# 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:** 21
**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:** [December 6, 2025, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-volcano-watchers-maybe-youll-get-lucky-kilauea-may-be-erupting/989665/401 "2025-12-06T20:47:40Z")
Woo hoo ! šŸŒ‹ ---
**Author:** ![steatopygia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steatopygia/32/3132_2.png) [@steatopygia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steatopygia)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2025, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-volcano-watchers-maybe-youll-get-lucky-kilauea-may-be-erupting/989665/402 "2025-12-06T21:02:31Z")
You called it! V 3 cam is no more! ---
**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:** [December 6, 2025, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-volcano-watchers-maybe-youll-get-lucky-kilauea-may-be-erupting/989665/403 "2025-12-06T21:35:19Z")
Wow, amazing closeups of the tephra getting closer and closer. Would have been terrifying in person. You can still cam back a few minutes and watch the V3 camā€™s demise. ---
**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:** [December 7, 2025, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-volcano-watchers-maybe-youll-get-lucky-kilauea-may-be-erupting/989665/404 "2025-12-07T06:19:44Z")
Spectacular fountaining on both V1 and V2. I canā€™t see to rewind on V3 any more, maybe itā€™s been down too long. ---
**Author:** ![steatopygia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steatopygia/32/3132_2.png) [@steatopygia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steatopygia)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2025, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-volcano-watchers-maybe-youll-get-lucky-kilauea-may-be-erupting/989665/405 "2025-12-07T07:13:21Z")
I think the fountaining just stopped. ---
**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:** [December 7, 2025, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-volcano-watchers-maybe-youll-get-lucky-kilauea-may-be-erupting/989665/406 "2025-12-07T11:35:21Z")
Yep. About 2100 HT Sat = 0200 ET Sun. All done. Lotta volume deposited onto the outer crater floor. For once a great deal of it is distant from the existing vent cones. > [@gkster](#): > > I canā€™t see to rewind on V3 any more, maybe itā€™s been down too long. Damn. Itā€™s a shame thereā€™s not a way to have archived that. Or for them to make the archive available later. When I first tuned in yesterday (1400ET Sat = 0900HT Sat) the view was totally obscured by smoke, but with occasional bursts of bright orange indirect light mixed in. But I could rewind then by an hour ish and the camera was in the clear with the large fountain and ashfall aimed towards the camera and smoke rising from that fountain. An hour or two later, nearer to the cameraā€™s demise, it looked much as before: mostly dark turbulent smokiness w occasional hints of orange. I wonder how it looked at the end? And whether the camera & equipment was bombarded to death with semisolid fallout & ash, or was hosed with liquid lava. Itā€™d be neat if the USGS later publishes some photos of what the Cam3 installation now looks like. I started to write ā€œonce itā€™s safe to go down there to lookā€, but then I realized thatā€™s old fogey thinking. They can launch a drone at dawn Sunday and get good closeups in complete safety, despite the surface in the area still being mildly incandescent with lots of noxious outgassing. The 21st Century does have some really cool shit amongst all the disastrous shit. And itā€™d be neater yet if they fairly rapidly erect Son of V3 near the same place to give us all a similar perspective. ---
**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:** [December 7, 2025, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-volcano-watchers-maybe-youll-get-lucky-kilauea-may-be-erupting/989665/407 "2025-12-07T11:57:06Z")
From BBC newsā€¦ > **[Watch: Moment Hawaii volcano eruption engulfs camera](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/ckgm4yjl214o)** > > Kilauea, one of the world's most active volcanoes, has been erupting intermittently since December last year. ---
**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:** [December 7, 2025, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-volcano-watchers-maybe-youll-get-lucky-kilauea-may-be-erupting/989665/408 "2025-12-07T15:02:48Z")
Thank you @pjd ! I wonder which camera caught the footage at the start of the video, V1 or V2? And itā€™s died down to just a glow now. ---
**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:** [December 7, 2025, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-volcano-watchers-maybe-youll-get-lucky-kilauea-may-be-erupting/989665/409 "2025-12-07T15:32:07Z")
Big Island Video News usually has much better coverage, and this [2 minute recap](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TK2N99BDw7A) including the end of the camera is no exception. [The previous video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpaosB41Xnk) includes some aerial footage straight down into the vents during the bubble up phase. ---
