NASA pictures reveal massive gas plumes and growing fissures as Hawaii lava flow continues

RT
Wed, 09 May 2018 15:27 UTC

© U.S. Geological Survey/Associated PressA column of thick, reddish-brown ash rises in the air on Friday from Hawaii volcano triggers more evacuations as two new vents appear in the Puʻu ʻŌʻō area after a magnitude 6.9 earthquake shook Hawaii’s big island.

NASA has released satellite images showing massive sulfur dioxide plumes released by Hawaii's Kilauea volcano, which has triggered a fresh evacuation order after erupting for five days straight.

Around 1,700 people have been evacuated and dozens of buildings, including 26 homes, have been destroyed since the volcano started erupting on Thursday.

On Tuesday, authorities issued a cellphone alert ordering the remaining residents of Lanipuna Gardens to immediately evacuate. The neighborhood is located to the east of Leilani Estates, where many homes have been already devoured by lava.

The new evacuation order comes after the volcano spewed two new vents, with Hawaii County Acting Mayor Wil Okabe saying that they brought about new toxic fumes that pose a health risk. Although the neighborhood was placed under a mandatory evacuation order last week, not all residents have left the area.

There have also been a number of powerful earthquakes and authorities are now contemplating widening the evacuation zone as Kilauea continues to spout rivers of lava and belch noxious gas.

Sulfur dioxide can cause coughing and a burning sensation in the throat, and it can be fatal in high concentrations. In warning people to evacuate, Hawaii's Civil Defense Agency said that there are deadly levels of the gas in the air and emergency responders would not be able to help anyone affected.

© US Geological Survey / Getty ImagesNASA has released satellite images showing huge columns of gas reaching out from the eruption areas. The images, which were captured by advanced instruments onboard NASA's Terra satellite, reveal newly created fissures on Kilauea.

Kilauea is the youngest and southeastern-most volcano on the island of Hawaii. It is one of the world's most active volcanoes and has been in continuous eruption since 1983. Hawaii Governor David Ige has told the White House and the Federal Emergency Management Authority (FEMA) that the state will need help dealing with the volcano.

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Reader Comments

win 52 · 2018-05-10T03:34:36Z

The lava is headed for a geothermal power plant. There is a large quantity of pentaine in there, used for heat conversion. That would make quite a bang, should that happen to get ignited by the lava.

Rowan Cocoan · 2018-05-10T08:28:18Z

win 52

You note: There is a large quantity of pentaine in there, used for heat conversion. That would make quite a bang, should* that happen to get ignited by the lava.

I bet that IF that lava gets close enough, that there'd be no question nor 'should' about the result of its immediate ignition/explosion (absent some 'Hand of God' coming down with some supernatural fire extinguisher.

Thank you for the info. I love learning and have never heard of the stuff, 'pentaine', though I'll here guess (before I look it up): .. .that it is some type of gas created from some petroleum-related catalytic chemical process. .. now off to the library*

Definition of Pentaine: "any of three isomeric alkanes C5H12 that occur especially in petroleum."

(Darn! And just when I was about to have included in my guess "most likely 'certain types of isomeric alkanes" ...!) (Not!. I.e., jesting.) Hell, I'm happy with as close as I did.

R.C.

*As a kid, and until the internet became ubiquitous, I would keep in my wallet a list of such questions that piqued my curiosity (which never required much piquing to start with, to be honest).

Thus as I type this, I can see in my mind's eye, some tattered and flattened napkin, or ripped off corner of some sheet of paper, with the word 'pentaine'? written amongst other 'piquers'** of my curiosities, to be resolved on my next trip to the library. (And I'm smiling as I type this fond recollection of 'back in the days' when nothingness seemed to hold more value and importance than now.)

**If that ain't a word, it should be.

RC

Rowan Cocoan · 2018-05-10T08:00:46Z

Just some quasi-useless I, FY = ("Information, For You"; or, "FYI"):

Most (older?) Americans, know what volcanic 'lava' as above is, but if you asked them, when leaving to a grocery store to pick up some 'Lava' they would buy that brand of hand/body soap which is an abrasive type of for use after getting hands really dirty, e.g., after working on a car engine, etc.*

But I wonder how many folks would also concurrently be aware of why that soap is so named. Well, it comes from the fact that its primary abrasive ingredient is simply one type of cooled lava: pumice, which is, simply put, lava that quickly cooled while it still had bubbles of volcanic gases within it. Once crushed, it is used as a commercial abrasive agent. Hence the name "Lava Soap."

In my youth, I then believed that most everyone would instantly make that connection, but I long ago learned that such simple learning was, sadly, not the case for far too many Americans. (Except just after some recent ad campaign pointing that fact out.)

Another type of cooled lava is called obsidian (a/k/a, 'volcanic glass') and is beautiful, and used by 'natives'/indians/aboriginals/ early Norwegians et al. ad inf. to create sharp edged tools (knives, spears, swords, etc.)

Several times when there has been tectonic/earthquake/volcanic activity in the Eastern Caribbean, I have found - about 2? to 12 months later - numerous chunks of pumice floated up on our beaches. (Pumice is listed as a rock that 'floats' due to all of the gases trapped in the rock after it cools. (When you break them, you can usually smell the sulfuric acid gas (rotten eggs) smell in the inner chambers.)

However, while I bet some of those Caribbean volcanoes have produced lava that became obsidian, I've never found any on our quite non-volcanic shores. Why? Pumice floats; obsidian - like most rocks - sinks.

R.C.

*Detail level is for folks unfamiliar with that brand, if it even still exists.d.

RC

Bricks in the wall. Not left alone though. Do the teachers not see themselves as proper peer-group mates? Or are they predatory?

Ectomorph

" Comment: Encouraging news, but it could be a feint. The same regulations on censorship and centralization of power could still be brought in...

KRNABRNY

At the end of the day - may the best ideas prevail. The chips are on the table. Place your bets!

Buffalo_Ken

Excellent SOTT comment.

Dwoods44

Quote: "You gotta include the media, think tanks, and academia in this — in addition to the military-industrial complex and the political class....

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NASA pictures reveal massive gas plumes and growing fissures as Hawaii lava flow continues

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