Kilauea, Hawaii’s most energetic volcano, erupted for the second time in three months on Sunday afternoon, in accordance with the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, which mentioned there was no rapid hazard to residents.
The 3:15 p.m. eruption threw fountains of lava virtually 500 toes into the air, in accordance with David Phillips, the deputy scientist-in-charge on the observatory, which is a part of the United States Geological Survey. The observatory raised alert ranges for Kilauea to a warning from a watch slightly below an hour earlier than the eruption started.
Livestreamed footage confirmed fissures on the base of the volcano’s major crater, Halemaʻumaʻu, producing lava flows on its floor flooring.
Kilauea, in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on Hawaii’s Big Island, final erupted in June, and the observatory had been carefully monitoring it for an additional doable eruption since August. Increasingly frequent earthquakes, swelling of floor throughout the previous few weeks and swimming pools of magma flowing upward over the previous 24 hours had been all indicators of an imminent eruption, in accordance with the observatory.
Mr. Phillips mentioned the volcano’s location within the nationwide park put it at a protected distance from native residents. “There is no immediate threat to human life or property,” he mentioned by phone.
But he mentioned volcanic smog — a mix of sulfur dioxide and different volcanic gases — may pose a well being threat to folks with respiratory points. Volcanic smog might be carried by wind throughout giant distances and might final so long as an eruption continues.
Mr. Phillips mentioned it was unclear how lengthy the eruption would final, noting that they will vary in period from a couple of weeks to a number of a long time. But he predicted that it could not be just like the 2018 eruption that was accompanied by tens of hundreds of earthquakes and destroyed over 700 properties, in accordance with the National Park Service.
Kilauea, Hawaii’s youngest volcano, shaped underwater round 280,000 years in the past, in accordance with the National Park Service. It had erupted virtually repeatedly from 1983 to 2018, and once more from 2020 onward. A current eruption lasted from September 2021 by December 2022. The June eruption lasted about 12 days.
Source: www.nytimes.com