Always on the Move

Photo from the HVO Kilauea Status website of Kilauea's inner crater.

Sometimes it is hard to explain the difference between living on the Big Island of Hawaii, and living back on the continent of America.  While there are fault zones and even earthquakes, the difference is that our land is not solid!  In fact it is always moving beneath us AND moving above ground as it has for the past 30+ years.

Even when we take visiting friends to Kilauea to see the inner Crater of Halema'uma'u the House of the Ferns, (pronounced HA-LAY MA-U MA-U) apart from the glow at night, it often seems static, but it is not. In just the last few weeks the lava level inside the inner crater has fluctuated a lot, sometimes dropping down and sometimes spilling over the top.

Lava stopped just before dividing out town in half!

While the most exciting view at the present time is the lava flowing into the ocean which we shared with blog viewers in our August 9th blog, there's a LOT happening down inside the inner crater of Kilauea all the time.

"Click" on this link from the US Geological Survey - Halema'u'ma'u Crater   This is a 12 minute video created by the USGS during July. (You have an option just to "click" and view, or to download the video.) It was lava from a Kilauea vent called Pu'u O'o that flowed directly at our small village of Pahoa just a couple years ago, stopping just at the edge of the town -- to the relief of everyone.