The effects of volcanic eruptions are never just local. Earthquakes associated with them can be strong enough to trigger tsunamis in some ocean regions, and the ash and fog that they spew forth can impact areas that are downwind for miles. It’s the latter effect that’s taking place thanks to the Kilauea eruption in Hawaii.

National Park Service Officials are reporting that haze from Mt Kilauea blanketed the Marshall Islands on Sunday, and show no signs in stopping as its way across Micronesia. Here’s more from The Guardian: Meteorologists advised residents on the Marshall Islands with respiratory problems to stay indoors while airlines and shipping companies were warned to be aware of “lower visibilities”. The Guam weather office said haze produced by Kilauea would spread westward and reach Kosrae, Pohnpei and possibly Chuuk in the Federated States of Micronesia over the next few days.

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Hawaii National Guard Kilauea is the world’s most active volcano and one of five on Hawaii’s Big Island. It started erupting on 3 May, prompting about 2,000 people to flee from their mountainside homes. Scientists believe the volcanic activity may be a precursor to a major eruption similar to the one that shook the island in the mid-1920s. The US Geological Survey Website has more on that 1924 eruption:

USGS Halema‘uma‘u, the largest crater in Kīlauea Caldera, was the site of more than 50 explosive events during a 2.5-week period in May 1924. The explosions were then, and remain today, the most powerful at Kīlauea since the early 19th century, throwing blocks weighing as much as 14 tons from the crater. Halema‘uma‘u doubled in diameter, deepened to about 400 m (1300 ft), and drastically changed in behavior—for the next 85 years it no longer hosted a long-lived lava lake, until one returned in 2009.

Kilauea Boulders - USGS And now it seems the whole cycle has started all over again. While the Marshall Islands probably won’t have to deal with huge boulders landing on them, the toxic smog is a big concern. The Marhalls, named after British explorer John Marshall are located about 2300 miles from Mt Kilauea, about halfway between Hawaii and Australia.

Pixabay Let’s just hope that it plays itself out with a minimal loss of life.