See dramatic views of Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano erupting
December 22, 2020
This view comes from a thermal camera on the western rim of the Halema’uma’u crater and the Kilauea summit. It shows the first few hours of the eruption starting on Dec. 20.
USGS GIF by L. DeSmither
The year will not be going out quietly in Hawaii. The Kilauea volcano roared back to life with a fresh eruption starting Sunday night. The US Geological Survey is monitoring the volcano and has shared eye-opening footage and images of the event.
Much of the action is happening in the volcano’s Halemaʻumaʻu crater, which had been filled with water. “Lava is cascaded into the summit water lake, boiling off the water and forming a new lava lake,” USGS tweeted Monday along with an image showing a fissure that was producing a 165-foot (50-meter) lava fountain.
Lava is cascaded into the summit water lake, boiling off the water and forming a new lava lake. The northern fissure, pictured, was producing the tallest lava fountain at roughly 50 m (165 ft), and all lava was contained within Halemaʻumaʻu crater in Kīlauea caldera. pic.twitter.com/4uEEL7qxOT
— USGS Volcanoes🌋 (@USGSVolcanoes) December 21, 2020
The USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory recorded an earthquake of a 4.4 magnitude shortly after the eruption began. As of Monday, the lava lake was rising slowly and the volcano was emitting a gas plume that stretched to the southwest.
USGS also released a stunning video of the eruption captured before midnight.
Video from W rim of the caldera just before midnight. As of December 21 at 1:30 a.m. HST, the growing lava lake has almost reached the level of the lowest down-dropped block that formed during the 2018 collapse events. Over the past 2 hours, the lake has risen by ~10 m (32 ft). pic.twitter.com/Qbx1d6hbq4
— USGS Volcanoes🌋 (@USGSVolcanoes) December 21, 2020
NASA and NOAA’s Suomi NPP weather satellite caught sight of the volcano, seeing it as a glowing spot.
Overnight, the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii began to erupt. #SuomiNPP passed over at about 1:42am local time and captured this image of the glow of the eruption. The situation is rapidly evolving and residents have been encouraged to stay inside to avoid exposure to volcanic ash. pic.twitter.com/X75Ykd8aUz
— Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) (@JPSSProgram) December 21, 2020
Kilauea went through a notable eruption in 2018, which was tracked by satellites and photographed by an astronaut on the International Space Station. That event triggered evacuations and destroyed structures in the lava flow zone. It’s too early to know what will happen with the current eruption.
One Twitter user inquired if the eruption was connected to the conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter happening Monday, but there’s nothing otherworldly going on here. The USGS responded, “No. Kilauea has been recharging for months, and had a small intrusion — sort of a false start — a few weeks ago. This has been brewing for a while.”
