#Kīlauea volcano

It was a dark and stormy night… and the volcano had a secret.

Madam Pele continued her impressive fire display this morning, whipping up 65- to 100-foot-high fountains of lava on the floor of Halemaʻumaʻu at Kīlauea volcano.

Native Hawaiian oral traditions record a rich history of the changing volcanic landscape in Hawaiʻi. Interweaving cultural knowledge with scientific disciplines can provide a more complete understanding of past events, including the largest known lava flow eruption of Kīlauea.

Kīlauea volcano is erupting. The new eruption began at approximately 12:30 a.m. HST on Monday, June 3, likely about a mile (1-2 km) south of Kīlauea caldera and north of the Koa’e fault system and Hilina Pali Road, within Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park.

In each of these places—on the Reykjanes Peninsula, Kīlauea in 2018, Cumbre Vieja, and Nyiragongo—the impact of the eruption extends far beyond the margins of the lava flow.  Large numbers of nearby residents have been displaced, and their lives severely disrupted, even if the flow spared their property. 

To help improve data quality, shallow boreholes are being drilled that will house new instruments and allow them to be thermally insulated. These new seismometers have both broadband and strong motion capabilities, and the seismic data quality is proving to be excellent, according to researcher technicians with the University of Hawaiʻi.

The 2018 lower East Rift Zone and 35-year-long Puʻuʻōʻō eruptions of Kīlauea had large impacts on the Puna District. Many residents were deeply affected by devastating lava flows, earthquakes, gas emissions, and other volcanic hazards. However, it is important to note that these eruptions are dwarfed compared to some past Kīlauea eruptions including the largest identified subaerial flow—‘Ailā‘au.