Lava Blast and Electric Lightning Bolt Within a Lava Plume ~ Island of Hawaii

~ Lava Blast and Electric Lightning Bolt Within a Lava Plume #1 ~

 

Rare and surreal static electric lightning flashes through a massive column of steam, sulfur dioxide, glass particles, ash, rock and instantly created black sand – all generated from a huge volume of molten lava dumping out of a single lava tube that carried it from magma chambers under the flanks of Mauna Loa’s Kilauea volcano further upslope - here on the Big Island.

 

I first recorded this electric bolt phenomenon here with this photo

 

I have been asked if all these lava explosions and lightning flashes are loud. Oddly enough, even when I was nervously close to this event the night I took these photos, there was not a single sound to be heard! – That felt strange to me. In the past, when the lava flowing into the sea was tamer, we could hear the crackling and hissing as molten lava met ocean water… but I was not going to get that close to the exploding lava monster in these photos!

 

Digital downloads and prints of this lava shot and many others can also be found here

 

Thanks for you visits and comments~~~

 

Done