AP
Washington Hispanic:
Lava shook and flowed over the weekend into the crater of a Hawaii volcano that began to erupt in December.
The Hawaii Volcano Observatory said the lava is confined to the Kilauea summit crater, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported Sunday.
The eruption began on 20 December inside the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island. The observatory said there was no data to indicate that magma is moving into any of the Kilauea rift zones, areas where the volcano is breaking apart.
The vents in the northwest side of the crater splashed on Saturday as lava flowed through crusty channels in a lava lake that has formed in the crater.
The lake had a tenth of a square mile and about 189 meters deep, with a narrow black ledge surrounding the area, he said the observatory.
A smaller, colder, solidified lava island floated in the lava lake, rising about 20 feet above the surface, the scientists said.
An observatory report in the Hawaii Herald-Tribune said Sunday that the main danger from the eruption is volcanic air pollution produced by gases emitted at the summit.
The lava lake would have to rise a few 80 meters before reaching a level that could be visible to the public from Kilauea Overlook in the National Park of the Hawaii Volcanoes, the observatory said.
The volcano had not erupted since 2018, when lava slipped from vents in the middle of a neighborhood and destroyed approximately 700 houses.