At night, visitors might see lava flows or glow from lava flows in the distance on the pali. During the day, a steam plume generated by flows as they enter the ocean is visible in the distance. View of the steam plume above the lava entry. Photograph from the end of Chain of Craters Road Taken by Maureen and Richard Pierre, October 3, 1997.
Benches form when molten lava meets the sea.
This collapse is the most extensive since lava of the present eruption first reached the sea in November, 1996.