HONOLULU (KHON2) — Those near Kīlauea may notice denser plumes of smoke or VOG.
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“Normally you get kind of a downwind plume. But today, what we’re seeing is more like an umbrella that goes out and spreads in all directions,” stated Ken Hon, United States Geological Survey (USGS) Hawaiian Volcano Observatory Scientist in Charge.
According to USGS, there’s a lot of tephra or volcanic debris falling around the entire summit and surrounding communities.
“Pele’s hair forms when you have two blobs of lava. As they go up in the air, it’s kind of like taffy. They get pulled apart and between them stretches a little thin fiber of lava, which when it gets thin enough, it just freezes and it snaps off. So, it becomes these very fine hairs. Those are carried by the wind tens of miles downwind of the eruption,” said Hon…