Kilauea eruption reactivates after overnight pause

HAWAII VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK (HawaiiNewsNow) - The most recent eruption at Kilauea volcano has reactivated on Tuesday, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

USGS officials said the eruption that started early Monday paused later that afternoon. It then reactivated at several vents along the southwest of Halemaumau Crater.

Eruptive activity remains confined to the crater, USGS officials said.

After a three-month pause, Kilauea began erupting again at approximately 2:20 a.m. Monday at the base of Halemaumau Crater within the summit caldera. Elevated seismic activity was detected just 30 minutes before the eruption.

The USGS said the eruption had “slowed significantly” between 3 and 4 p.m.

Webcam imagery showed continued lava fountaining through much of the day, but by 4 p.m., fountaining stopped and seismic tremor was close to background levels.

Scientists said there were no immediate threats to human life or infrastructure, but emission rates of volcanic gases were high.

Scientists described the eruption as “dynamic.”

According to USGS, lava fountains were observed with heights up to 260 to 300 feet at one point.

Molten material, including lava bombs, were being ejected from the vents on the caldera floor up onto the west caldera rim, within the closed area of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

“It was a fairly rapid onset for one of these eruptions. This is the fifth eruption that we’ve had in the summit area of Kilauea since December of 2020,” said USGS HVO Head Scientist Ken Hon in a livestream chat.

“And as you do notice, there’s some very large fountains playing in the southwest corner of Halemaumau Crater, which is in the southern half of Kaluapele, or the summit caldera of Kilauea Volcano, up here and near the main entrance of of Volcanoes National Park.”

Hon said the lava flows have already covered the old lava lake that began in 2020, which is approximately 400 acres.

“It’s a pretty exciting time... This is a really big voluminous eruption.”

The last time Kilauea erupted was in September in a remote area of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. It only lasted for a few days.

Some flights were impacted immediately after the eruption due to the vog.

“We delayed 7 inter-island departures and canceled 2 flight early this morning while we waited for weather reports from the eruption area. We were cleared to resume operations at 6:40 a.m. and accommodated guests impacted by the cancellations on later flights,” a spokesperson for Hawaiian Airlines said.

Planning to visit the site? Click here for more information from the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park Service.

View the live webcam of Kilauea’s eruption by clicking here.

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