Tag: eruption

Tephra

While enjoying and photographing episode 15 of the current eruption we got dumped on.

Pele's hair and reticulite from the episode 15 lava fountains
Pele’s hair and from the episode 15 lava fountains under the microscope

It was while photographing the spectacular fountains of episode 15 that bits of tephra began drifiting down on the crowded viewpoints along the crater rim. There was little wind and the enormous volcanic plume drifted over the eastern end of the caldera where thousands of people had come to view the eruption.

As I stood by the tripod I noted little clumps of Pele’s hair lazily drifiting down. Looking to see where it landed I note minute black gritty granules atop the camera and tripod. Oh lovely!

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Mauna Ulu

Mauna Ulu first erupted in May 1969 and would continue for the next five years. In the course of those eruptions lava would occasionally fountain over 1,700ft high while flooding much of the surrounding area, eventually constructing a lava shield nearly 400ft above the original ground level.

Mauna Ulu as seen from the top of Puʻu Huluhulu
Mauna Ulu as seen from the top of Puʻu Huluhulu

In many ways the Mauna Ulu eruption was very similar to the Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō eruptions that would start a decade later and continue for well over three decades. It is the Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō eruptions that formed my first memories of Kilauea with television news of homes burning in the Royal Gardens subdivision and visits to the ocean entries at Kalapana. While Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō remains somewhat remote, Mauna Ulu is far more accessible.

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An Eruption from Beginning to End

We really wanted to see an eruption.

Episode 9 of the Dec 2024 eruption of Kilauea fountains from two vents on 11 Feb 2025
Episode 9 of the Dec 2024 eruption of Kilauea fountains from two vents on 11 Feb 2025

The ongoing eruption of Kilauea has been an off and on affair, starting and stopping every few days since this eruptive sequence started just before Christmas. The last few cycles had been more off than on, going several days or a week with no lava visible. While the lava fountains have been short lived, just 13 to 20 hours.

To be sure I was not totally without, I had made the run across island on Jan 16th to see episode 4 of the current eruption, but my parents had not witnessed lava for many years, their annual winter visits not overlapping with an eruption.

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