The Pu`u
`O`o-Kupaianaha eruption of Kilauea, now in its 56th
eruptive episode, ranks as the most voluminous outpouring of lava on the
volcano's east rift zone in the past five centuries. By September 2002, 2.3 km3
of lava had covered 110 km2 and added 220 hectares to Kilauea's southern shore.
In the process, lava flows destroyed 189 structures and resurfaced 13 km of
highway with as much as 25 m of lava.
Beginning in 1983, a series of
short-lived lava fountains built the massive cinder-and-spatter cone of Pu`u`
O`o. In 1986, the eruption migrated 3 km down the east rift zone to build a
broad shield, Kupaianaha, which fed lava to the coast for the next 5.5 years.
When the eruption shifted back to Pu`u `O`o in 1992, a series of flank-vent
eruptions formed a shield banked against the uprift side of the cone. Continuous
eruption from these vents undermined the west and south flanks of the cone,
resulting in large collapses of the west flank.
In May 2002, a new vent
opened on the west side of the shield and fed flows down the western margin of
the flow field, sparking the largest forest fire in the park in 15 years. These
flows reached the ocean near the end of Chain of Craters Road in July, and as
many as 4,000 visitors per day flocked to view flowing lava up close for the
rest of the summer. More
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