#Kilauea

While it is challenging that a small portion of the Kīlauea monitoring network is impacted by the ongoing summit eruption, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory says maintaining the network during eruptions comes with the job when it’s monitoring one of the most active volcanoes on Earth.

Episode 28 of the ongoing Halemaʻumaʻu eruption ended abruptly at 1:20 p.m. HST on July 9, 2025, after 9 hours of continuous fountaining, the final 8 of which were high fountaining.

If you’ve been following the ongoing eruption of Kīlauea, you may have seen the terms “gas piston” or “gas pistoning” show up in some of the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) updates, photo captions, and other places. 

Precursory low-level activity for episode 27 of the ongoing Kīlauea eruption at Halemaʻumaʻu began around 7:27 a.m. on June 28, currently consisting of intermittent lava overflows from the north vent.

Episode 26 of the ongoing Halemaʻumaʻu eruption began at approximately 1:40 a.m. HST on Friday, June 20, 2025, with lava fountains and flows erupting from the north vent. Within less than a half hour, at 2:10 a.m., lava fountains had reached heights of over 1,000 feet, according to a volcanic activity summary issued by the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. 

Episode 25 of the ongoing Halemaʻumaʻu eruption ended at 8:08 p.m. HST on June 11, 2025, after about 8 hours of continuous fountaining. Lava fountains from the north vent reached over 1,000 ft during this episode.

Episode 25 precursory activity started within Halemaʻumaʻu at Kīlauea on the morning of June 10. Glow and scattered spattering at the north vent changed to more continuous spattering in the early morning hours, according to a status update from the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.

Recently, something has been observed “dancing” above the active eruptive vents inside Halemaʻumaʻu…Hydrogen flames!

Episode 24 of the ongoing Halemaʻumaʻu eruption at Kīlauea began just before 9 p.m. last night, and featured lava fountaining from the north vent reaching 980 feet.  Scientists with the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory say the fountain generated a plume that reached 16,500 feet above ground level.  The episode ended abruptly at 4:28 a.m. today.

Vigorous degassing of sulfur dioxide, nighttime glow and intermittent lava spattering in the north vent indicate that magma is close to the surface of Kīlauea.

Record-setting lava fountain and plume heights were reached during Episode 23 of the Kīlauea summit caldera eruption. Given increasing airborne hazards associated with each new eruptive episode, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory is changing its episode notification types.

The ongoing eruption at Kīlauea continues to spark interest with many flocking to the area to witness the on-and-off episodes and the lava fountaining associated with the volcanic activity.

Lava fountains reach more than 1,000 feet, volcanic plume soars at least 5,000 feet before most recent phase of eruptive activity — that teased for several days — abruptly ends after just 6 hours and 10 minutes Sunday night.

Episode 21 of the ongoing Kīlauea eruption at Halemaʻumaʻu ended shortly after 8:30 on Sunday night, after about eight hours of sustained fountaining which began at 12:45 p.m. on May 11, 2025. The Halema’uma’u eruption is currently paused.

Hawaiian Volcano Observatory remains steadfast and vigilant as lava fountaining episodes continue at the summit of the Big Island’s Kīlauea volcano, maintaining its monitoring and livestreaming of the volcano to document the eruption’s evolution, inform hazard assessments and apprise the public of ongoing volcanic activity.

Episode 20 of the eruption at Kīlauea ended at 9:58 p.m. on Tuesday, May 6, 2025, after 4.5 hours of sustained fountaining. The Halema’uma’u eruption is currently paused.

The main fountaining of Episode 19 of the ongoing Halemaʻumaʻu eruption at Kīlauea has ended after just 8 hours of activity.  

The Hawaiʻi Department of Health is urging residents and visitors to take precautions as elevated volcanic gas emissions from the recently paused Kīlauea eruption continue to produce vog and poor air quality across the islands. 

Volcano Watch: As people from around the world are captivated by episodic lava fountaining during the ongoing Kīlauea eruption in Halemaʻumaʻu, let’s use the current pause and transition our attention back to the details of another recent eruption—Maunaloa in 2022.

The fountaining phase of the latest episode began at 3:20 a.m. this morning and lasted for 10 hours and 8 minutes.