Science

Visiting a Lava Flow on Hawaii's Kilauea

Visiting the Hawaiian volcanoes is the volcanology equivalent to visiting Graceland. For Wired Science blogger Erik Klemetti, the highlight of his trip was the chance to get up close and personal with an active lava flow -- and capture some fantastic photos.
Image may contain Mountain Outdoors Nature Volcano Lava and Eruption
  • Crack in a lava flow
  • First view of the lava
  • Pahoehoe toe
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crack-in-a-lava-flow

Active Lava Flows

Visiting Hawaiii for the first time was a lot of fun -- so many sights that I've only known through textbooks were right there, laid out in front of me. As I mentioned to a passing tourist who asked what we were doing, visiting the Hawaiian volcanoes is the volcanologist's equivalent to visiting Graceland. Far and away the highlight of the trip was the chance to actually get up close and personal with an active lava flow itself. Dr. Mike Poland (HVO - USGS) lead a group that included me, 18 Denison students, 3 other Denison Geosciences faculty and Dr. Clive Oppenheimer out to the active flow field on the East Rift Zone below Pu'u O'o (along with the current active ocean entry) on Kilauea. Now, getting out to the lava flows isn't easy during the day as you have to just head out over the 2009-today lava flow field in the direction that you think that latest breakouts might be. The clue is the "shimmering" air over the active breakouts, so off we went to find active, flowing lava. It took awhile to find it, but once we got there, it was spectacular ... and it as started off with heat and eerie glowing in the cracks beneath your feet. Image: Erik Klemetti, March 12, 2013.