Mauna Loa eruption in pictures: 200 ft fountains of lava set Hawaiian sky ablaze in fiery glow

AFP via Getty Images

Late in the night on Sunday evening, Hawaii’s Mauna Loa - the largest subaerial volcano measured by both mass and volume - began erupting after nearly four decades of silence.

Mauna Loa, which is dwarfed only by Tamu Massif, a massive a seamount perched in the northwest Pacific Ocean just 1,600km east of Japan, had magma lying just beneath the surface since its last eruption in 1984.

Early warnings about the potential eruption began to give way this summer, when the US Geological Survery (USGS) began reporting an uptick in seismic activity at the Hawaiian Big Island volcano in the months between August and October.

No communities or property in the surrounding area are currently under threat, officials have maintained in all of their updates posted since early Tuesday morning. But, they noted that the air quality for the public residing downwind of the volcano could be hazardous due to the presence of vog, ash in the air, and rising levels of sulphur dioxide.

Shortly after the 11.30pm eruption on the state’s Big Island, pictures of the eruption had begun flooding social media with the USGS reporting that the event had triggered dozens of earthquakes of more than 2.5 magnitudes on the Richter scale, with one of them clocking in at 4.2.

Here is a roundup of some of the best pictures that capture the stunning fountains of lava that began spewing from the volcano earlier this week. Some were captured by USGS webcams at the summit, while others show the plumes of amber-looking smoke rising into the sky above.

The largest subaerial volcano in both mass and volume, Mauna Loa has historically been considered one of the largest volcano on Earth, dwarfed only by Tamu Massif (Jetter McTedder / SWNS)

Rivers of molten rock could be seen high up on the volcano, venting huge clouds of steam and smoke at the summit on Big Island (AFP via Getty Images)

This image released by the US Geological Survey (USGS) on November 28, 2022 courtesy of the National Weather Service, shows a webcam view of the Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii, which is erupting for the first time in nearly 40 years (US Geological Survey/AFP via Get)

This aerial image released by the US Geological Survey (USGS) on 28 November 2022 courtesy of the National Weather Service, shows the lava in the summit caldera of Mauna Loa (US Geological Survey/AFP via Get)

The US Geological Survey says the eruption began late Sunday night in the summit caldera of the volcano on the Big Island. Early Monday it said lava flows were contained within the summit area and weren’t threatening nearby communities (U.S. Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory)

Lava pours out of the summit crater of Mauna Loa about 6:35am on 28 November 28 2022, as seen from Gilbert Kahele Recreation Area on Maunakea, Hawaii ( (Chelsea Jensen/West Hawaii Today via AP))

In this aerial photo released by the US Geological Survey, the Mauna Loa volcano is seen erupting from vents on the Northeast Rift Zone on the Big Island of Hawaii, on Monday ( (U.S. Geological Survey via AP))

Walls of lava as tall as 200 ft were seen flowing from Mauna Loa, the US Geological Survey said Monday night, though most of the fountains remained only a few yards tall ( (Chelsea Jensen/West Hawaii Today via AP))