On Hawaii's Big Island, one of the world's most active volcanoes is erupting.
The US Geological Survey verified on Wednesday (local time) that an eruption had started in the Halemaumau crater at the top of the Kilauea volcano.
According to webcam footage, lava fountains covered the crater's surface, and billowing clouds of volcanic gas rose into the air. Throughout the volcano's eruptive history, the exact location has been home to a massive lava lake.
The eruption is contained within Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and is not in an area where people live.
The alert level for the volcano has been upgraded to "warning," and the aviation code has been altered to 'red.'
Officials had previously stated that increasing seismic activity and ground swelling had been noticed and that the alert levels had been upgraded correspondingly.
In 2018, Kilauea experienced a massive eruption that destroyed over 700 homes and displaced thousands of people. The volcano had been slowly erupting for decades before that, although primarily outside of densely populated residential areas.
Streams of lava have sporadically buried rural farms and residences since 1983. During that period, lava occasionally reached the ocean, resulting in dramatic water interactions.
Kilauea erupted enough lava to fill 320,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools over four months in 2018, burying an area more than half the size of Manhattan in up to 24 meters of now-hardened lava. Landmarks, streets, and neighborhoods were turned to massive blackened rocks and volcanic shards by the molten lava.
The summit lava lake ceased erupting after the 2018 eruption. It began to fill with water for the first time in recorded history, prompting fears about the prospect of an explosive interaction between lava and groundwater.
The exact section of the volcano that erupted on Wednesday did so in December and lasted until May.
Officials expect tens of thousands of visitors to throng to the area and warned that visitors should be cautious of natural hazards as well as COVID-19.
