Hawaii's Kilauea Volcano Erupts!

Geology professor Shawn Willsey provides an update on the Sept 15 and 16 eruptions in Kilauea's Middle East Rift Zone within Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
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[@shawnwillsey]

Please LIKE and SUBSCRIBE. I also appreciate your continual support of these geology education videos. To do so, click on the "Thanks" button just above (right of Download button) or by going here: www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=EWUSLG3GBS5W8 Or: www.buymeacoffee.com/shawnwillsey UPDATE: Eruption confirmed by USGS as of 6am HST on Sept 17. You can see eruption on this webcam: www.usgs.gov/media/webcams/pwcam-puu-oo-west-flank-puu-oo Latest USGS update: www.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/volcano-updates

[@lavapix]

Having hiked to this area from the east and west I can tell you it's very remote and not an easy hike from the east. Going through Napau crater when the area is active is extremely dangerous and seeing most of the activity is in the trees you're not going to get close. The terrain isn't easy to navigate. The activity resumed around 4 am this morning 9-17-24. Roughly 30 microdons of summit deflation magma intruded this area. For comparison, in 2011 during the Napau crater eruption over 125 microdons of magma from Puu Oo set off that event. I made it out to that eruption. This area has a shallow magma chamber and is more susceptible to eruptions. You can see ancient cones that were once long-term eruptions now covered with trees.

[@wendywhite2642]

@@lavapix dude, you’re a god

[@lavapix]

Now it's in Napau Crater. The fissures nearly cross the entire crater floor.

[@lavapix]

@@wendywhite2642 Haha, nah, just a guy who enjoys difficult adventures. The last time I hiked to the area from the east I was 50. I did great. My pack weighed in at 80 lbs at the start. Now at 64, I'm sure I could do it but it would certainly take longer and I'd need the pack down to 50 lbs or less 🙂 If the route were heavily overgrown then I'd have to abort. In 2011 the hike back took 8.5 hours.

[@tthappyrock368]

Thank you for the update! I'm glad the eruption is in a remote area and that people won't face losing their homes!

[@pattilemonhouse7911]

The flash was dramatic on that dark night. Thanks, Shawn. I'm sure happy you're here.

[@KamaainaGirl]

Mahalo for the update. Pule for the people!

[@AmericanAirlinesRule]

Thanks again for the update Shawn. HVO just put out another update saying eruptive activity has increased.

[@MrBothandNether]

I live across the street from her but I sure appreciate your thorough coverage of our noisy loud smoking neighbor. I shot some close up video of last year's eruption if you want to see it on my non-monetized channel.

[@joannekellam191]

Thanks for taking the time to share your expertise in another great update!

[@heroshotlgn]

We went to VNP on the 13th, hiked all over the park and joked it would be erupting as soon as we left....we left the big island Sunday🥲

[@Angie-pl3uw]

Thanks for taking time between, before classes to bring us up to date. We've been watching this for sometime😮 and then suddenly, as you say, boom boom boom it occurs. Thanks for keeping us posted.

[@nataliew8061]

Thanks for the update 😊

[@delilahboa]

Thanks Shawn for update x❤x 👍🏻

[@fake6168]

the fact that such small eruptions are possible is incredible to me

[@MandyWilliams-j5v]

Thank you for keeping us all upto date Shawn brilliant updates from you, love watching your videos very informative and very interesting to watch. Keep up the fabulous work 😊

[@Jefuslives]

That blue really stands out when you have white smoke to compare it to.

[@FrediOlson]

Thank you for the update.

[@jfmezei]

Dear teacher ! USGS posted a video of the lucky USGS employees picking up lava samples and quickly dumping water on it. Because of your courses, I now know that the rapid cooling is needed to preserve whataver minerals formation had happened at time smple was taken. And at very end of video, they have text (doesn,t stay long enough) which confirms this ! "The fast quench is needed to preserve the geochemistty of the fresh sample and prevent changes that would result from the formation of crystals during slow cooling". It's great to learn from your courses and be able to apply that knowledge to better understand what they do during eruptions.

