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This ‘a‘ā flow erupted from fissure 8 on Kīlauea Volcano's lower East Rift Zone on June 1, 2018, shows how the interior of a lava flow remains incandescently hot even though surface cooling forms a crust of solid rubble. Based on studies of lava flow cooling rates, it will take more than 130 days for a flow this thick (about 4.5 m, or 15 ft) to cool to a temperature of about 200 degrees Celsius (290 degrees Fahrenheit).The ‘a‘ā flow shown here was erupted from fissure 8 on Kīlauea Volcano's lower East Rift Zone on June 1, 2018. How do lava flows like this cool and how long does it take? These questions are answered in HVO's Feb. 28, 2019, "Volcano Watch" (https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/observatories/hvo/hvo_volcano_watch.html?vwi…). USGS photo by A. Lerner.
