New eruption for the Kilauea volcanoin Hawaii, with lava fountains tall up to 400 meters: as reported by the USGS (US Geological Survey, the United States Geological Survey), the eruptive activity began on Halemaʻumaʻu crater around 8.17 pm (Italian time, 09.17 local time) yesterday Tuesday 10 March and it was concluded after 9 hours and 4 minuteswith both the north and south vents active, which produced a cloud of ash And smoke.
This is the 43rd eruptive episode recorded on the volcano since December 2024: during this eruption, only the lava fountains of the southern vent reached 400 meters in height, while those of the northern vent were around 300 metres. The double fountains they produced heat and ash in significant quantities, creating a plume of smoke which reached i 9,000 meters of height above sea level, with i winds pushing the cloud towards the north-east.
The plume did fall pyroclastic material (the so-called “tephra”) within Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and adjacent areas: the Volcano Golf Course community was the most affected, with fragments of ash and lapilli several centimeters in diameter.
For safety reasons, Highway 11 was temporarily closed, while the National Weather Service has issued a warning for the ash fallwhich is also clearly visible in the video below released by the USGS.
It was therefore a particularly intense eruption, with the emission of approximately 12 million cubic meters of lava that covered 50% of the floor of the Halemaʻumaʻu crater. In total, since December 2024 the volume of volcanic material erupted is approximately 250 million cubic meters.
The civil aviation alert, initially declared at the red level (the maximum), has now been downgraded to orange level of attention. It must be said, however, that the eruption was of comparable size to the two previous episodes (numbers 41 and 42 respectively): Kilauea, in fact, is one of the most active volcanoes in the worldcharacterized by very frequent effusive eruptions, which are also reflected in its “shield volcano” shape.
