Spectacular video of Kilauea rift eruption

I've abstained from posting a lot about the recent events at the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii, but this was too good to pass up.  If you haven't been paying attention, which if you've got any interest in volcanoes is probably impossible to do, Kilauea's long-term eruption suddenly changed styles recently.  Rather than having a side vent emitting slow and easy and safe lava flows, along with a summit lava lake, the side vent (Pu'u O'o) suddenly drained as the magma underneath suddenly drained to the east.  At the summit, this drop in pressure meant that the lake level fell until there were collapses and possible phreatic (water+lava = steam) explosions.

So while the summit was explosively tossing up ash clouds, on the east side of the volcano, known as the East Rift Zone, fissures opened up and began releasing gas and lava. If you've been watching any of the news, you know that one problem with this was that they opened up near or in a residential neighborhood named Leilani Estates, similar in fashion and not far in distance from what Kilauea did in 1960 to a now-historic village named Kapoho. 

So the various fissures have been opening and closing, with the lava burning houses, burying cars, covering roads, and making its way to the nearby sea.  It covered a site that generated power from steam created by heating water on the hot underground beneath Kilauea, and has closed at least one road out of town.  Fortunately most of the affected residents have gotten out, avoiding the toxic gases and flowing lava.  One feels for them, but hey, if you live where there have been lava flows before and the volcano is obviously still active, the chances of this happening are significant.

So, after all that, I saw this amazing and short video made by the U.S. Geological Survey of what happened on May 29, when Fissure 8 reopened and lava fountains began spurting 200 feet or so into the air.  And that is pretty darned impressive.

Here's the video.



It's certainly permissible to be amazed, even as we wish that this lava wasn't destroying homes and property. But this is what volcanoes do. In this case, it's not killing anyone, which isn't always true.