After a few days on west Big Island at Kona we drove around to the east side where Kilauea is actively erupting through a vent on the southeast flank called Pu'u O'o. The lava was flowing to the sea via lava tubes and spilling over 400 foot high cliffs. 
The steam is both dangerously hot and toxic with both hydrochloric and sulfuric acids. Fragmented tiny particles of lava called tephra can get into and scratch a persons eyes. We didn't try to go to the sea entry point, but did hear about another house that was destroyed in a neighborhood under siege by the lava flow. We went to the science center on the crator rim at Kilauea from which the glowing pit of molten lava could be viewed. 
We had heard rumbles like thunder, but more sustained, earlier in the day and discovered that night that more of the pit wall had collapsed creating leaping flames, lava spatter, the seismic rumble and a huge flume of caustic steam and ash. 
Today we took a terrific hike in a crator adjacent to the main Kilauea Crator called Kilauwea Iki (little Kilauwea). It last erupted in 1959 with a fountain of lava spewing 1900 feet high, higher than the Empire State Building. It created a lava lake 400 feet deep that we hiked across. It took about 39 years to solidify, but it still spouts steam from vents. The immensity of the forces and weights of material being tossed around and the unimaginable shapes and chaotic landscapes associated with these lava flows just takes your breath away. Amazingly, where the lava didn't flow or spatter around this crator, old rainforest persisted with fern trees and a profusion of flowers and exotic tropical plants. Tomorrow we're off to Kauai.
The steam is both dangerously hot and toxic with both hydrochloric and sulfuric acids. Fragmented tiny particles of lava called tephra can get into and scratch a persons eyes. We didn't try to go to the sea entry point, but did hear about another house that was destroyed in a neighborhood under siege by the lava flow. We went to the science center on the crator rim at Kilauea from which the glowing pit of molten lava could be viewed. 
We had heard rumbles like thunder, but more sustained, earlier in the day and discovered that night that more of the pit wall had collapsed creating leaping flames, lava spatter, the seismic rumble and a huge flume of caustic steam and ash. 
Today we took a terrific hike in a crator adjacent to the main Kilauea Crator called Kilauwea Iki (little Kilauwea). It last erupted in 1959 with a fountain of lava spewing 1900 feet high, higher than the Empire State Building. It created a lava lake 400 feet deep that we hiked across. It took about 39 years to solidify, but it still spouts steam from vents. The immensity of the forces and weights of material being tossed around and the unimaginable shapes and chaotic landscapes associated with these lava flows just takes your breath away. Amazingly, where the lava didn't flow or spatter around this crator, old rainforest persisted with fern trees and a profusion of flowers and exotic tropical plants. Tomorrow we're off to Kauai.
2 comments:
What amazing photos! You guys be careful posing my erupting volcanos, and skating across steaming lava lakes.. Wish I was there instead of walking around like the abominable snowman in our -20 degree windchill.
Glad to hear you are having such an amazing time!! Can't believe you saw sea turtles on the beach. Very cool. The snow is pouring down outside our windows and it is FRIGID today. Probably too cold for cross country skiing. Bummer! Hope you get some snorkling in.
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