The Kilauea volcano on Hawaii’s Big Island has erupted, the US Geological Survey says.

The eruption began late on Sunday within the Halema’uma’u crater.

The volcano is within Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

A magnitude 4.4 earthquake hit about an hour after the volcano began erupting.

Video from W rim of the caldera just before midnight. As of December 21 at 1:30 a.m. HST, the growing lava lake has almost reached the level of the lowest down-dropped block that formed during the 2018 collapse events. Over the past 2 hours, the lake has risen by ~10 m (32 ft). pic.twitter.com/Qbx1d6hbq4

— USGS Volcanoes🌋 (@USGSVolcanoes) December 21, 2020

The USGS said it received more than 500 reports of people who felt the earthquake but significant damage to buildings or structures was not expected.

An advisory was issued by the National Weather Service in Honolulu, warning of fallen ash from the volcano.

Excessive exposure to ash is an eye and respiratory irritant, it said.

Kilauea erupted in 2018, destroying more than 700 homes and spewing enough lava to fill 320,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

An area more than half the size of Manhattan was buried in up to 24 metres of now-hardened lava.

The lava flowed for four months.

Red spots are the approximate locations of vents feeding lava flowing into the bottom of Halema‘uma‘u crater. The water lake has been replaced with a growing lava lake. The easternmost vent is currently exhibiting fountains up to approximately 50 m (164 ft) high. pic.twitter.com/KGQfKfwCQx

— USGS Volcanoes🌋 (@USGSVolcanoes) December 21, 2020