Hawaii volcanic smog blankets Marshall Islands

Haze from the Kilauea volcano eruption in Hawaii blanketed the Marshall Islands 3,700 kilometres (2,300 miles) away on Sunday, as officials warned it would continue moving west.

The haze, a phenomenon known as "vog" or volcanic smog, "is spreading across Micronesia," the US National Weather Service based in Guam said.

The volcano on Hawaii's Big Island is now in its fourth week of eruptions.

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 farther westward and reach Kosrae, Pohnpei and possibly Chuuk in the Federated States of Micronesia over the next few days.

Kilauea is the world's most active volcano and one of five on Hawaii's Big Island.

It started erupting on May 3, 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.

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Gemini Observatory Cloud Camera Captures Volcano's Dramatic Glow
Hilo HI (SPX) May 25, 2018
A camera used at the Gemini North telescope to monitor sky conditions from Hawaii's Maunakea captured a remarkable time-lapse sequence of the Kilauea volcanic eruption. The sequence shows the glow from an extensive region of fissures over the course of a single night (May 21-22). During the sequence, multiple fissures expelled lava in the area in and around Leilani Estates in the Puna district of the Big Island of Hawai'i. The lava also flowed into the ocean during the period of the video. T ... read more