Kilauea volcano enters fourth eruption phase: Watch LIVE

[Judi Lynn]

By Patrick Pester last updated 2 days ago

Kilauea volcano in Hawaii is erupting with fountains of lava. Check out a USGS livestream from within the Halema'uma'u crater.

Kilauea volcano entered its fourth eruptive episode on Thursday (Jan. 16), blasting fountains of lava hundreds of feet into the air and emitting thousands of tons of toxic volcanic gas — you can watch the eruption live in the video above.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is live-streaming the eruption on its YouTube channel. Thousands of people have tuned into the live stream, which focuses on the northwest rim of the caldera — the cauldron-like area at the top of a volcano.

As of Jan. 16, the eruption remains confined to the caldera, within a restricted area of Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park. However, Kilauea volcano is producing high levels of volcanic gas, including sulfur dioxide (SO₂ , that can have far-reaching effects downwind, according to a Jan. 16 update on the USGS website.

"As SO₂ is continuously released from the summit during an eruption, it will react in the atmosphere to create the visible haze known as vog  volcanic smog) downwind of Kilauea," USGS wrote in the update.

More:
https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/volcanos/watch-kilauea-volcano-erupt-live