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Helicopter overflight of Kīlauea Volcano's lower East Rift Zone shows the lava channel emerging from Fissure 22 (not visible, but to the center, far right of the image). The lava is flowing downhill, from right to left in the photo.
A blue burning flame of methane gas was observed in the cracks on Kahukai Street during the overnight hours. When lava buries plants and shrubs, methane gas is produced as a byproduct of burning vegetation. Methane gas can seep into subsurface voids and explode when heated, or as shown in this video, emerge from cracks in the ground several feet away from the lava. When ignited, the methane produces a blue flame.
Multiple explosions at Kīlauea's summit occurred throughout today, with some of the ash plumes rising 6,000 to 7,000 feet above sea level. HVO scientists keeping tabs on the explosions from a safe distance captured these images. This photo was taken at 10:36 a.m. HST.
A telephoto lens zoomed in on this ash plume at 12:55 p.m. HST. USGS photo by D. Swanson.
A pulse of ash rises from Halema‘uma‘u as part of semi-continuous emissions at Kīlauea's summit today. Ash can be seen falling from the plume as it is blown downwind in this image, taken around 3:28 p.m. HST. USGS photo by I. Johanson.
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