[@wendygerrish4964]

Showed up on USGS latest earthquake map page as quite active on weekend.

[@intercat4907]

This is one of the coolest sites on the Internet. Of course, I just flew to LA for a 3-day vacation at the Tar Pits and the Natural History Museum. Soooo ... yeah. Wear the T-shirt, study the planet.

[@glenharmon4280]

Tar pits is cool, I hope you have fun

[@sheilagraham8543]

Thanks for the update Shawn.

[@eaglepursuit]

Nice of Hawaii to put on a fireworks show for my birthday

[@xwiick]

Thanks for all the hard work on these videos!

[@poppawolf26]

it's erupting again....6pm ....9/16/2024... Hawaii time....see USGS update for more info....Aloha from Makaha...activity increased between 4 and 5 am Hawaii time

[@williamharberts5514]

I appreciate all of your updates. How you find the time to monitor Iceland and Hawaii along with all your academic and other duties I don't know, but I'm sure glad you can do it.

[@nancyadams9228]

I have hiked there!

[@starquilts]

Thank you for your constant vigilance of our active planet!

[@jfmezei]

USGS has released more pretty pictures this tuesday afternoon, and one shows the lava fountains and lave flows from fountains.

[@sandrine.t]

So, it did erupt! Thanks for keeping us posted, Shawn! By the way I really like the 3D plots, I find them very helpful :)

[@Stormy7573]

Wow 😮 I missed this ! Thank you for keeping us so informed 😊 I’m impressed with your pronunciation of the various names 👏👏👏✨✨

[@dzymslizzy3641]

Volcanoes are so fascinating and frightening at the same time. I wonder why the sulfur gas is blue, when the mineral is yellow?

[@MaryJohnson-ik8xb]

I was there for the 2018 eruption 🌋🌋. Please take photos from a safe distance. People die just as fast from the gas vapors. Thanks for the fantastic updates.

[@elainejones5109]

Thanks, Shawn! How often are these small eruptions stand-alone events? Are they followed later by larger eruptions?

[@rm-yf2ii]

Hiked that trail in 2011. Even then the venting from the ground in parts of the jungle smelled like a chemistry classroom. Worthwhile 7 mile hike if they ever open it again.

[@dlane5292]

My wife & I were also there in 2011.

[@sheilaathay2034]

Woo! I thought it was just an intrusion! Yikes😮

[@omie5763]

Thanks.

[@ericfielding2540]

Very polite of Kilauea waiting to erupt until the eruption in the Reykjanes peninsula finished. just kidding

[@mbvoelker8448]

Thanks for the update. I would have thought that with all the unrest in the area there'd have been some more webcams set up.

[@shawnwillsey]

Kilauea is a big volcano with historic eruptions popping up in many locations. And much of it is jungle and a national park. So its hard to have the whole area covered in webcams. I am sure they will get a portable webcam going near the eruption site.

[@LisatheKiwi99]

@@shawnwillsey www.usgs.gov/observatories/hvo/s2cam-view-napau-crater-east-rift-zone-kilauea-view-southwest A view of the eruption

[@JanetClancey]

Thanks Shawn

[@msa3724]

Thanks! Excellent summary

[@shawnwillsey]

Thanks for your support.

[@jfisher890]

Thanks!

[@jackmcmichael3560]

Good morning from Santa Monica CA 🌴

[@KnucklebarkRanch]

Was the crater a collapse or a blow out

[@lavapix]

Its fissures.

[@TurnerRentz]

The precursors were correct. Dr. Willsley seems to be on to something, the EQ patterns discussed in the last episode truly became a good means of understanding the structural and physical geology of this amazing system. The more I get into Gen AI, the more I am getting into Geology. Maybe it's because rocks are alive just like people. Who knows. lol. Good work all!! Wow!

[@TheZenBeePgh]

Neat. Thanks for the update!

[@aldebaran4154]

As of 11:21 am HT as I type this it's still erupting. I didn't feel the earthquake the other day but that can happen here, because we are so used to it that unless it's a large quake our brains just ignore the smaller quakes. 😀

[@pauletteserecero933]

😊

[@SusanC147]

Wow-I understand the phreatic explosive interaction of magma/lava with water, but that USGS report mentioned explosive interaction with methane pockets. That hadn't occurred to me-in the future, would you please go into a little more detail about that? & Is there a name for it?

