• Question: did you ever whitness a erupting volcano and if you did where?

    Asked by carly1997 to Philippa on 18 Jun 2011. This question was also asked by bec2238, charlottelouise.
    • Photo: Philippa Demonte

      Philippa Demonte answered on 18 Jun 2011:

      @carly1997 @bec2238 @charlottelouise I have witnessed 2 erupting volcanoes (Kilauea on Big Island, Hawaii, and Stromboli volcano just off the coast of Italy) and visited at least 5 other active ones (Soufriere Hills volcano on Montserrat where I am now, Etna, Vulcano, Mount Nakadake in Japan, and Kverkfjoll in Iceland).

      Kilauea erupted in 2 different ways whilst I was there: lava was flowing down into the sea, and a new vent within Halema’uma’u crater (at the summit) erupted with several mini explosions revealing a lava lake. You can have a look at them via the webcams (if it’s not nighttime Hawaiian time – they’re 13 hours behind the UK)

      Stromboli erupts about every 2 hours. It ‘burps’ with these gassy volcanic belches. There’s a really good pizza restaurant on the island where you can sit and watch the volcano erupt whilst having dinner 🙂
      http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/hvo/cams/

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