The MIROVA thermal anomaly data from April 2020 through February 2021 indicate low levels of thermal activity from April through October 2020. This report covers activity from July 2020-February 2021. Its remoteness makes ground observations rare, but satellite data and reports from the Darwin VAAC (Volcanic Ash Advisory Center) suggest that the most recent eruption which began in September 2018 with lava fountaining, lava flows, and ash emissions has continued with intermittent thermal anomalies at the summit and minor ash emissions since early 2019. Intermittent similar eruptions since 2005 have lasted for months to years. No further evidence of activity was found until 1991 when ash plumes, Strombolian explosions, and lava flows that reached the ocean were observed. 354 m All times are local (unless otherwise noted)īarren Island, an uninhabited possession of India in the Andaman Sea, had numerous historical eruptions observed during 1787-1832. Right now, only time will tell what might happen next at Kīlauea, but the ramifications of the 2018 lower East Rift Zone eruption will be felt for decades to come.Barren Island India 12.278°N, 93.858☎ summit elev. The government could intercede to make it more difficult to develop in places prone to volcanic eruptions, however economic pressures in Hawaii make this unlike. Home sales have already been impacted by the eruption. This is more than an academic question as the people who used to live in the now-buried areas of the lower East Rift Zone will need to decide if they want to try to rebuild like people have done at Kalapana or whether they try to move to a less volcanically-active place. So, have we entered a new phase of activity for Kīlauea? The low carbon dioxide emissions and lack of inflation suggest that there isn’t much new magma coming into the system, but as we’ve seen, this can change quickly. Will Kīlauea continue to erupt on the lower East Rift Zone around where the Leilani Estates eruption occurred? Will it reestablish the lava lakes at the summit and Pu’u O’o? That seems unlikely considering the collapses that occurred at both. The volcano had 35 years of nearly constant activity at Pu’u O’o and the summit, but now, after this lower East Rift Zone eruption, everything has stopped. Right now, the biggest question for geologists is what is Kīlauea going to do next. The former site of Kapoho Bay, covered by 2018 lava flows. Although the number is still not certain, likely over 700 homes were destroyed along with other structures across the area from Leilani Estates to Vacationland Hawaii, where the lava filled in Kapoho Bay entirely. However, that is still enough to coat the entire island of Manhattan with ~8.5 meters (~27 feet) of lava. That’s roughly twice the size of Key West in Florida but only 0.3% of the area of the island of Hawaii itself.Ī rough estimate of the total volume erupted is 0.5 cubic kilometers, putting it at about half the size of the 2014-15 Holuhraun eruption in Iceland but amongst the largest in recorded history from Kīlauea (which is the last ~250 years). Here’s some of the data: approximately 35.5 square kilometers of the big island were repaved with lava, which includes ~3.5 square kilometers added to the island. So, let’s take stock in what happened during the eruption. By no means is anyone declaring the eruption over, but right now, Kīlauea really not doing much. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park reopened to tourists this past week after closing the whole summit of Kīlauea. Even the ubiquitous deformation that was happening at the summit (deflation) and in the lower East Rift Zone (inflation) have vanished. Earthquakes and collapses are now infrequent on the volcano and nary a lava flow can be seen at the surface, even deep in the Fissure 8 cinder cone built on the site of Leilani Estates. In fact, the Hawaii Volcano Observatory reports that carbon dioxide emissions at Kīlauea are lower than anything they’ve seen in over a decade. The eruption on the lower East Rift Zone that captured the planet’s attention over the summer trickled to a stop in late August and since then there hasn’t been much going on at all at the giant shield volcano.
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