Millions of people are seeing images of lava destroying homes, cars and power lines as Hawaii's Big Island deals with the Kilauea volcano eruption
Besides the lava taking over homes and cars, other issues are the gases that are being emitted.
During a volcano eruption: water vapor, carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide spew out. That combination makes up about 99 percent of the volcanic gases. Now, when you combine those gases with the sunlight, oxygen and moisture you get volcanic smog, also known as ‘vog.’
If vog is present, it can affect people with respiratory or lung problems. If it's present for an extended period of time, vog can potentially kill plants and can also result in agriculture losses.
As of Tuesday morning, the Hawaii Department of Health, show that the latest sulfur dioxide levels are good. Trade winds are helping push most of the vog out to the ocean. If winds were light, vog could be stagnant and pose a greater threat to people living or visiting Hawaii.
The overall air quality for Hawaii is good, however, along the western side of Hawaii, the air quality index is moderate. According to AirNow, ‘moderate’ means air quality is acceptable, but some pollutants could be a moderate concern for a select amount of people who are unusually sensitive to air pollution.