Lava fountains continue this morning within Kīlauea caldera

Lava continues to fountain within Kīlauea’s Halema‘uma‘u crater this morning after an eruption began Sunday afternoon, making this the fifth eruption in the past four years.

The eruption is confined to the crater and no unusual activity has been noted along Kīlauea’s East Rift Zone or Southwest Rift Zone. Watch the activity live at https://youtu.be/tBh-ZhIB1Nk.

Lava fountain heights have decreased since the eruption onset, but remain up to about 32-50 feet high this morning.

Hawaiian Volcano Observatory is lowering Kīlauea’s volcano alert level from WARNING to WATCH because the style of eruption and fissure location have stabilized, the initial extremely high effusion rates have declined and no infrastructure is threatened. Associated hazards are confined to the closed area established by Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park.

Kīlauea’s aviation color code was also lowered from RED to ORANGE because there is currently no threat of significant volcanic ash emission into the atmosphere outside of the hazardous closed area within Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park. For more information about the air quality alert visit https://go.nps.gov/havo-air-alert.

The eruption plume, composed largely of sulfur dioxide and minor volcanic particles, continues to rise to the base of the inversion level at about 8,000-10,000 feet above sea level. The plume concentration has decreased some due to the drop in effusion rate but still remains high. Hazards associated with the eruption are limited and are described below.

Kīlauea’s summit eruption is expected to continue and remain confined to Kīlauea caldera within Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park. Hawaiian Volcano Observatory does not see any indication of activity migrating elsewhere on Kīlauea volcano and expects the eruption to remain confined to the summit region.