Lava and ash are spewing from a volcano that has erupted on Hawaii’s Big Island following weeks of earthquakes.
A "strong" eruption occurred at the Halemaumau crater of the Kilauea volcano, and forecasters have warned that ash is likely to fall on nearby towns.
A magnitude 4.4 earthquake struck the area about an hour after Sunday night's eruption, along with tremors measuring between 2.0 and 2.7, but there was no tsunami threat to Hawaii.
Planes were told to avoid airspace around the volcano due to the ash cloud.
The US Geological Survey says (USGS) wrote online: "Shortly after approximately 9.30pm, the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) detected glow within Halemaumau crater at the summit of Kilauea Volcano.
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"An eruption has commenced within Kilauea’s summit caldera. The situation is rapidly evolving and HVO will issue another statement when more information is available."
"Accordingly, HVO has elevated Kilauea’s volcano alert level to WARNING and its aviation color code to RED."
The Hawaii County Civil Defense Agency tweeted: "The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory reports an eruption at the Halemaumau Crater of the Kilauea Volcano.
"Trade winds will push any embedded ash toward the Southwest. Fallout is likely in the Kau District in Wood Valley, Pahala, Naalehu and Ocean View. Stay indoors to avoid Exposu."
The USGS said "ground deformation" and a series of earthquakes had been detected for several weeks before the eruption, exceeding those observed since the end of a major eruption and summit collapse in 2018.
It wrote: "In late November 2020, increased earthquake rates began when seismic stations recorded an average of at least 480 shallow, small-magnitude earthquakes (97% of which were less than or equal to magnitude-2) per week occurring at depths of less than 4 km (2.5 miles) beneath Kīlauea’s summit and upper East Rift Zone.
"This compares to a rate of fewer than 180 per week following the end of Kīlauea’s 2018 eruption and through early November 2020.
"On December 2, 2020, GPS stations and tiltmeters recorded a ground deformation event at Kilauea’s summit.
"Accompanied by earthquake swarms, the patterns of ground deformation observed were consistent with a small dike intrusion of magma under the southern part of Kilauea caldera.
"The injection resulted in about 8 cm (3 inches) of uplift of the caldera floor, and modeling suggests that it represented 0.4–0.7 million cubic meters (yards) of magma accumulated approximately 1.5 km (1 mile) beneath the surface.
"Though the intrusion did not reach the surface and erupt, it represented a notable excursion from trends observed in Kilauea summit monitoring data streams following the end of the 2018 eruption.
"On December 17, 2020, seismometers detected a notable increase in occurrence and duration of long-period seismic signals beneath Kīlauea’s summit, which are attributed to magmatic activity.
"Whereas this type of seismicity was observed on average once every few weeks following the 2018 eruption, rates have increased to over a dozen in the past several days.
"Other monitoring data streams including volcanic gas and webcam imagery were stable until this eruption.
"An earthquake swarm began on the evening of December 20, accompanied by ground deformation detected by tiltmeters. An orange glow was subsequently observed on IR monitoring cameras and visually beginning approximately 9.36pm."
