The fire down below!

Here is the primary cause of all of our vog! The carbon dioxide that is being emitted from the vent is toxic to plant and animal life. You can't get near the vent or it will make you sick. Scientists have studied the increased output from the volcano vent and assured the residents of the Big Island that the toxic fumes have mostly dissipated by the time it gets to Kona and it is water vapor that we breathe in. We're not so convinced.

A skylight of a lava tube that leads from the vent to the ocean. We could see the lava flowing through the skylight.

Here is an active surface flow of lava where it had come out of the lava tube and was running above ground. You can see in the picture that the lava had killed all the vegetation in the area and some of the trees were burning. The pilot hovered over this area for a while and we could smell the sulfur and feel the heat in the helicopter. The smell made Jillian's belly upset and she went to sleep. This area is only visible from the air and the casual tourist would not get to see this without a long and dangerous hike over miles of old lava flows.