America’s most active volcano erupted in Hawaii

Kilauea, one of the most active volcanoes on the planet and the most active in the United States, exploded on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Officials from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) on Wednesday confirmed the start of an eruption in Halemaumau crater at the top of the volcano.

Images taken by a webcam showed sources of lava covering the surface of the crater and spat volcanic gas clouds. In the same area, a large lava lake has already formed several times.

The rash occurred in an area where there are no houses and is fully contained in the Volcanoes National Park.

“All signs are that it will remain in the crater,” said Ken Hon, the USGS scientist in charge of the Hawaii Volcanoes Observatory.

“We see no indication that lava is moving to the bottom of the eastern part of the fault, where people live. Currently, all the activity takes place inside the park, ”he added.

The volcano alert passed to “warning” and the aviation code turned red.

Earlier today, officials said they detected increased seismic activity and ground elevation, raising alert levels.

Antecedents

El Kilauea recorded a major eruption in 2018 which destroyed more than 700 homes and displaced thousands of people. Until then, the volcano had been erupting slowly for decades, mostly away from densely populated residential areas.

The same area that erupted on Wednesday was also active between December and May last year.

Before the big eruption of 2018, Kilauea had been erupting since 1983, and lava flows occasionally covered farms and rural homes. During this time, lava occasionally reached the ocean, causing drastic interactions with the water.

For four months in 2018, the Kilauea hangar enough lava to fill 320,000 Olympic swimming pools, burying an area more than half the size of Manhattan in up to 24 meters (80 feet) of now hardened lava.

The molten rock has reduced the monuments, streets and neighborhoods to a vast field of blackened rocks and volcanic fragments.

Source: AP