Weeks after Hawaii’s Mauna Loa erupted for the first time in decades, neighboring volcano Kilauea is showing activity again after a brief pause, according to officials.
According to CNN, Kilauea, which had stopped erupting last month for the first time since September 2021 amid Mauna Loa’s own lava eruption and subsequent slowdown — had increased earthquake activity beneath its summit and recorded ground deformation on Thursday morning, officials said.
“Kilauea volcano is erupting,” the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory and the U.S. Geological Survey said on Thursday. A glow was detected in nearby webcam images, “indicating that the eruption has resumed within Halemaʻumaʻu crater in Kilauea’s summit caldera” at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, the agencies said.
Officials have elevated Kilauea’s volcano alert level to a warning status as well as updated its aviation color code from orange to red, the agencies said.
The eruption is currently confined to the crater and poses no hazard to communities, the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency said on social media. However, officials are keeping close watch. Kilauea’s eruption in 2018 was one of the most destructive in recent Hawaii history, forcing evacuations of surrounding neighborhoods and destroying hundreds of homes.
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