Kīlauea, one of the most active volcanoes in the world, began erupting after a two-month pause, displaying glowing lava that is a safe distance from people and structures in a national park on the Big Island.
The alert level on Kīlauea was downgraded Monday afternoon with no infrastructure threatened and no threat of significant ash emission into the atmosphere outside a limited area within Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park.
The downgrade came one day after the volcano began erupting again, according to the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.
People living near the park should try to avoid volcanic particles spewed into the air by the eruption, the observatory said.
Mike Zoeller, a geologist with the observatory, said by email Monday that the eruption “represents a continuation of longer-term unrest at the Kilauea summit that dates back to late 2020, but it does not herald any heightened unrest beyond the levels that have prevailed since then.”
In June, Kīlauea erupted for several weeks, displaying fountains of red lava without threatening any communities or structures. Crowds of people flocked to the Big Island's Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, which offered safe views of the lava.
Kīlauea, Hawaiʻi's second-largest volcano, erupted from September 2021 until last December. A 2018 Kīlauea eruption destroyed more than 700 homes.
