Kilauea, the iconic Big Island volcano with a name that means “spewing” in Hawaiian, is once again living up to its name, erupting this week with stunning fountains of glowing molten lava soaring as high as 1,000 feet into the air.
The volcano, with a name that is also translated as “much spreading,” has caused temporary closures in its national park and on an important highway due to ash and falling volcanic fragments, the Associated Press reported.
A number of videos of Kilauea, known for dazzling locals and visitors for years with its spectacular eruptions, have gone viral on social media.
Almost a year ago, Kilauea put on a spectacular nighttime display as it caused an explosion and poured lava over its rim like a hot waterfall.
The display that began earlier this week marked the eruption’s 43rd episode since it began erupting in December of 2024.
The volcano’s summit is inside Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and is well removed from the island’s residential communities, though some, AP reported, have experienced “tephra,” the term given to falling ash and glassy volcanic fragments.
However, in the past Kilauea has posed a far more serious threat. According to the National Park Service:
In 2018, a new eruption of Kīlauea volcano changed the island of Hawai‘i forever. From May through August, large lava flows covered land southeast of the park destroying over 700 homes and devastating residential areas in the Puna District. At the same time, the summit area of the park was dramatically changed by tens of thousands of earthquakes, towering ash plumes, and a massive collapse of Kīlauea caldera.
The volcano is the youngest and most active volcano on the Hawaiian Islands and one of the busiest in the world, according to the parks service.
The volcano began roughly 280,000 years ago, first forming underwater, and has covered almost 90 percent of its surface in lava flows within the last 1,000 years, according to its park website.
Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the best-selling author of the Los Angeles crime novel Below the Line and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.
