Old film footage of lava flows in Puna on the Big Island of Hawaii in 1955. The eruption originated along Kilauea's east rift zone, and lava covered many roads, homes, and sugar cane fields, eventually reaching the ocean. An archivist at Lyman Museum in Hilo (http://lymanmuseum.org/) discovered several reels of old film footage in storage, and sent these to Honolulu to be digitized by the Henry Kuualoha Giugni Moving Image Archive (http://uluulu.hawaii.edu/). Apparently, the 1955 film was shot by sugar cane company officials, who, in order to collect fire insurance, needed to prove that the cane had burned. In the process, they captured images of spatter cones in orchards, steam and then lava breaking through cracks in the road, and molten aa entering the sea; Gordon Macdonald is seen taking notes. There are two reels of film, which cover many of the same events, presumably in chronological order. The first reel has segments that are narrated over (closed captions coming soon) and the second reel has no audio at all, but has several extraordinary scenes that are not covered by the first reel; the reels are back to back within this hour-long video. For more information about lava flows, visit the CSAV web site (http://hilo.hawaii.edu/~csav/). Stay safe! Here are annotations for reference: FIELD 1/14 2/28 – 3/1/55, 0:41 Night shots of spattering, 2:28 PUU KII 3/2 – 6, 3:52 Lava fountains in cane field, 3:53 Night view of lava fountains, 5:18 Aerial views of multiple lava fountains, 6:43 Lava crosses cane field road, 7:44 Visitors note water tank and old car surrounded by pahoehoe, 9:31 NII’S HOUSE on 3/13/1955, including spatter ramparts and steam amidst crops, 9:55 Cracks in road, 11:45 Lava crosses road, 11:55 Dr. Eaton is mentioned taking measurements, 12:48 Steam rises from cracks in the road, 12:59 Gordon Macdonald of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, 13:49 Road cracks are now covered with a spatter cone 75 feet high, 14:30 KAUELEAU on 3/13 – 17 aerial shots, of lava channel, then of flow front through cane fields 14:55 Ground shot of aa flow moving through cane fields, 15:50 IILEWA on 3/20 – 5/20, aerials of lava fountains, 18:22 Bulldozer at work, 18:35 Aa flow front at night, 19:27 High lava fountain at night, 22:05 Fashionably dressed visitors watch aa cross sugar cane field, 22:29 Clinker cascades down aa front at night, 23:20 Night view of a house burning, 24:48 Lauhala trees fall as an aa flow moves through the grove, 25:53 Aa flow enters the ocean, 26: 09 First reel ends and second reel begins, 26:31 Spattering lava moves through a forest, 26:40 River of lava, 27:18 Steam rises rapidly from vents, cracks appear in the road, 28:03 Spatter ramparts in cane fields, 28:39 Slabby paheohoe flow front crosses a field, 29:43 Night view of multiple lava fountains, 30:08 Night view of slabby pahoehoe, 31:21 Aa moving through cane field and road and then forest, 31:47 Twin fountains from single vent, 33:18 Visitor observes spattering cone, 34:32 Slabby pahoehoe develops, 34:55 Steam rises from cracks in a field, then lava appears, 36:14 Steam precedes lava as a spatter cone develops on the road, 37:19 Lava is thrown from a spatter cone on the road, 37:49 Spatter cones develop in fields, slowly covering fence posts, 39:31 Aa lava flow crosses the cane road, 40:43 Night fountains, 41:06 Steam cloud rises from the ocean, as aa enters the water, 42:32 Bulldozers move piles of rock, 43:10 Aa flow moves down the road and over the road banks, 44:07 Aa with high fountain in background, 45:25 Bulldozers move rock to build a diversion barrier near a lava flow, 46:00 High lava fountain, 47:09 Defoliated trees are buried in cinder and spatter, 48:21 Scientist measures temperature in a steaming vent, 49:12 Aa flow pushes through downed trees and 55-gallon drums, 49:38 Aa flow front moving quickly, 51:00 Lauhala trees fall before advancing aa, 51:12 Aa pours over cliffs into the ocean, creating steam, 51:35 Steam blasts out in the ocean send black sand skyward, 52:39 Aerial view of erupting vent, river of lava, 53:33 Fountain near defoliated trees develops into aa channel, 54:16 Palm trees frame an aa flow going over a cliff into the ocean, 55:19 Black sand jets skyward from the ocean entry, 56:11 Darwin Award swimmer cannot resist testing out the new black sand beach, 57:01 Cinder tumbles down a steep cinder cone, 57:11 Night views of aa flows, 57:44 House burns and is buried by aa at night, 58:58 Rivers of lava pour down a steep bank, then form a channel with standing waves which overtop the levee, 59:41

• published: 10 Oct 2014
• views: 18