Kīlauea volcano eruption continues

The eruption at Kīlauea volcano that began on Monday, Dec. 23, continues this morning.  Over the past day, vents in the southwest portion of the caldera have continued producing a fan of lava flows covering the southwest portion of the crater floor, with the vigor of lava fountaining increasing over the past day, according to the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.

Eruptive activity has been confined to Halemaʻumaʻu and the downdropped block within the caldera. No unusual activity has been noted along Kīlauea’s East Rift Zone or Southwest Rift Zone.  

Seismicity at the summit over the last 24 hours has been low with no detected earthquakes. Seismic tremor remains low but has increased gradually over the past two days with the increase in fountaining. Summit tiltmeters recorded gradual inflationary tilt yesterday, and switched to deflationary tilt around midnight. SO2 emissions remain elevated, with a gas plume rising above the caldera this morning, but outgassing vigor is greatly reduced compared to the periods of higher lava fountaining earlier last week. 

 Webcam images indicate that the eruption within Kaluapele (the summit caldera) continues this morning from vents on the southwest side of Halemaʻumaʻu crater. Effusion of lava over the past day has produced an enlarging fan of flows that cover the southwest portion of the crater. Fountaining vigor has increased over the past day but is still below the intensity observed in the opening days of the eruption last week.      

The current eruption at the summit of Kīlauea is the sixth eruption within the caldera since 2020. These eruptions in the summit region have lasted for about a week to more than a year in duration.

This eruption, like most others, started with vigorous lava and volcanic gas emission, but has paused twice and today shows moderate levels of activity.  Current fountaining intensity and lava flow eruption rates are well below those observed in the opening days of the eruption, and it is uncertain if those initial levels of eruptive vigor will return. Previous summit eruptions have exhibited vigorous activity in the opening days which can episodically wax and wane, or drop over time to sustainable low effusion rates, or slowly diminish and end.

HVO continues to closely monitor Kīlauea and is in contact with Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park and the Hawai‘i County Civil Defense Agency.  

See the Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park website for visitor information: https://www.nps.gov/havo/index.htm. 

Information on Kīlauea hazards is posted here: https://www.usgs.gov/observatories/hawaiian-volcano-observatory/hazards.