After 2 years of peaceful, Kilauea, Hawaii’s youngest and most active volcano, is appearing once again. In the early days of the volcano’s most current eruption, water that had actually pooled in the volcano’s top crater (Halema‘uma‘u) given that July 2019 was changed by a lava lake. The water boiled off on December 20, 2020, after the brand-new eruption opened 3 cracks on the walls of the crater and put lava into the lake.
December 28, 2020. Click image for broad high-resolution view.
The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA’s Terra satellite obtained a false-color image (above) of the crater and lava lake on December 28, 2020. A vent where lava is streaming into the crater appears red. A thin crust of cooling volcanic product drifting on the lava makes the surface area appear gray, and there is darker “island” of more strengthened product drifting in the center of the lava lake. A little, plume of steam and other volcanic gases shows up increasing from a vent on the western wall of the crater.
View looking north throughout Kīlauea caldera southern rim of Halema‘uma‘u, revealing the continuous eruption around 5: 30 p.m. HST on January 5, 2021. The west vent activity consisted of the “dome fountain,” gushing lava streams from a mid-elevation vent, and weak strombolian spattering activity from the high-elevation vent. Credit: USGS picture by K. Lynn.
The lava lake has actually grown significantly given that December, reaching a volume of 35 million cubic lawns (27 million cubic meters) and measuring 192 meters (630 feet) deep by January 6. Beginning on January 2, a little location of upwelling called a “dome fountain” broke through the crust finishing the lava lake.
January 4, 2021
The Suomi NPP satellite obtained a broad nighttime view of Hawaii on January 4, 2020. The lava lake looks like an intense spot of light on the eastern part of the “Big Island.” Hilo, Honolulu, and other cities likewise look like brilliant areas in the image. Moonglint—the reflection of moonlight on the sea surface area—lights up the location simply west of Hawaii. The image was gotten by the day-night band of the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), which spots light in a series of wavelengths from green to near-infrared and utilizes filtering methods to observe faint signals such as fires, electrical lights, and the radiance released by lava.
While volcano observers have actually had some issues that the existence of a considerable quantity of water in the top caldera might produce more explosive eruptions, the preliminary phases of this eruption have actually not been abnormally explosive. “The lack of explosivity at the eruption onset might have been due to the fact that the fissure opened outside the water lake, rather than directly beneath it,” stated Michigan Tech volcanologist Simon Carn, keeping in mind that might have triggered the water to boil off rapidly instead of combining with lava. “The most violent explosions occur when water is 20 to 30 percent of the volume of the mixture.”
Telephoto video of lava circulation and fountaining in Halema‘uma‘u lava lake; spatter bursts from the active west crack vent in Halema‘uma‘u.
Clip 1: The lava lake in Halema‘uma‘u Crater is being fed by 2 sources from the western crack today, the tubed over lava stream getting in the lava lake at the margin (started the other day, January 6, 2021) and the little dome water fountain (optimum height 5 meters or 16 feet).
Clip 2: The southwest vent of the western crack is producing routine spatter bursts that have actually constructed the cone approximately almost the height of the formerly active cone to the right. In this video, spatter that has actually developed at the top of the cone collapses, broadening the opening.
Credit: Hannah Dietterich, Alaska Volcano Observatory
Volcanic activity on Kilauea prevails. The last significant occasion happened in 2018 when lava put from the Lower East Rift Zone and part of the top collapsed.
NASA Earth Observatory images by Joshua Stevens, utilizing information from NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Space Systems, and the U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team, and VIIRS day-night band information from the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership.
