# For volcano watchers - maybe you'll get lucky! {Kilauea may be erupting} **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 5, 2023, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-volcano-watchers-maybe-youll-get-lucky-kilauea-may-be-erupting/989665 "2023-09-05T20:52:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2025, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-volcano-watchers-maybe-youll-get-lucky-kilauea-may-be-erupting/989665/201 "2025-04-08T17:51:21Z")
V2cam has the better view. ---
**Author:** ![Ponderoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponderoid/32/19221_2.png) [@Ponderoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponderoid)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2025, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-volcano-watchers-maybe-youll-get-lucky-kilauea-may-be-erupting/989665/202 "2025-04-08T21:49:01Z")
The front vent was making its lava pool liquid and burbling earlier when I posted, but now it seems to have solidified. I confidently predict this eruption won’t last much longer. Better view on the v1 cam right now; the other one is blurry or voggy. Oh, and there are birds flying through the field of view. What are they finding worth eating there? ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2025, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-volcano-watchers-maybe-youll-get-lucky-kilauea-may-be-erupting/989665/203 "2025-04-09T03:06:11Z")
V1 shows fountaning and a glowing stream of lava on the ground [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/oG5zz9Sjw3E/maxresdefault.jpg "[V1cam] Kīlauea volcano, Hawaii (west Halemaʻumaʻu crater)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oG5zz9Sjw3E) ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2025, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-volcano-watchers-maybe-youll-get-lucky-kilauea-may-be-erupting/989665/204 "2025-04-09T11:47:38Z")
> [@Ponderoid](#): > > I confidently predict this eruption won’t last much longer. It’s still at it … It made the news today here in the UK ! ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2025, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-volcano-watchers-maybe-youll-get-lucky-kilauea-may-be-erupting/989665/205 "2025-04-09T13:36:39Z")
Still going. Both V1 and V2 show huge fountains. ---
**Author:** ![Ponderoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponderoid/32/19221_2.png) [@Ponderoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponderoid)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2025, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-volcano-watchers-maybe-youll-get-lucky-kilauea-may-be-erupting/989665/206 "2025-04-09T22:15:26Z")
And it stopped less than 24 hours after I made my prediction. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2025, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-volcano-watchers-maybe-youll-get-lucky-kilauea-may-be-erupting/989665/207 "2025-04-22T14:16:14Z")
On a whim, I checked the cameras. There is a huge fountain going. V2 has the better view. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2025, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-volcano-watchers-maybe-youll-get-lucky-kilauea-may-be-erupting/989665/208 "2025-04-22T14:21:08Z")
Wow - It’s a bit after 4am here and, insomniac that I am, I took a look not expecting to see much. But it’s glorious right now. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2025, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-volcano-watchers-maybe-youll-get-lucky-kilauea-may-be-erupting/989665/209 "2025-04-22T14:25:54Z")
I was surprised I had beaten you to the post, but then I looked at the local time. Insomia suckes, but at least you get to watch a cool eruption. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2025, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-volcano-watchers-maybe-youll-get-lucky-kilauea-may-be-erupting/989665/210 "2025-04-22T15:15:03Z")
yay ! Surf’s up ! ---
**Author:** ![Ponderoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponderoid/32/19221_2.png) [@Ponderoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponderoid)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2025, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-volcano-watchers-maybe-youll-get-lucky-kilauea-may-be-erupting/989665/211 "2025-04-22T15:48:49Z")
Nice! Worth scrolling back in time on both cameras to see what it’s been doing at various times. Very dynamic and the USGS people have been changing the zoom. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2025, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-volcano-watchers-maybe-youll-get-lucky-kilauea-may-be-erupting/989665/212 "2025-04-22T18:38:02Z")