**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:** [December 7, 2025, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-volcano-watchers-maybe-youll-get-lucky-kilauea-may-be-erupting/989665/410 "2025-12-07T21:18:43Z")
Great find! Your second cite, the earlier vid, includes an interesting view down the split vent that looks like a giant pair of nostrils. Such fun. Kind of amazing that the septum between the vent halves remained intact while all that volume of lava came blasting out both sides for all that time. After all, the lava and the septum are made of the same material with the same melting point. Youā€™d think (well, Iā€™d think) that between heat transfer softening the septum and simple mechanical erosion, itā€™s have gotten blown out of there pretty early. Like a giant volcanic booger. šŸ˜ ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2025, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-volcano-watchers-maybe-youll-get-lucky-kilauea-may-be-erupting/989665/411 "2025-12-08T15:33:08Z")
I want to thank Pele for the timing. A good friend of mine is visiting the Big Island for the first time in his life and he was able to get up to Halemaā€™umaā€™u on Saturday and see the 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:** [December 8, 2025, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-volcano-watchers-maybe-youll-get-lucky-kilauea-may-be-erupting/989665/412 "2025-12-08T16:38:43Z")
Excellent. I expect to see some good pictures ! ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2025, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-volcano-watchers-maybe-youll-get-lucky-kilauea-may-be-erupting/989665/413 "2025-12-08T17:24:53Z")
Unfortunately this is the best photo he got. As he said, his camera doesnā€™t have a ā€œvolcanoā€ setting. [![](https://greenwoodsoftware.com/misc/halemaumau-dean.jpg) ](https://greenwoodsoftware.com/misc/halemaumau-dean.jpg) ---
**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:** [December 8, 2025, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-volcano-watchers-maybe-youll-get-lucky-kilauea-may-be-erupting/989665/414 "2025-12-08T19:46:34Z")
I guess you had to be there !! šŸ˜ ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2025, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-volcano-watchers-maybe-youll-get-lucky-kilauea-may-be-erupting/989665/415 "2025-12-08T21:53:16Z")
Probably needs to use a stop or two less via exposure compensation or maybe spot meter on the lava. Iā€™d try both - his picture looks overexposed but with crazy high contrast which is likely to be beyond any cameraā€™s meter capability. ---
**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:** [December 8, 2025, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-volcano-watchers-maybe-youll-get-lucky-kilauea-may-be-erupting/989665/416 "2025-12-08T23:06:22Z")
I run every day for 15 minutes. If I miss a day, I add 15 minutes to the next day. This has truly been a game changer. Tomorrow, Iā€™m supposed to run for 3 months. ---
**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:** [December 8, 2025, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-volcano-watchers-maybe-youll-get-lucky-kilauea-may-be-erupting/989665/417 "2025-12-08T23:11:06Z")
Sounds like me. Not sure how that connects to volcanoes, but ā€¦ ---
**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:** [December 9, 2025, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-volcano-watchers-maybe-youll-get-lucky-kilauea-may-be-erupting/989665/418 "2025-12-09T00:29:08Z")
If youā€™re too close to the vent when the eruption starts, you want to be in shape to run for a while. ---
**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:** [December 9, 2025, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-volcano-watchers-maybe-youll-get-lucky-kilauea-may-be-erupting/989665/419 "2025-12-09T01:17:15Z")
Yeah. Unlike the case with the bear, you have to do more than just outrun one of your companion(s). You have to outrun all of the eruption. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2025, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-volcano-watchers-maybe-youll-get-lucky-kilauea-may-be-erupting/989665/420 "2025-12-09T01:23:54Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > You have to outrun all of the eruption. [Pshaw - piece of cake](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJv9b7hxwdc) šŸ™‚. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-volcano-watchers-maybe-youll-get-lucky-kilauea-may-be-erupting/989665.md?page=20) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-volcano-watchers-maybe-youll-get-lucky-kilauea-may-be-erupting/989665.md?page=22)