HONOLULU – As the high-definition camera pans across the surface of an active Hawaii volcano’s viscous summit lava lake, a large bubble of volcanic gas grows and bursts, dramatically spewing molten rock into the air and sending a massive ripple of lava outward across the crater.
Federal officials released high-definition video of the lava lake atop Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano on Tuesday, providing a rare close-up glimpse of the powerful summit eruption.
The U.S. Geological Survey footage shows lava breaking through the crusted mantle of the lava lake on the Big Island and splashing up the crater walls. Aerial footage shows lava glowing through the cracks of the slightly hardened crust atop the flowing and bubbling lava.
USGS video producer Stephen Wessells, geologist Janet Babb and other scientists worked along the edge of the volcano’s massive summit wearing gas masks and other protective gear to capture the images. At times, they were only a few hundred feet away from the lava lake. “It was the greatest shooting experience of my life,” said Wessells, who has been producing video for USGS since 1990. “It was just spectacular.”
The summit eruption has been happening since March 2008, which is when federal officials closed the area to the public. Babb said the area is full of hazards. Gasses from the volcano, which can swirl around in the strong trade winds on the summit, “can be life-threatening,” said Babb.
Additionally, “rocks from the vent wall will fall apart and fall into the lava lake and when they do there’s a big gas release, this big kind of bubble burst, and it will hurl fragments of molten lava ... up onto the crater rim.”
On the Net
U.S. Geological Survey Kilauea Volcano video:
https://www.usgs.gov/media/videos/k-lauea-volcano-halema-uma-u-crater-summit-vent-lava-lake-4k
