Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano eruption in ‘full swing’: USGS

Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano has erupted in “full swing”, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said, with local media reporting that the eruption posed no immediate danger to residents.

Webcam footage of the Halemaumau crater at the volcano’s summit showed lava fountains covering the floor of the crater and billowing clouds of volcanic gas rising into the air on Wednesday.

Kilauea, located on Hawaii’s Big Island, is one of the world’s most active volcanoes. It had a major eruption in 2018 that destroyed more than 700 homes and displaced thousands of residents. Before that eruption, the volcano had been slowly erupting for decades, but mostly not in densely populated residential areas.

Officials said the most recent eruption does not pose a threat to homes and is entirely contained within Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

“What was once a cooling lava lake is now a new fissure eruption,” US Geological Survey Volcanoes said in a tweet.

The Sun has set on the new eruption within Halemaʻumaʻu crater at Kīlauea’s summit. We’ll be back in the early morning with more posts here, but in the meantime, new images and other info will be posted throughout the night at https://t.co/Lm77CMQ2Tc. #KilaueaErupts #kilauea pic.twitter.com/olCDWes1F7

— USGS Volcanoes🌋 (@USGSVolcanoes) September 30, 2021

Meanwhile, Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) elevated  Kilauea’s volcano alert level from “Watch” to “Warning”.

Ken Hon, the scientist in charge of the observatory, told The Associated Press: “All signs indicate that it will stay within the crater.”

“We’re not seeing any indications that lava is moving into the lower part of the east rift zone where people live. Currently, all the activity is within the park,” he said.

The same area of the volcano that began erupting on Wednesday also erupted in December and lasted until May.

Before..and..After! #Kilauea #volcano summit #eruption is in full swing. What was once a cooling lava lake is now a new fissure eruption! https://t.co/ZIxSFKk70V

Follow along with updates at the #HawaiianVolcanoObservatory website. #HVO https://t.co/KGKIwXB2A8#KilaueaErupts pic.twitter.com/jCqTFsJRMS

— USGS Volcanoes🌋 (@USGSVolcanoes) September 30, 2021

Hon said these types of eruptions could be happening for years as the volcano fills up.

“We do know that one thing that happens is that the magma keeps coming into Kilauea at a pretty constant rate and so it’s either filling the inside of the volcano and repressurise it or it’s coming out to the surface,” he said.

The Hawaiian eruption comes as the Cumbre Vieja volcano on the Spanish island of La Palma has been erupting for 11 days.

On Wednesday the European Union’s Copernicus service estimated that the lava had destroyed 656 homes as it spread across 267 hectares (660 acres).