LAVA FIREWORKS | Randy Haaland and The Fridge Art Museum

Photo courtesy of Hawaii Invasive Species Council website

Since I was a kid, I love watching fireworks. That’s why last month, while island-hopping in Hawaii, I couldn’t miss seeing Mount Kilauea’s latest eruption. To avoid parking problems and crowds, I went after midnight. For three hours I was mesmerized by lava fireworks, often watching through binoculars or my camera’s zoom lens. All the while, tiny-but-loud coqui frogs’ chirped (one of countless invasive species disrupting Hawaii’s unique ecosystem.)

The lava lake’s subtle flares and shifting crust are hard to notice in real time, so I made a 90 second time-lapse video below. (The video highlights are at eight times normal speed, with the coqui frogs’ Ko-KEEE peeps in real time.)

Over millions of years, eruptions have made sprawling lava tube complexes on every Hawaiian island. On the Big Island, Kazumura Cave’s 40+ miles of lava tubes are currently the longest and deepest complex in the world. Inside tunnels, superheated winds can shape and dry receding lava into unusual formations.

Lava dripping formation, with tree roots often hanging down.

A thin crust of lava slid down the tunnel wall as lava receded.

After lava cools, its porous rock allows abundant Hawaiian rain to seep down into old lava tunnels. This moisture creates mineral formations, as well as supports “unique ecosystems of troglobites, animals specifically adapted to live in this dark isolated world. Distinct species of crickets and spiders develop alongside special microbial colonies found nowhere else.” (NPS excerpt)

Etiolation example in Ka’Eleku Cavern, where seeds grow in darkness as if still buried, striving to reach sunlight.

Kauai cave wolf spider photo courtesy of Gordon Smith, NPS

Hawaii is honeycombed with lava tubes, but most aren’t accessible or suitable for tourists. Family-friendly cave tours I recommend are at the Big Island’s Kazamura Cave and Kula Kai Cave, plus Maui’s Hana Lava Tube (Ka’Eleku Cavern) and Kauai’s Makauwahi Cave. If you have limited time, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park’s Thurston Lava Tube is self-guided and its lit passage only takes a few minutes to safely explore. For more adventuresome cavers, try Kazamura Cave’s extended tour, or contact the National Speleological Society’s (NSS) Hawaii grotto to tag along with one of their regular educational caving trips (they loan you caving gear for free).

Kaumana Caves entrance that shows how crust forms as lava recedes beneath it.

Without further delay, enjoy Mother Nature’s lava fireworks.

(For those interested, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park live-streams Mount Kilauea’s caldera. Just click here.)