Amount of ash in plume above Kilauea decreases
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Lava shot into the night sky from active fissures on the lower east rift of the Kilauea volcano, Tuesday, near Pahoa.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Lava shot into the night sky from active fissures on the lower east rift of the Kilauea volcano, Tuesday, near Pahoa.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Lava shot into the night sky from active fissures on the lower east rift of the Kilauea volcano, Tuesday, near Pahoa.
PAHOA >> A geophysicist says a plume that’s rising from the Kilauea volcano summit on Hawaii island does not contain as much ash as it did on Tuesday.
Mike Poland with the U.S. Geological Survey said today the plume seems to be made largely of rock dust.
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Because there’s little wind, the plume, for the most part, is rising vertically over the summit.
USGS scientists will not monitor the plume from a summit observatory because of fears of falling ash.
Instead, they will operate from a backup command center at the University of Hawaii at Hilo.
Warnings to pilots are still in place because of the plume that reached 12,000 feet (3,658 meters) Tuesday.
The volcano has been spewing lava from fissures that opened up on its flanks for two weeks.
