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CNY volcanologist: Kilauea ‘like a disaster movie’

716 views · Published 13 September 2018 · 1:47 · Indexed 26 September 2026

Channel: syracuse.com · 2018 · News & Politics

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Oswego, N.Y.-- Last May, Assistant Professor Dr. Rachel Lee was gearing up to peer into the Kilauea volcano on the big island of Hawai'i. Like the rest of the world, the 14 year volcanologist was caught off guard by the volcano's sudden eruption, violently blasting lava from new fissures away from the crater and engulfing new areas nearby.

The assistant professor at SUNY Oswego arrived a few weeks after the initial eruption to see homes consumed by rivers of lava blazing a new path to the ocean miles away. "we had a resident take us into Leilani Estates where the largest fissure was erupting," said Lee, "the night before, he had lost his home and everything in it."

Over 700 homes and buildings were reported lost over the course of the eruption, including a geothermal power station. Green Lake, the largest lake on the island, was flash evaporated to nothing within hours when a lava river poured into it. The eruption also added over a 1000 new acres of land to the big island. 

Kilauea  has since quieted somewhat over the past month, according to the latest update from the United States Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (USGS). The total output of lava from the latest eruption puts it somewhere above 250 million cubic meters measured at the end of June, a month before it quieted down, so the current amount makes it somewhere close to half the volume of Owasco Lake. 

Lee and her team was interested in the flow pattern and cooling rate of lava, which was typically erupting from the #8 fissure that opened in the middle of the Leilani community at 2000 degrees Fahrenheit. 

While they couldn't get very close to the massive fissure due to the dangerous fumes and intense heat, Lee did get almost 100 ft from some active fissures and used cameras tested at Syracuse University's Volcano Lab to get measurements of the lava's cooling factor. They also flew over the eruptions in a helicopter, close enough to feel roasted inside it, she said. By studying the cooling and flow patterns, Lee says, scientists can make better prediction models to help people escape dangerous eruptions and prepare more effective emergency responses.

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