Summit eruption at Kīlauea volcano remains paused

The summit eruption at Kīlauea volcano that began on Dec. 23, 2024 has been paused since the evening of Jan. 3, 2025.

Yesterday there were three instances of brief, localized subsidence on the floor of Halema‘uma‘u crater within Kaluapele—the volcano’s summit caldera—in the location of one of the vents from the first day of the eruption. Such subsidence might suggest that the magma column feeding the eruption has withdrawn deeper, but continued glow from the northern eruptive vent last night indicates that lava remains close to the surface, according to the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.

Seismicity in the summit region remains low, with only 1 small earthquake (below M2.0) detected in the past 24 hours.

The current eruption at the summit of Kīlauea is the sixth eruption within Kaluapele since 2020. These eruptions in the summit region have lasted from one week to more than a year in duration. Like most of the other eruptions, this event began with vigorous lava effusion and volcanic gas emissions, but it has paused three times.

Episodes 2 and 3 of this eruption were preceded by re-inflation of the summit; as such, if the summit’s magma chambers repressurize sufficiently, another eruptive episode could occur in the coming days to weeks.

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