May 2, 2018 Pu’u ‘O’o Vent Empty!
The complete collapse of the active vent on Kilauea’s east rift zone last Monday sent an amazing ash plume skyward, and blanketed a three mile long swath of the current eruption in red dust… 61G looks like Mars! Yesterday, in very inclement weather, we managed some shots of the ash plume roiling away… today, under stunningly beautiful skies, we were able to see inside the vent. Hundreds of feet deep, we saw no lava in the vent at all… just cinders and rubble. Additionally, a half-mile long line of steamy fissures runs west from the vent… eerily reminiscent of the fissure eruption seven years ago.
Mahalo to Paradise Helicopters and Bruce Omori at Extreme Exposure