Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano swirls into fiery tornado-like ‘Tephra Devil’ in wild scene

A unique phenomenon known as a “Tephra Devil” was captured swirling over a crater on Hawaii’s Kilauea during the volcano’s 47th eruptive episode last week.

Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano swirls into fiery tornado-like ‘Tephra Devil’ in wild scene. A unique phenomenon known as a “Tephra Devil” was captured swirling over a crater on Hawaii’s Kilauea during the volcano’s 47th eruptive episode last week. Tephra is a catch-all term that describes various kinds of rocks blasted into the air during eruptions. The swirl seen in this video is similar to a dust devil — where the ground warms a thin layer of air directly above it that rises. Surrounding air rushes in to fill that void and sometimes converges with a crosswind, producing a visible column of twisting air once debris is lifted. According to the USGS, lava or fresh tephra can create enough localized heat to cause surface-level air to rise. USGS scientists have observed low-density tephra produced in recent eruptions become short-lived “Tephra Dev...