You actually raised a possibility that I missed in my initial list. I don’t know enough about the details of how the sacredness of Pele is observed. So I can’t rule out that he was trying to leave an offering to her, or something of that nature. Though to be clear, the fact I can’t rule it out doesn’t mean it definitely belongs on the list of theories - just that I truly do not know. Offerings are left at various places in the Park, that’s the beginning and end of my knowledge.
Okay, I want independent confirmation that my senses are correct: I just went to the live feed of the V2 camera on YouTube, something I do more or less daily, depending on eruption status.
And … THERE WAS SOUND. I haven’t seen any mention of adding audio (not that this is conclusive, I am somewhat erratic about reading updates lately).
Have I lost my mind? It used to be silent, right? And now there is sound?
They’re trying to add sound to all the cams. It was mentioned in passing on the HVO website yesterday. I’ll see if I can find a link; their website seems to be designed to highlight current announcements while finding the prior history is very difficult.
ETA: Here is the message list. The currently top message is dated 2026-03-05 & mentions sound being added to v1.
ETA2: I just watched all 3 cams separately and heard no sound. I also can’t explain the difference between their announcement about v1 & your observation about v2. My guess is that if the sound can be made to work well, they’ll soon have it on all cams. Which will be tres cool.
Oopsie - that was a typo. Sound is on v1 now. Thank you for the additional info.
Cool. Now I hear it. A soft hissing noise plus intermittent wind-on-microphone sounds.
I’ve been in person to various fumaroles and geysers & such and the soft hiss is familiar. I’m really looking forward to hearing what a fountain sounds like. Should be just a few more days.
I wonder if that’s why some dude in a high visibility vest was futzing with the camera the other day. I flipped over to it Wednesday (?) afternoon and it was on its side. Rewinding it, I could see this guy working on it.
Madam Pele is at it again. All three cameras have a good view. I’m currently in a meeting, so I haven’t turned on the sound for V1 yet.
ETA - V2 has a great view of both erupting vents.
You beat me to it! Just saw it.
Dammit! If it had started a week ago, my wife and I would have been able to see it from our helicopter tour. As it was, clouds kept us from even flying over the volcano.
I’m not getting sound from any of the cameras.
I’m hearing faint pings from debris hitting the camera, but nothing from the eruption itself.
And V1 has been knocked over by the ashfall.
The tephra is bad enough that the belt road near Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park is closed, and Civil Defense has issued a health warning for people with respiratory issues who live north of the crater.
I was in a meeting with a geologist about an hour ago and, while her specialty is tsunamis, as a Big Island resident she keeps up on volcano science as well. She said that the reason the last couple of episodes have been more hazardous is because the cone is building up taller - so the base of the lava fountains is higher than it was earlier. Therefore, gunk (that’s a scientific term) is spewing higher into the air and being wind-blown to other areas.
Update - we are at the highest hazard level now, which is “warning.”
If anyone is envisioning volcano disaster movies and wondering if we’re all going to be covered with lava, don’t worry. People close to the eruption need to stay inside to avoid tephra and minimize breathing problems, but the volcanoes here are nothing like Krakatau or Vesuvius.
@commasense - don’t feel bad about missing the fireworks, the Park is closed and I doubt the helicopters are permitted to fly in that area right now. So you most likely wouldn’t have gotten to see anything up close anyway.
The eruption sounds like a smooth rushing wind in the trees noise. It’s not quiet, but also not loud.
At least not at the gain setting of that camera. I have no idea how loud it would be in person standing near the camera while getting pelted by tephra.
On the contrary, I asked our pilot, and he said he had flown over many of the fountains. I imagine there are limitations on how close they can approach, but the choppers aren’t grounded by the eruptions.
Did you ask him about whether he was allowed to fly over this particular episode? I doubt he’d say yes - no one is allowed to fly over the crater when the advisory is red (it stays orange for most episodes).
Being allowed to fly over ordinary fountaining without crazy high levels of tephra, sure. Happens all the time. But there were football-sized rocks blowing every which way up to 25k feet in the air, Civil Defense warnings to stay inside, and road closures. That’s not “normal” fountaining. Well, it’s normal, but atypical, if you see what I mean. Did he really say he is allowed to fly in those conditions? Everyone here says it was not possible (but I didn’t talk to any pilots; I’d trust a professional more than random island residents).
ETA: We got tephra and Pele’s hair even at my house! (In Honomū, about 40 miles away).
V1 (which was knocked over) is now showing what looks like a nice picture of a full moon (unless it’s just another optical artefact).
01:43 local time.
The fountains are now over but the noise is the same. I think it’s
just the wind.
I think that’s an artifact. The moon last night should have been a waning half moon. I agree about the sound. I’m hearing a lot of wind plus what sounds like more tephra falling, but I don’t see much on V2 or V3. We’ll get a better picture of what’s going on in a couple of hours when the sun comes up.
Strange. The artefact is slowly sinking - it’s doing a pretty good
moon impression !
Maybe it’s an artefact caused by a lunar reflection or something.
Now looking very un-moonlike ! :-
