Kilauea volcano on Hawaii’s Big Island

The Kilauea volcano erupted on December 20 and was followed by an earthquake. This was notified in an advisory released by the U.S. Geological Survey urging people to stay indoors.

Kilauea volcano

The Kilauea volcano is a volcano mostly composed of lava flows (shield volcano) on Hawaii Island.  It is one of the five volcanoes on the island and is the most active one among all. The other four volcanoes are- Mauna Loa, Kohala, Hual?lai, and Mauna Kea.

Key Points

• The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) detected a glow in the Halema?uma?u crater of K?lauea Volcano on December 20.
• This indicated an eruption had commenced within K?lauea’s summit caldera.
• HVO gave an alert for the eruption and elevated the alert level of the volcano to WARNING and its aviation color code to RED.
• This was done due to the possibility of steam-driven explosions and related hazards and the presence of the water lake at the summit of K?lauea.
• The eruption has commenced now and is at present confined to Halema?uma?u crater.
• HVO has now decreased the alert level of the volcano to “Watch’ and has also changed its aviation color code from Red to Orange. It means the ongoing eruption is less-hazardous.

Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO)

HVO is an agency of the U.S. Geological Survey. It monitors the volcanoes on Hawaii Island, issues warnings for earthquakes, etc.  It was formed in the year 1912 and is headquartered in Hilo, Hawaii, USA.