A small explosion at the summit of Hawaii’s erupting Kilauea Volcano on Sunday sent ash spewing into the air, creating a driving hazard for roads on parts of the Big Island, the US Geological Survey said.
Lava fountains from a fissure in the volcano reached as high as 180 feet (55 meters) from Saturday night into Sunday, pushing flows of molten rock into the Pacific Ocean, it said.
Kilauea, on Hawaii’s Big Island, first started erupting on May 3, resulting in lava oozing over residential communities and heading towards the Pacific Ocean. The lava first met the ocean on May 20.
Lava from the Kilauea volcano erupts from a fissure and forms a river of lava flowing down to Kapoho on Sunday
A small explosion at the summit of Hawaii’s erupting Kilauea Volcano on Sunday sends ash spewing into the air
Lava fountains from a fissure in the volcano reached as high as 180 feet (55 meters) from Saturday night into Sunday
‘Seismic activity at the crater continues with gas explosions and ash eruptions under 10,000 feet (3,050 metres). While the eruption is never predictable, conditions appear stable for the moment,’ Richard Rapoza, a spokesman for Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, said in an email.
The eruption, which entered its 39th day on Sunday, stands as the most destructive in the United States since at least the violent 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington state.
The major eruption reduced hundreds of square miles to wasteland and killed nearly 60 people, according to geologist Scott Rowland, a volcanologist at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
Kilauea, on Hawaii’s Big Island, first start erupting on May 3, resulting in lava oozing over residential communities
Lava from the Kilaeua volcano can be seen flowing into the Pacific Ocean near Kapoho Bay and Vactionland on the Big Island
The sky’s deep orange hue reflects the fiery volcano eruption in Leilani Estates. The lava has already destroyed 600 homes
However, the eruption is expected to impact the state’s marine and animal life for decades as the environment changes in the wake of the lava flow.
When lava – which emits sulfur dioxide and hydriodic acid – mixes with water, it changes the acidity in the water.
If the acidity changes enough, it could have a deleterious effect on sensitive marine life, which would either leave the area or stay away from it in the future, he said.
In addition, when lava meets water, it sheds tiny, glassy particles into the water, which Samsone said would be harmful when passing through animals with gills.
Hawaii National Guard soldiers were spotted stopped near Pahoa while examining the lava flow covering the road Friday
Lava from the Kilauea volcano paints Hawaii’s normally crisp, blue skies orange in Leilani Estates on Saturday
The sky turns orange as lava flow covers a road near Pahoa on Hawaii’s Big Island on Friday. Kilauea began erupting on May 3
‘On the shoreline, the differences will be night and day,’ Frank Samsone, a professor of oceanography at UH Manoa, previously told KHON.
Samsone said that it could take hundreds of years for the marine life to return to the state it was in prior to the volcano eruption.
No one has died in this Hawaii eruption but about 600 homes have been swallowed by lava flows from Kilauea since May 3, Hawaii County Mayor Harry Kim said last week.
Vacationland, a private development believed to comprise about 160 homes, was completely erased, and at least 330 houses were devoured by lava at Kapoho Beach Lots, Kim said.