Vog Hazards Gallery
The best way to picture vog is to compare voggy conditions with times when the vog is not present.
Below is a series of photos that illustrate the differences, both in visibility, and in effect on plants.
New! IVHHN Vog Dashboard has all the information you need about vog.
These two panoramas of ʻImiloa, taken at 10:30am and 2:30pm on the same day show how Big Island weather can change from low visibility and poor air quality from heavy vog to clear skies in a matter of hours.
Photo from Mauna Kea: Vog from D Vent (left) and Pu'u O'o (right) blow out to sea on a tradewind day.
The visibility on highway 11 at the 23 and 24 mile markers changes dramatically between voggy and clear days.
Photo Gallery: Plants
Vog can sometimes be harmful to plants. Native species like uluhe (Dicranopteris linearis) and ʻōhiʻa (Eugenia malaccensis) have adapted to SO2-rich gases, but exotic plants, such as ginger and tibucinia, are susceptible to damage.
Leaves of tibouchina and ginger on 27 August 2007, two days after calm winds saturated the Volcano area in dense vog.
Tibouchina leaves damaged by vog.
Normal tibouchina leaves.
Ginger leaves damaged by vog. Note undamaged uluhe ferns towards top of this photo.
Normal ginger leaves. The undamaged leaves (in Glenwood) were photographed the same day.
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