Vigorous eruption from vent...

in Halema`uma`u crater on Kilauea in October 2008, showing the roiling ejection of incandescent ash at 3X normal speed. This video was shown last night during an excellent lecture by Don Swanson of the USGS and I am sharing it here with readers of this blog.

A hot picture...

for a chilly winter day (click to enlarge.) Here we see two volcanologists approaching a vigorous lava flow on Kilauea volcano in an attempt to grab a sample of the ~1,100 C molten material. I snapped this image from a hovering helicopter near the new breakout from the Pu'u 'O'o vent in August 2007.

Just look at that new pahoehoe. Like I said before: every geology student needs to visit this dynamic volcano at some point in their life.

Because you asked...

I have posted this Kilauea update from the Hawaii Volcano Observatory for my colleague JT. Indeed, 2008 was an extraordinarily active year for the volcano.

Every geology student should put a visit to this active volcano on your "to do" list. There's no downside whatsoever - you have to go to Hawaii.