<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/hawaii" rel="" target="_blank" title=""><span>Hawaii's</span></a><span> Kilauea volcano resumed erupting this weekend by shooting an arc of lava 100 feet (30 meters) into the air and across a section of its summit crater floor.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>It was Kilauea's 31st display of molten rock since December, an appropriately high frequency for one of the world's most active volcanoes.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The north vent at the summit crater began continuously spattering in the morning, and then lava overflowed a few hours later. The vent started shooting lava fountains in the afternoon.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/woollahra-sydney-hidden-train-station-revival-thousands-of-homes-state-government-plan/8ca7ecd8-69f6-4fd3-aa1d-ff42ced2bf1a" target="_blank" title="Abandoned train station in Sydney's east to be revived"><strong><span>Abandoned train station in Sydney's east to be revived</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The eruption was contained within the summit crater, and no homes were threatened.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A few lucky residents and visitors will have a front-row view at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. If the past is a guide, hundreds of thousands more will be watching popular livestreams made possible by three camera angles set up by the U.S. Geological Survey.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Whenever she gets word the lava is back, Park Service volunteer Janice Wei hustles to shoot photos and videos of Halemaumau Crater — which Native Hawaiian tradition says is the home to the volcano goddess Pele.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/world/hawaii-usa-volcano-kilauea/6097f424-15dc-45f1-bc7b-9a0799bb57fc" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>She said that when the molten rock shoots high like a fountain, it sounds like a roaring jet engine or crashing ocean waves; she can feel its heat from over a mile away.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/brisbane-pro-palestine-protest-thousands-to-march-across-city/c7ec1ca7-51dc-40f0-932c-69c9a96da44a" target="_blank" title="Thousands to flood Brisbane's CBD for pro-Palestine rally"><strong><span>Thousands to flood Brisbane's CBD for pro-Palestine rally</span></strong></a><span></span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“Every eruption feels like I am sitting in the front row at nature’s most extraordinary show,” Wei said in an email.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Kilauea is on Hawaii Island, the largest of the Hawaiian archipelago. It’s about 200 miles (320 kilometers) south of the state’s largest city, Honolulu, which is on Oahu.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Here’s what to know about Kilauea’s latest eruption:</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><strong><span>Towering fountains of molten rock</span></strong></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A lower magma chamber under Halemaumau Crater is receiving magma directly from the earth’s interior at about 5 cubic yards (3.8 cubic meters) per second, said Ken Hon, scientist-in-charge at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>This blows the chamber up like a balloon and forces magma into an upper chamber. From there it gets pushed above ground through cracks.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Magma has been using the same pathway to rise to the surface since December, making the initial release and subsequent episodes all part of the same eruption, Hon said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Many have featured lava soaring into the air, in some cases more than 1,000 feet (300 meters). The fountains are generated in part because magma — which holds gases that are released as it rises — has been travelling to the surface through narrow, pipelike vents.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/queen-victoria-market-fire-man-charge/3c5b3d20-e943-454a-99ba-ea06b80a04b2" target="" title="Alleged arsonist targets popular Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne"><strong><span>Alleged arsonist targets popular Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The expanding magma supply is capped by heavier magma that had expelled its gas at the end of the prior episode. Eventually enough new magma accumulates to force the degassed magma off, and the magma shoots out like a Champagne bottle that was shaken before the cork was popped.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>This is the fourth time in 200 years that Kilauea has shot lava fountains into the air in repeated episodes. There were more episodes the last time Kilauea followed this pattern: The eruption that began in 1983 started with 44 sessions of shooting fountains.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Those were spread out over three years, however. And the fountains emerged in a remote area, so few got to watch.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The other two occurred in 1959 and 1969.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><strong><span>Predicting Kilauea’s future</span></strong></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Scientists don’t know how the current eruption will end or how it may change.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In 1983 magma built enough pressure that Kilauea opened a vent at a lower elevation and started continuously leaking lava from there rather than periodically shooting out of a higher elevation. The eruption continued in various forms for three decades and ended in 2018.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Something similar could happen again. Or the current eruption could instead stop at the summit if its magma supply peters out.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Scientists can estimate a few days or even a week ahead of time when lava is likely to emerge with the help of sensors around the volcano that detect earthquakes and minuscule changes in the angle of the ground, which indicate when magma is inflating or deflating.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/perth-man-escaped-custody-wa-police/ff2f6aee-c763-426a-bb34-097da077e579" target="" title="Police hunt escapee, 39, who 'shouldn't be approached'"><strong><span>Police hunt escapee, 39, who 'shouldn't be approached'</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“Our job is like being a bunch of ants crawling on an elephant trying to figure out how the elephant works,” Hon said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The lava fountains have been shorter lately. Steve Lundblad, a University of Hawaii at Hilo geology professor, said the vent may have gotten wider, leaving molten rock less pressurised.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“We’re still gonna have spectacular eruptions,” he said. “They’re just going to be wider and not as high.”</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><strong><span>Carrying stories of Pele</span></strong></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Some people may see lava flows as destructive. But Huihui Kanahele-Mossman, the executive director of the Edith Kanakaʻole Foundation, said lava is a natural resource that hardens into land and forms the foundation for everything on Hawaii Island.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Kanahele-Mossman’s nonprofit is named after her grandmother — the esteemed practitioner of Hawaiian language and culture and founder of a noted hula halau, or school.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Hālau o Kekuhi is celebrated for its mastery of a style of hula rooted in the stories of Pele and her sister, Hiʻiaka.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Kanahele-Mossman has visited the crater a few times since the eruption began. She initially watches in awe and reverence, but then she observes more details so she can go home and compare it to the lava in the centuries-old tales that her school performs.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/morialta-national-park-man-dies-after-falling-from-popular-adelaide-hiking-lookout/e4b258ae-264d-4e60-aae8-0fb0c5ee5a57" target="_blank" title="Man falls to his death in Adelaide while 'retrieving rubbish'"><strong><span>Man falls to his death in Adelaide while 'retrieving rubbish'</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>While at the crater, she also delivers a chant prepared in advance and places offerings. Recently she presented awa, a drink made with kava, and a fern lei.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“You as the dancer, you are the storyteller and you carry that history that was written in those mele forward,” she said, using the Hawaiian word for song.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“To be able to actually see that eruption that’s described in the mele, that’s always exciting to us and drives us and motivates us to stay in this tradition.”</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/how-to-follow-9news-digital/29855bb1-ad3d-4c38-bc25-3cb52af1216f"><em><strong><span>DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP</span></strong></em></a><em><strong><span>: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. 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