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24 December 2003

Christmas Eve from Pu`u `O`o to Cookie Monster

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Left. Ground view of spattering west cone in filled West Gap Pit, with shoulder of Pu`u `O`o in background. Cone is about 7 m high. 0816. Right. Aerial view of spattering west cone. Pu`u `O`o's crater is directly behind spatter cone. 0829.

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Left. Aerial view of both spatter cones in filled West Gap Pit, with Pu`u `O`o's crater behind. Incandescent cone at Beehive Vent just visible beyond left edge of larger east cone in West Gap Pit. 0830. Right. One more aerial view of west cone. 0831.

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Left. Northeast margin of slabby pahoehoe flow fed by spattering cone in filled West Gap Pit. Width of view, about 5 m. 0840. Right. Looking west-southwest across crater of Pu`u `O`o, showing incandescent East Pond Vent with large fume column, Beehive Vent just right of fume and feeding flow toward right, and West Gap Pit in distance with fume from west cone. Beehive Vent started erupting about 10 minutes before this image was taken. 1001.

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Left. Ground view of spattering from Beehive Vent feeds lava flow shown in right image above. Note fresh, shiny flow on other side of Beehive. Height of cone at Beehive Vent, about 8 m. 1005. Right. Fifty-five minutes later, Beehive Vent continues to spill lava onto crater floor. 1100.

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Left. Ground view from north rim of Pu`u `O`o looking west into West Gap Pit, showing resumed spattering from west cone after break of 2 hours. 1052. Right. Looking east from similar location as left image, showing overturned surface of lava flow erupted on December 23 from fuming East Pond Vent in distance. 1006.

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Left. Bizarre small hornitos (affectionately termed carlitos by HVO staff) at gas-sampling site at Cookie Monster, along uppermost Mother's Day lava tube. Incandescence indicates hot hot it is. Short time laver, pasty lava oozed from this area during gas sampling. Width of view, about 1.5 m. 0846. Right. Carlito blowin' smoke at Cookie Monster. The smoke is really noxious fume. Height of carlito, about 40 cm. 0844.

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Left. Sampling gas at Cookie Monster. Mullite tube is inserted with care into gas vent, and gas rushes through tube into collecting vacuum bottle, cooled periodically to allow more gas to fit in bottle. 0917. Right. Pele's Hair coated with sulfur and other sublimates at site of Cookie Monster. Width of view, about 30 cm. 0855.

27 December 2003

View of Pu`u `O`o from Pu`u Huluhulu

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Left. View of Pu`u `O`o from top of Pu`u Huluhulu, 10 km to west. From left to right, incandescent spots (best viewed in large view) are: top of east cone in filled West Gap Pit, spattering west cone in filled West Gap Pit, Humble Vent within crater of Pu`u `O`o, Episode 55 cone, and cone in Puka Nui. In addition, dark Beehive cone (in Pu`u `O`o crater) visible just left of east cone in West Gap Pit. Lava flows can be seen moving away from west cone and Puka Nui. 0608. Right. Similar to left but with dawning sky and lesser magnification. Lava flow from west cone in West Gap Pit has nearly stopped moving. 0622.

31 December 2003

A murky New Year's Eve on the upper flow field

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Left. Narrow channeled lava flow wends it way westward from rootless shield complex near big bend in upper Mother's Day lava tube. Burned but standing forest is slowly being destroyed by lava. Lava channel is 3-6 m wide. 0842.  Right. Steam rises from lava flows emplaced several days ago and still hot. Steam is most obvious on rainy days, when humidity is high. 0843.

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Left. Sampling lava from small toe in flow near western edge of rootless shield complex. Sophisticated sampling device is modified garden hoe. 0921. Right. Close-up of stretching bubbles in lava toe at sampling site. Width of toe, about 25 cm. 0923.

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Aerial views of new spattering hornito in rootless shield complex. Left view shows actual orifice (orange-yellow color) from which lava is emitted. Right view shows bursting bubble above same hornito. Hornito is perhaps 1 m high, and spatter is thrown 2 m above vent. 0909.

Map of flows from Pu`u `O`o: 15 December 2003

Map shows lava flows erupted during 1983-present activity of Pu`u `O`o and Kupaianaha (see large map). Shades of red denote Mother's Day flow, which began erupting on May 12, 2002 and continues to the present. Darkest shade indicates lava flows erupted in November and December 2003. Yellow stars indicate centers of recently active, or still active, rootless shields. New shields often form, so it is hard to show all shields on this map. Amalgamated Bend shield is near site of former August 9 rootless shield shown on map.

Through September and into early October 2003, lava was moving along the east and west sides of the Mother's Day flow. The east-side lava (known as the August 9 breakout) came from the August 9 rootless shield, itself fed by the main Mother's Day tube from Pu`u `O`o. The west side lava, known as the Kohola arm of the Mother's Day flow, branched off the tube system below the rootless shield.

In early October 2003, the August 9 breakout stopped moving, the Kohola died back to a trickle, and the one labeled rootless shield gained prominence. By October 16, however, the shield had partly collapsed, leaving several drained perched ponds behind. Upstream from the shield, many hornitos and small flows formed over the Mother's Day tube. Soon thereafter, other rootless shields began to form over the Mother's Day, August 9, and Kohola tubes. These shields have been active throughout November and December.

Vents in West Gap Pit became active in early October, were quiet for 3 weeks, and then resumed intermittent activity that continued well into December. Other vents were also sporadically active in Puka Nui (near West Gap Pit) and in the crater of Pu`u `O`o.