North vent in Halemaʻumaʻu crater started releasing the molten rock in 32nd such episode since December 2024
Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano resumed erupting on Tuesday, firing lava 330 ft (100 meters) into the sky from its summit crater.
It’s the 32nd episode of the volcano releasing molten rock since December 2024, when its current eruption began. So far, all the lava from this eruption has been contained within the summit crater inside Hawaii Volcanoes national park.
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: Years of preparation and global coordination ensured communities from Japan to Hawaii were not caught off guard
Good morning. Yesterday one of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded hit a sparsely populated region in far east Russia.
It triggered a tsunami that started crossing the ocean at hundreds of miles an hour. What followed was a race against time – early warning systems went into alert mode as waves fanned out towards the coastlines of Japan, Hawaii and the US west coast.
Travel | The head of the UK’s air traffic control company is facing calls to resign after hundreds of flights were delayed when the system went down for about 20 minutes on Wednesday.
Israel-Gaza war | A British-Israeli woman who was held hostage by Hamas for more than 15 months has accused Keir Starmer of “moral failure” after he set the UK on course to recognise a Palestinian state. Emily Damari, 29, who was released in January, said the prime minister was “not standing on the right side of history” and should be ashamed.
UK news | The co-founder of Palestine Action can bring a legal challenge to the home secretary’s decision to ban the direct action group under anti-terrorism laws, a high court judge has ruled.
Environment | Ethnic minorities and people living in the most deprived areas of England are at increased risk of dying due to excess heat, according to new research.
Technology | Five million extra online age checks a day are being carried out in the UK since the Online Safety Act introduced age-gating for pornography sites, according to new data from the Age Verification Providers Association.
Continue reading...Iceland’s weather agency advises residents to stay indoors because of high levels of toxic gas from 1.5-mile fissure
A volcano erupted on Wednesday on Iceland’s Reykjanes peninsula in the south-west of the country, the ninth eruption in region since the end of 2023.
The Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) said the eruption had begun just before 4am local time (05:00 BST), and live video feeds showed lava spewing from a fissure in the ground.
Continue reading...Chinese national, 27, reportedly returned to Japan’s highest mountain days after first rescue to retrieve his phone
A university student has been rescued from the slopes of Mount Fuji twice in the space of a week – the second time during an attempt to retrieve his mobile phone.
The hapless climber, a 27-year-old Chinese national who has not been named, was airlifted from Japan’s highest mountain last week, only to be the subject of a second search four days later.
Continue reading...Those who have not already left Grindavík warned nearby eruption could be much bigger than previous 10 since 2021
The Icelandic town of Grindavík and the nearby Blue Lagoon tourist attraction have been evacuated after the area was hit by another volcanic eruption.
The eruption is the 11th since 2021, when the Reykjanes peninsula, a region south-west of Reykjavík, started its latest eruption period.
Continue reading...Hilo office, with scientists and their volcano-monitoring equipment, may have lease cancelled from Doge cuts
As Hawaii’s most active volcano shot out fountains of lava on Thursday, some of them reaching as high as 700ft, scientists from the US Geological Survey have been posting regular updates on the scale and pace of the eruptions.
But those same scientists, along with their volcano-monitoring equipment, may soon be evicted from their office because of Elon Musk’s federal government cost-cutting, the Honolulu Civil Beat reported.
Continue reading...Child had run off from family ‘in a split second’ as they admired lava within caldera at sunset on 23 December
Hawaii national park rangers have reissued warnings about volcano tourism after a small child wandered off and came within feet of a 400ft cliff near the rim of Kīlauea volcano, whose latest eruption had begun on 23 December.
“The hazards that coincide with an eruption are dangerous, and we have safety measures in place including closed areas, barriers, closure signs and traffic management,” said park superintendent Rhonda Loh in a statement.
Continue reading...Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin flights in and out of Australia were cancelled after Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki erupted
Three Australian airlines have cancelled flights to and from Bali after a volcanic eruption near the Indonesian holiday spot created a dangerous ash cloud.
The groundings affected Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia flights on Tuesday and Wednesday, leaving passengers stranded.
Continue reading...Homes and a convent burn down as Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on island of Flores spews ash into the air
At least 10 people have died amid a series of volcanic eruptions on the Indonesian island of Flores, the country’s national disaster management has said.
The eruption at Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on Monday night spewed thick brownish ash as high as 2km (1.24 miles) into the air and on to several villages, burning down houses including a convent of Catholic nuns, said Firman Yosef, an official at the Lewotobi Laki-Laki monitoring post.
Continue reading...Buttle brothers argue in Auckland court that tour operators to blame for deaths of 22 people, including 14 Australians
The owners of an island volcano in New Zealand that erupted in 2019 killing 22 people, including 14 Australians, have launched an appeal against their criminal conviction for violating safety laws.
They argue that tour operators – rather than their company – were responsible for the safety of visitors to Whakaari, also known as White Island.
