talking to everybody and screaming into the phone. I was so excited by it. So it's pretty unreal and pretty amazing," he said.
"Yeah, chicken skin, goosebumps,” Hansen said of her first flight over the eruption. “It was amazing seeing some of those fissure systems opening up. And, just a once in a life time event."
"Breathtaking,” said Kabik.
At the pace the lava flow is moving, the flow front may not reach the highway. It depends how it interacts with the terrain. But it could come in contact, if the fissure keeps providing source lava through the third week of the eruption.
After a week’s time, the lava flow traveled close to 10 miles and sat at less than two miles from Daniel K. Inouye Highway.
Jeremy Lee joined KITV after over a decade & a half in broadcast news from coast to coast on the mainland. Jeremy most recently traveled the country documenting protests & civil unrest.
