Overview: Hawaii's Kîlauea volcano erupted in 2018, sending rivers of lava through communities and into the sea.

Join scientists and local residents as they investigate this frightening spike in volcanic activity that turned an island paradise into an inferno.

DVD Verdict: In May 2018 the Kîlauea volcano erupted, obliterating neighborhoods with devastating force and uprooting thousands of local residents.

It is Hawaii's most destructive volcanic eruption in generations. How can one of the most beautiful places on Earth suddenly transform into a roaring inferno, sputtering molten lava and bombs of volcanic rock the size of refrigerators?

On the ground in the early days of the eruption, NOVA joins scientists and residents alike on a breathtaking journey to investigate Kîlauea's recent spike in activity.

“One of the first things emergency responders wanted to know was where the lava was coming out, where are all the fissures,” says J. Carver Struve, NASA emergency management co-lead at NASA Headquarters in Washington who coordinated the organization and distribution of data and satellite imagery from seven NASA centers.

In total, seven instruments onboard five NASA, JAXA, and other partner satellites provided key information on eruption patterns and atmospheric impacts of the Kilauea eruption.

These included detection of active fissures, fires, ash and sulfur dioxide plumes, deformation of the ground caused by magma movement, and the height and composition of volcanic plumes.

Even astronauts onboard the International Space Station were able to view the eruption, sending digital camera images to the USGS and response community.

The European Space Agency and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency also contributed data to the effort.

In addition to providing data to support recovery and resilience planning, NASA has a long-standing research effort to understand volcanic processes before, during and after eruptions, insights that can also serve as a window into understanding volcanoes on other planets.

The current Kîlauea eruption was an opportunity to evaluate the performance of instruments to estimate lava flow rates and volume, crucial parameters in volcanic models.

This new PBS program showcases the length and extremes that these men and women went to and what their findings provided that could save us from another similar, or even worse volcanic eruption. This is a Widescreen Presentation (1.85:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs.