New Eruption At Kilauea Volcano

Above, an aerial view of Kilauea Volcano in May 2016. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

A Magnitude 4.4 earthquake has struck the Big Island of Hawaii tonight along with an eruption of Kilauea volcano.

According to West Hawaii Today:

Hawaii County Civil Defense said the eruption that commenced shortly after 9:30 p.m. Sunday remains confined to the Kilauea Volcano’s summit caldera.

“According to HVO (Hawaiian Volcano Observatory), it looks like it’s all contained within the crater, however, the National Weather Service did say that there was a plume that was released from Halemaumau that had rised for 30,000 feet,” Bill Hanson with Hawaii County Civil Defense said shortly before 11:30 p.m.

According to the observatory, Sunday night’s eruption was preceded by an earthquake swarm accompanied by ground deformation detected by tiltmeters. An orange glow was subsequently observed on IR monitoring cameras and visually beginning approximately 9:36 Hawaii time.

Civil Defense said a magnitude-4.4 earthquake that struck at 10:36 p.m. on Kilauea’s south flank was not large enough to cause a tsunami.

Previous updates: The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory has upgraded Kilauea Volcano’s alert level to “WARNING” and aviation color code to “RED” following an eruption that commenced shortly after 9:30 p.m. Sunday.

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