Time-Lapse Shows Lava Brewing in Kilauea Volcano Crater Amid Eruption Fears

Footage showing thick, fiery lava splitting as it swirls inside the crater of a Hawaiian volcano has captured the public's imagination after it was shared online.

A social media user known as Massimo, an engineer who posts about scientific phenomena, posted the 14-second video of Kilauea to X, formerly Twitter, on Monday. The clip of the active lava lake has already been shared by hundreds of people and had been viewed more than 154,000 times by Tuesday morning. The footage was captioned: "The mesmerizing view of the inside of the Halema'uma'u crater, Kilauea volcano, Hawaii."

Kilauea, which sits on the southeastern shore of the Big Island, is an extremely active volcano that has been erupting regularly since 1983 and saw a renewed burst of activity this summer. Most of its eruptions tend to not be destructive and are contained within the crater, but an eruption in 2018 caused large, slow-moving lava flows throughout the nearby Puna District that eventually destroyed more than 700 homes. No one was injured.

The intense heat beneath the surface of the Earth melts rocks to form a thick substance called magma, which rises and collects in magma chambers before pushing its way through fissures to break through to the Earth's surface. Magma that erupts is called lava, and eruptions can result in slow lava flows or massive explosions.

Kilauea has an active lava lake in its crater and the U.S. Geological Survey occasionally shares footage of it on YouTube. This week's close-up look at the lake has captivated viewers, with several describing the clip as "amazing" while another X user said that it showed "nature's wonders captured in motion." Another joked: "Ah Frodo [from The Lord of the Rings] was just hypnotised by the volcano. Now it all makes sense!"

Kilauea, which is about 100 miles from Honolulu, is one of the most active volcanoes on Earth and its current eruption cycle began on September 29, 2021. The volcano's activity has been waxing and waning ever since.

But an uptick in activity saw parts of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park closed this month as officials warned that Kilauea "is showing more signs of increased unrest as earthquakes spike in the upper East Rift Zone near Puhimau Crater." The closures were a "precaution," the official added.

The U.S. Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory is closely monitoring the seismic activity around Kilauea and a spokesperson said that unrest may continue depending on "changes to the input of magma into the area and eruptive activity could occur in the near future with little or no warning."

Some 46 volcanos are in a continuous eruptive state worldwide, and experts said that 19 of them have exhibited a change in activity or alert level this month.

Iceland is bracing for a significant volcanic eruption as cracks have opened in the ground, splitting open roads, and an entire town has been evacuated.