Larger Kilauea eruptions may follow
PAHOA: Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano spewed ash nearly 9km into the sky yesterday and scientists warned this could be the first in a string of more violent explosive eruptions.
‘‘This has relieved pressure temporarily,’’ US Geological Survey geologist Michelle Coombs told a news conference in Hilo.
‘‘We may have additional larger, powerful events.’’
Residents of the Big Island were warned to take shelter from the ash, as toxic gas levels spiked in a small southeast area where lava has burst from the ground during the twoweek eruption.
The wind could carry Kilauea’s ash plume as far as Hilo, the Big Island’s largest city and a major tourism centre, the County of Hawaii Civil Defence warned in an alert.
‘‘Protect yourself from ash fallout,’’ it said.
Some Big Island residents had feared ‘‘the big one’’ after Kilauea shot anvilsized ‘‘ballistic blocks’’ into the visitors’ car park on Thursday and was rocked by earthquakes that damaged buildings and cracked roads in the park that was closed last week.
But geologists said the explosion early yesterday was not particularly large and was on a par with the last series of steamdriven blasts, which took place in 1924.
It was extremely unlikely Kilauea would have a massive eruption like that of 1790, which killed dozens of people, they said.
Its lava lake had probably fallen to a level at or below the water table, allowing water to run on to the top of its lava column and create steamdriven blasts.
‘‘I don’t think there is a big one that’s coming,’’ University of Hawaii vulcanologist Scott Rowland said.
‘‘I think it’s going to be a series of explosions similar to the one that happened this morning, and that’s based on what happened in 1924, which is really our only analog.’’
A 21st fissure also opened in Leilani Estates yesterday, while other fissures reactivated with lava, Hawaii Civil Defence said in an alert.
A spike in toxic sulphur dioxide gas levels closed schools around the town of Pahoa, 40km east of the volcano, where lava has destroyed 37 homes and other structures and forced about 2000 residents to evacuate.
Civil defence workers handed out one ash mask per family member in communities close to Kilauea to protect residents from the powdered rock, which is not poisonous but irritates eyes and airways.
An aviation red alert was in effect due to risks ash could be carried into aircraft routes and damage jet engines, USGS said. Passenger jets generally cruise about 30,000ft, the height of yesterday’s plume.