Kilauea Volcano Pollutes Hawaii's Sky

Kilauea's Halema'uma'u vent recently exploded into life and can be observed by visitors to Volcanoes National Park in Hawaii. The Kilauea's Halema'uma'u vent recently exploded into life and can be observed by visitors to Volcanoes National Park in Hawaii. The plume from the vent contains huge quantities of sulfur dioxide, which in recent days has formed a haze over the Hawaiian Islands and especially over parts of the Big Island. The haze is known as vog (volcanic fog), and it's been especially bad in the Kailua-Kona area, where on May 17 I measured 70,000 particles of it in a liter of air using a laser particle counter. It's a fascinaing display of Nature at work. Go here for details: http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/ (more)

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Hawaii
• volcano
• Kilauea
• sulfur
• dioxide
• lava