Small-scale map of Kīlauea's ERZ lava flow

This small-scale map shows Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow in relation to lower Puna. The area of the flow on December 9 at 2:30 PM is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as mapped on December 16 at 11:15 AM is shown in red.

A relatively narrow lobe of lava continues to advance downslope toward the Pahoa Marketplace. The tip of the flow was at 19.498695 , -154.969467 (Decimal Degrees ) at an elevation of 220 m (720 ft). This is about 1.5 km (0.9 miles) from the upslope edge of the Pahoa Marketplace, as measured along the path of steepest descent that the flow has been following. Several other breakouts were active farther upslope along the narrow lobe, as well as within the crack system and on the upper part of the flow field northeast of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō.

The blue lines show steepest-descent paths calculated from a 1983 digital elevation model (DEM; for calculation details, see http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2007/1264/). Steepest-descent path analysis is based on the assumption that the DEM perfectly represents the earth's surface. DEMs, however, are not perfect, so the blue lines on this map can be used to infer only approximate flow paths. All older Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō lava flows (1983-2014) are shown in gray; the yellow line marks the active lava tube.