There are fewer headlines these days about the ongoing eruption happening at the Kilauea volcano on the Big Island.
But there are still amazing things happening. Here are 5 new facts about Kilauea right now:
Kilauea Volcano Fact #1: The “Fissure 8” lava fountain still bubbles lava about 165 feet (50m) into the air. Here it is in action on June 17, 2018. (USGS photo)
Kilauea Volcano Fact #2: Fissure 8 lava then flows into a channel, all the way to the ocean. Although the channel is slowly expanding, most of it is maintaining its shape right now, much like a river of water does when river flows remain fairly consistent. (USGS photo)
Kilauea Volcano Fact #3: 500 earthquakes hit the volcano’s summit in just hours.
Says the USGS volcano update on June 18, 2018: “After over 500 earthquakes (24 of which were stronger than magnitude-3.0) since noon Sunday beneath the summit of KÄ«lauea volcano, nearby residents felt a large earthquake and may have heard a roaring followed by a low gas plume emerging from Halema`uma`u crater crater” which was blown downwind at about 1,000 feet above sea level.
Kilauea Volcano Fact #4: Forget about erosion, Hawaii’s Big Island is getting bigger! Look at this map below. In the upper right-hand part of the map, the blue text and a dotted line show where the former coastline used to be. Each day, some sections of the coastline jut out into the sea more than they did the day before.
Kilauea Volcano Fact #5: The lava is moving 200 yards per hour and has covered 9.4 square miles as of June 18, 2018. And finally, there is this: you think your oven is hot? Hawaii’s molten lava is 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit, which is 1149 degrees Celsius. That is why there is so much steam when the lava hits the ocean-the ocean water is boiling!
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