Big island current lava flow

Hawai and you think beaches, sun, volcanoes, lava, tourism, travel and more. The park’s centerpiece, Kilauea, has been active as recently as 2018, and visitors should be aware that portions of the park are closed during periods of seismic activity that might pose a threat. Located on the Big Island of Hawaii, Volcanoes National Park offers an unique, close-up look at an active volcano system where lava seeps from fissures in the earth. The surrounding landscape is shaped by cooled lava rock, both old and new, which has flowed over roads in a display of its unstoppable force. During the area’s most active periods, tourists have the chance of experiencing the thrill of feeling seismic activity, hearing the boom of gas emissions, or even seeing a pillar of ash escaping into the air. The park has many things to do and see, including the Thurston Lava Tube, the Jagger Museum, Devastation Trail, and the steaming Halema’uma’u crater. Address: 1 Crater Rim Drive, Hawaii National Park, Hawaii

Kilauea is sometimes called “the world’s only drive-in volcano.” This prolific volcano produces 250,000-650,000 cubic yards of lava per day-enough to resurface a 20-mile-long, two-lane road each day. As of January 1994, 875 acres of new land have been created on the island of Hawaii. Many locals say that Pele, the volcano goddess who lives here, is very unpredictable. The extraordinary natural diversity of the park was recognized in 1980 when it was named a World Biosphere Site by UNESCO and in 1987 when the park was honored as a World Heritage Site. Begin your visit at the Kilauea Visitor Center for a great introduction to the park. Ranger talks are offered, hike suggestions for the day, and ranger-guided activities. Pick up maps, learn about the park’s hikes and get the latest volcano updates here.

Once believed to be an offshoot of its large neighbor, Mauna Loa, scientists now have concluded that Kilauea is actually a separate volcano with its own magma-plumbing system, extending to the surface from more than 60 kilometers (over 37 miles) deep in the earth. Kilauea Volcano, on the south-east side of the Big Island, is one of the most active on earth. Major eruptions started in January 1983 and continue to this day. Kilauea has been erupting nearly continuously since 1983 and has caused considerable property damage, including the destruction of the town of Kalapana in 1990, and the destruction of Vacationland Hawaii more recently. The Lower Puna eruptions which began in May of 2018, opened two dozen lava vents in Puna. The earthquake in May 2018 measured 6.9 on the Richter Scale and caused nearly 2,000 residents to be evacuated from the Leilani Estates subdivision and surrounding area.

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Hualalai is an active volcano. The resort town of Kailua is on the southwest flank of the volcano. Hualalai last erupted in 1801 and sent lava from a vent on its northeast rift down to the ocean. Swarms of earthquakes in 1929 were probably the result of magma movement within the volcano but there was not an eruption. Hualalai is monitored by geologists of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. In the last 24 years there have been no swarms of microearthquakes nor any harmonic tremor. Since the early 1980’s the geologists have been surveying the volcano. Hualalai is not expanding at the present time nor has expanded since the geologists began making their measurements. If anything changes I’m sure we’ll hear about it.