[@memyselfandeye8377]

Thanks for your expertise ❤❤❤❤ nature does what it does when it does... we are humbled 🙂.

[@janinewilliams8633]

Pelehonuamea is on the move. Pay your respects to our Mother’s land. Aloha

[@crissykloth3721]

kind of you, to share with us - it is astonishing for me: no view of fire, no big bangs or cracks and so on, but you can show me in aprox. 15 Min. the horrible site of the eruptions going on. The blue light, SO2, in former innocent (naive) time I thought gases would not harm the environment, later we were taught the opposite but not any gas. And now I am glad to know about let s say like kindergarden child knowledge about the devasting faces of a volcano. But under our sun - everything should be wellcomed, our Creator above in the sky and Mother Earth will be having a big plan with us. The blue is so fantasm like or ghosty, I thank you bye Crissy

[@shawnwillsey]

Here's the red stuff: www.usgs.gov/media/images/september-17-2024-kilauea-middle-east-rift-zone-eruption

[@stefansauvageonwhat-a-twis1369]

blimey who couldve predicted this, oh wait heheh cool stuff

[@UTubeQu1che551]

Compared to all of the instrumentation and live cams in Iceland, why isn’t this volcano covered in more depth? It seems there are even more people and infrastructure at risk on the big isle.

[@shawnwillsey]

Good question. Kilauea is a big volcano with historic eruptions popping up in many locations. And much of it is jungle and a national park. So its hard to have the whole area covered in webcams. I am sure they will get a portable webcam going near the eruption site.

[@UTubeQu1che551]

@@shawnwillsey one lives in constant hope…

[@SevereWeatherCenter]

It doesn’t look like an eruption , but I failed vent that wasn’t able to open up and that is venting volcanic gases

[@shawnwillsey]

www.usgs.gov/media/images/september-17-2024-kilauea-middle-east-rift-zone-eruption

[@robertslugg8361]

So they have an area of increased earthquake activity, and they have a cam set on a 1 frame per hour rate. SMH

[@stephanniecb]

Mahalo

[@davehart1027]

So, I'm 100percent wrong, but apparently there's another asteroid passing earth soon, I'm 100percent wrong, but could an asteroid act like the moon drawing rides? I can't work out the theory, but when it passes, there's going to be more volcanic activity, and northern lights as the things following the asteroid are drawn to earth's atmosphere?

[@KnucklebarkRanch]

Why I ask, is there a magma chamber underneath those fissures ?

[@lavapix]

Yes. And it's closer to the surface in that area.

[@shawnwillsey]

There is a conduit from magma reservoir beneath caldera to this area and even further down the east rift zone.

[@user-kf6lu4dn2r]

Whoever offended the volcano Gods, apologize at once!!

[@reinerdecher8755]

I wonder whether this related to the moon location where it might induce more stresses on the weak crust Reiner

[@aprilrene9631]

🗽🪷

[@SkylarknTexas]

🌋❤️🕊🙏🏻

[@kengyang1908]

No way a volcano erupts,,the flat earth coming to end alright alright alright alright alright

[@RWBHere]

12:16 '...it just drops like a rock.' It IS rock. 😉

[@teresamicheletti977]

@shawnwillsey 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 Aloha! Fans Like ÷) ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ Educational Excellence ÷) ☆☆☆☆☆ Informative Information ÷) ☆☆☆☆☆ Grateful Shared Updates ÷) ☆☆☆☆☆ BestEverBest Teamwork Views ÷) ☆☆☆☆☆ Mahalo! Fans Subscribe ÷) ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

[@morgasm26]

Look how big the craters are that this eruption is between.. I have a feeling this is going to turn into a new "pu'u".. potentially as big as the ones on either side of this eruption..

[@gladysdecelles9951]

Thanks Shawn

[@patrickgriffiths889]

Thanks!