_Tres_ pretty. Going like mad in both cams now. Maybe I’ve just got defective expectations or memory or something but … Watching the lava flow away from the fountain I’m struck by how thin and runny it is. And how fast-flowing the stream(s) leading away are despite the rather shallow slope they’re running across. Of course really hot lava is runnier and as it cools it gets thicker & goopier until it solidifies altogether while still plenty dangerously hot on a human scale. My general impression / knowledge of Hawaiian lava is that it’s always towards the thick goopy kind, even when freshly erupted. Which suggests either a) I’m wrong, or b) this batch from this vent over the last couple of months is unusually especially wonderfully hot and so temporarily less goopy until it cools some. Anyone have any knowledge to share? ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2025, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-volcano-watchers-maybe-youll-get-lucky-kilauea-may-be-erupting/989665/213 "2025-04-22T19:27:50Z")
Well, this won’t answer your question but it is an adjacent fact that my physicist son pointed out to me: sometimes in the movies they show people “drowning” in hot lava, slowly sinking from view as they scream. But in fact, if you were to step onto a pool of fresh hot lava, you wouldn’t sink. Liquid lava is denser than a human body - it may be liquid, but it is still rock. (The screaming part is accurate though, briefly 😱) ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2025, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-volcano-watchers-maybe-youll-get-lucky-kilauea-may-be-erupting/989665/214 "2025-04-22T22:28:49Z")
In the earlier Kilauea eruption circa, 2018, you first saw scenes of crumbly lava consuming houses and the one hapless Mustang (car, not horse). This lava was older magma festering below ground from older flows. The big breakout (fissure 23 ISTR) was the fast flowing lava from the emptying pool upland at the crater. This flow filled in the bay, filled in the lake and did the most housing damage. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2025, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-volcano-watchers-maybe-youll-get-lucky-kilauea-may-be-erupting/989665/215 "2025-04-22T23:23:33Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > But in fact, if you were to step onto a pool of fresh hot lava, you wouldn’t sink. Liquid lava is denser than a human body - it may be liquid, but it is still rock. (The screaming part is accurate though, briefly 😱) Thanks for this. Basalt is roughly 3x the density of water. Humans are roughly 1x the density of water. So a human ought to sink into liquid or goopy lava up to about 1/3rd their weight ~= crotch deep & no further. Gonna be lotsa screaming, but no drowning. ---
**Author:** ![Ponderoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponderoid/32/19221_2.png) [@Ponderoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponderoid)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2025, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-volcano-watchers-maybe-youll-get-lucky-kilauea-may-be-erupting/989665/216 "2025-04-30T02:58:48Z")
[Mt Etna in Sicily](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQC-5rmLOsw) is putting on a show right now. ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2025, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-volcano-watchers-maybe-youll-get-lucky-kilauea-may-be-erupting/989665/217 "2025-04-30T05:48:22Z")
Is there another volcano in the background to the right of Etna that’s smoking as well? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2025, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-volcano-watchers-maybe-youll-get-lucky-kilauea-may-be-erupting/989665/218 "2025-04-30T12:52:09Z")
Right now it’s early afternoon at Etna and the camera is just seeing a dim gray foggy nothingness. I saw a couple birds fly by, so the camera is live. But it’s a bleh day there right now. Meanwhile back at Kilauea where it’s ~3am, the V1 cam sees well-lit steaming / gassing from two vents and the occasional splash of bright orange lava boiling in the closer vent. V2 cam sees blackness. ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2025, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-volcano-watchers-maybe-youll-get-lucky-kilauea-may-be-erupting/989665/219 "2025-04-30T21:21:20Z")
It’s now night in Sicily and the show is back on! What looks like white-hot lava with gold and occasional orange fountains surrounding it. But all I see on Kilauea is wisps of smoke. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2025, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-volcano-watchers-maybe-youll-get-lucky-kilauea-may-be-erupting/989665/220 "2025-04-30T21:37:43Z")
Wow, Etna looks fabulous now! USGS is predicting that Kīlauea will start up in the next four days, most likely the night (HST time) of April 30. Last night there was some strong glow, light spatter, and flaming. But right now it’s just smoking. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-volcano-watchers-maybe-youll-get-lucky-kilauea-may-be-erupting/989665.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-volcano-watchers-maybe-youll-get-lucky-kilauea-may-be-erupting/989665.md?page=12)