Kīlauea summit eruption remains paused, but glow from lava lake persists

White clouds of volcanic gas wafted over Kīlauea volcano Saturday afternoon on the Big Island watching the livestream of the summit caldera, at times nearly whiting out the images from the camera watching from the edge of Halema‘uma‘u Crater.

No longer were fountains firing off from vents in the southwest portion of the caldera, shooting bright red and orange lava still up to 100 feet high into the air and feeding flows covering most of the crater floor to the downdropped block.

Following more than a week of consistent — and sometimes vigorous — activity, the summit eruption of Kīlauea remained on pause Saturday afternoon.

Episode 3 of the eruption that started during the early morning of Dec. 23, 2024, suddenly ceased Friday, with the one remaining lava fountain in the south vent rapidly shutting down at about 8:40 p.m.

“We are flying in this morning, but it looks like it stopped,” posted an anonymous member early Saturday morning in the We Love Kīlauea and Mauna Loa Volcanoes. Facebook group. “I could literally cry. This has been on my bucket list for years!”

Other group members reassured the member that visiting the park is definitely still worth a trip — and just seeing the glow of the lava lake is an amazing experience.

Hawaiian Volcano Observatory reported Saturday morning in its daily Kīlauea udpate that glow from the crater floor was still visible as breakouts and overturning crustal plates exposed molten lava.

Glow could persist for days.

It makes sense: the area where the automatic laser rangefinder is pointing on the crater floor had increased in elevation by nearly 50 feet throughout the course of the eruption.

That’s a lot of lava being put back into the caldera, especially after the partial collapse during the 2018 lower East Rift Zone eruption.

The elevation has, however, gradually fallen by about 10 feet since the lava fountain shut down Friday night.

There was no visible flow of lava back into the vent after the pause, and the gradual drop in lava level is more likely because of loss of gas bubbles — summit lavas are 50% or more bubbles — or very slow leaking of lava into the vent beneath the crust.

“Definitely go tonight and appreciate the glow from the lava lake,” encouraged Tammy Patterson. “Also see the rest of the park in the daylight if you have time. Lava or no, it is an amazing place.”

Robin Linn missed the “big fountaining” by a few hours after coming from O’ahu to view the eruption the Monday it started, but said it was still one of the most amazing nights of her life.

“The glow from the lave lake, the glowing cracks and crevices, the stars — it was UNREAL,” wrote Linn. “Go at night and you won’t be disappointed — you’ll be in awe.”

Rachel Mercer also reminded that the eruption has been stopping and starting quite a bit, so there’s every chance it starts up again.

This is the sixth eruption since 2020 within the summit caldera of Kīlauea.

Eruptions in the summit region typically last about a week to more than a year, and like most others, this one started with vigorous lava and volcanic gas emission.

Eruptive activity is paused now for a third time since it started.

Summit tiltmeters reversed from deflationary tilt to inflationary tilt at about the same time the lava fountain shut down Friday, with summit tiltmeters increasing by almost 1 microradian after decreasing nearly 25 microradians during the eruption.

Rapid change from deflation to inflation at the onset of each of the eruptive episodes suggests another episode could erupt in the coming days to weeks if summit magma chambers repressurize sufficiently.

Summit eruptions observed during the past 60 years exhibited vigorous activity in their opening days, which can episodically wax and wane, drop with time to sustainable low effusion rates or slowly diminish and end.

Seismic tremor returned to background levels following the shutdown in eruptive activity Friday night.

Seismicity at the summit also remains low, with 5 small detected earthquakes.

There are several hazards associated with any eruption of Kīlauea.

But with this eruption, which is confined within Halema‘uma‘u and the downdropped block of the summit caldera inside Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, high levels of volcanic gas — chiefly comprised of water vapor, carbon dioxide and especially sulfur dioxide — are the primary hazard of concern.

Volcanic gas can have far-reaching effects downwind.

As sulfur dioxide is continuously released from the summit during the eruption, and even while the eruption is paused, it reacts in the atmosphere to create the visible haze or volcanic smog known as vog.

Emissions of sulfur dioxide remain elevated, but lower than those recorded during eruptive activity, and will be affected by wind conditions.

A gas plume was rising above the caldera this morning and being carried to the southwest.

The last sulfur dioxide emission rate measured was about 30,000 tonnes per day Thursday during fountaining.

Vog could worsen symptoms for people with pre-existing health conditions.

People with asthma, other respiratory conditions or cardiovascular disease, older adults, infants and children as well as new or expecting mothers also can be sensitive to vog’s effects.

Health symptoms associated with vog exposure can include eye, nose, throat, and/or skin irritation, coughing and/or phlegm, chest tightness and/or shortness of breath, headache, increased susceptibility to respiratory ailments and some people also report fatigue and/or dizziness.

No unusual activity has been noted along the East Rift Zone or Southwest Rift Zone.

Kīlauea’s volcano alert level remains at watch and color aviation code at orange.

Hawaiian Volcano Observatory continues to closely monitor the volcano and remains in contact with Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park and Hawai‘i County Civil Defense.

See the Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park website for visitor information.