The Kilauea volcano on Hawaii’s Big Island erupted Tuesday in a nine-hour spectacular that shot fountains of lava about 1,300 feet into the air, according to the US Geological Survey.
The eruption generated “significant heat and ash,” the USGS said, with about six inches of “tephra” — chunks of volcanic material ranging from glass-like particles to rocks and ash — accumulating on a nearby golf course.
Some glassy material, dubbed “Pele’s hair” for its beach-like texture, traveled as far as the town of Hilo, the USGS said. Hilo is about 30 miles away by car. During the eruption on Tuesday, Kilauea released an estimated 16 million cubic meters of lava and sent up an ash plume that reached over 30,000 feet.
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A 24-hour GIF of a live webcam view of Kīlauea Caldera and Halemaʻumaʻu Crater.
Kilauea has been erupting regularly since December 2024; Tuesday’s fiery display was the 43rd “eruptive episode” since then.
A GIF of a thermal image of Halemaʻumaʻu from the western rim of the summit of the caldera.
Kilauea is a shield volcano, meaning it is flatter and shorter than the classic conical peak of a compound volcano. But what such volcanoes lack in height, they make up for in size – much wider than they are tall, shield volcanoes are the largest volcanoes on Earth. These volcanoes often produce slow moving lava flows. Kilauea is among the planet’s most active volcanoes and has been erupting for as long as humans have been around to document it.
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