Continue reading...Local safety chief’s stark advice as visitors return to Grindavík – with more activity expected
Why do people want to see Grindavík? Gunnar Schram, the police chief for Suðurnes, the region of Iceland’s Reykjanes peninsula that has erupted six times since last December, laughs at the question.
The allure of getting close to an active volcano is so strong that even the person tasked with ensuring people behave around the eruption site at Grindavík, which opened up to the public on Monday for the first time since the town started cracking open on 10 November last year, cannot deny its majesty.
Continue reading...Research argues tremors occurred as Vesuvius erupted in AD79, causing buildings to collapse on to people
Victims who perished in Pompeii after the devastating AD79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius may have been killed by a simultaneous earthquake, research has suggested.
Scholars have debated for decades whether seismic activity occurred during the eruption of Vesuvius in southern Italy nearly 2,000 years ago, and not just before it, as reported by Pliny the Younger in his letters.
Continue reading...‘Extraordinary and unique’ ancient beach that was destroyed in AD79 disaster resurrected in southern Italy
An ancient Roman beach that was buried by the AD79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius has reopened to the public at Herculaneum archaeological park in southern Italy.
The beach has been reinstated after conservation work in recent years restored its original level, including bringing back sand, which is aimed at giving visitors the experience of walking along the beach almost as it was before the eruption.
Continue reading...Residents living near the volcano have been ordered to evacuate as authorities warn of further eruptions
Authorities in the Philippines have ordered residents living near Kanlaon volcano in the country’s west to evacuate, after an eruption sent a 5km (three mile) plume of ash into the sky.
The six-minute explosive eruption on Monday caused a “strong earthquake” and prompted the suspension of work and schools in nearby Canlaon City, while three airlines cancelled 32 flights on Tuesday.
Continue reading...The eruption began early Monday in a remote area that last saw lava a half-century ago, with ‘absolutely no property in danger’
Kilauea, one of the most active volcanoes in the world, began erupting early on Monday in a remote area that last erupted a half-century ago, the US Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said.
The eruption is about 1 mile (1.6 km) south of the Kilauea caldera, in an area within Hawaii Volcanoes national park that last erupted in December 1974. The area surrounding the caldera has been closed to the public since 2008 because of other hazards, including ground cracking, instability in the crater wall and rockfalls.
Continue reading...Plumes of lava reach 50 metres into air as people are moved away from Grindavík near Blue Lagoon spa
A volcanic eruption has begun on the Reykjanes peninsula in south-western Iceland, according to the country’s meteorological office, shortly after authorities evacuated the nearby town of Grindavík.
“An eruption has started near Sundhnúkagígar, north of Grindavík,” the Icelandic meteorological office said in a statement on Wednesday, almost three weeks after the end of a previous eruption that started on 16 March.
Continue reading...Nearly 20 missing after monsoon rains trigger flash floods, sending torrents of volcanic material and mud down slopes of Mount Marapi volcano
Heavy rains triggered flash floods and caused torrents of cold lava and mud to flow down a volcano’s slopes on Indonesia’s Sumatra island, killing at least 41 people and leaving more than a dozen others missing, officials have said.
Monsoon rains and a major mudslide from a cold lava flow on Mount Marapi caused a river to breach its banks and tear through mountainside villages in four districts in West Sumatra province just before midnight on Saturday. The floods swept away people and submerged more than 100 houses and buildings, national disaster management agency spokesperson Abdul Muhari said on Sunday.
Continue reading...Ships evacuating 12,000 islanders over fears that side of Mount Ruang might slide into sea and cause tsunami
Eruptions at a remote Indonesian volcano have forced more than half a dozen airports to close with ash spreading as far as Malaysia, according to officials, while authorities rushed to evacuate thousands due to tsunami fears.
Mount Ruang erupted three times on Tuesday, spewing lava and ash more than 5km (three miles) into the sky and forcing authorities to issue evacuation orders for 12,000 people.
Continue reading...More than 11,000 people told to leave their homes after Mount Ruang erupted at least three times since Friday afternoon
More than 2,100 people living near an erupting volcano on Indonesia’s Sulawesi island were evacuated on Friday due to the dangers of ash, falling rocks, hot volcanic clouds and the possibility of a tsunami.
Indonesia’s volcanology centre recorded at least three eruptions since Friday afternoon, with the maximum height of the eruption column reaching 1,200 metres (3,900 ft).
Continue reading...More than 800 people evacuated from Mount Ruang as alert level raised to four – highest in four-tier system
Authorities in Indonesia have issued a tsunami alert after a volcano erupted several times in the country’s southernmost region, spewing a column of smoke more than a mile into the sky and forcing hundreds of people to be evacuated from their homes.
Mount Ruang, a stratovolcano in North Sulawesi province, first erupted at 9.45pm local time on Tuesday and then four times on Wednesday, Indonesia’s volcanology agency said.
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