Kilauea volcano erupts in Hawaii for the 9th time since December
Kilauea volcano on Hawaii's Big Island began erupting this week for the ninth time since December, shooting lava over 300 feet into the air.
One of the world's most active volcanoes, Kilauea started spewing lava on Tuesday at 10:16 a.m. local time and kept going for over 22 hours, wrapping up at 8:43 a.m. Wednesday. This latest episode is the ninth in a period of increased activity that started in the early morning hours Dec. 23, 2024, with pauses in between.
This week, lava fountains from Kilauea's north vent reached heights of 330 feet during the early hours of the eruption, with a slow effusion of lava from the south vent later. The lava fountains from the north vent Tuesday night averaged heights between 160 and 200 feet, and slowly dropped through Wednesday morning until the vents shut again.
The lava flow reached about half a mile across Halemaʻumaʻu crater, which is part of the much larger Kilauea caldera at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Kilauea sits along the southeastern shore of the Island of Hawaii within the national park. Volcanoes National Park includes the summits of two of the world's most active volcanoes, Kilauea and Mauna Loa, and is a popular tourist destination.
The lava didn't threaten communities nearby, but the U.S. Geological Survey said volcanic gas and strands of volcanic glass known as Pele's hair can affect residents and visitors nearby.
USGS said characteristics of this eruptive episode suggest there will be another episode, but that it couldn't tell when the next eruption might happen. Since December, each episode has lasted from hours to several days, and periods of inactivity in between have lasted hours to 12 days, according to the USGS.
Contributing: Thao Nguyen, Paste BN