Hawaii's Kilauea volcano is erupting again

One of the world's most active volcanoes began erupting early Monday morning, with glowing lava flows bursting within one of its craters, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Hawaii's Kilauea volcano is erupting in a remote part of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park that is closed to the public.

The eruption is in Halemaʻumaʻu crater in Kilauea's summit caldera at Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park on Hawaii's Big Island. Kīlauea makes up the southeastern side of the Big Island of Hawaii and is the youngest and most active volcano on the island, with several summit eruptions since 2020.

The most recent eruptions began after an increase in earthquake activity, according to the USGS. The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory detected the eruption through webcam images of the summit caldera.

"It's a pretty exciting time ... This is a really big voluminous eruption," Ken Hon, the head scientist at USGS's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said in a livestream chat on YouTube.

"It was a fairly rapid onset for one of these eruptions. This is the fifth eruption that we've had in the summit area of Kilauea since December of 2020," he said, adding that lava flows have already covered a 400-acre lava lake that began in 2020.

Webcam image of the down-dropped caldera floor from the west rim of the summit caldera, looking east. (Image credit: USGS)

Although the eruption is occurring within a closed area of the park, high levels of volcanic gas-water vapor, carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide-the visible haze known as vog (volcanic smog) can have far-reaching effects downwind  of the volcano.

Authorities assured the public that nearby communities would not be in danger of the eruption as it is contained within the national park, but did say "emission rates of the volcanic gases were very high" and spreading downwind from the crater, affecting air quality.

The USGS raised Kilauea's volcano alert level from ADVISORY to WARNING and its aviation color code from YELLOW to RED early Monday morning as it evaluated the eruption and associated hazards. Later on Monday morning, it was lowered to ORANGE/WATCH.

The USGS also posted a livestream of the eruption.

Webcam footage reveals a series of fissures erupting lava fountains, which are feeding flows at the base of Halemaʻumaʻu within Kaluapele, the summit caldera. As of Monday morning, the activity remained confined to the summit caldera and, according to the USGS the eruption began slowing by late afternoon.