Fountains increase to 60 to 100 feet high as Kīlauea eruption shows more vigor

Kīlauea volcano on the Big Island is once again putting on a show as the third phase of the new summit eruption — which began during the early morning of Dec. 23 — transitioned from low level fountains and lava flows to the more vigorous fountaining earlier tonight.

Hawaiian Volcano Observatory reports that fountaining from the southern active vent began to increase and become more continuous at about 5:15 p.m. today, with spatter rising to 60 to 100 feet high, mainly from the more southerly of the two active vents.

The increased amount of lava erupted had covered about 20% of the floor of Halemaʻumaʻu Crater by about 6 p.m.

You can watch the eruption on the Kīlauea summit livestream on YouTube.

Deflation in the south caldera area began at about 1 p.m. today and is continuing.

The tiltmeter at Uēkahuna continued to record inflation beneath Halemaʻumaʻu until 3 p.m., when it flattened out.

Tremor has been gradually increasing during the past 2 days, but is still relatively low compared to the first two episodes of vigorous high fountains, which at times were higher than 250 feet.

During the previous two episodes, deflation began at the same time beneath Halemaʻumaʻu and the south caldera region.

If fountaining continues, it is possible heights will increase as more gas-rich lava erupts. However, it is not possible to estimate how high fountains could get or how long fountaining will last.

Prior episodes produced fountains greater than 200 feet high that lasted up to 24 hours.

Lava again began erupting sluggishly from vents at about 8 a.m. Thursday, marking the beginning of the third phase of the ongoing summit eruption.

Small, slow moving lava flows continued to erupt but traveled only short distances from the northern vents for the next day and a half.

The sluggish, low effusion rate activity during the past 2 and a half days lasted much longer than the 3 to 4 hours of sluggish eruption that preceded the fountaining of the second episode.

Hawaiian Volcano Observatory continues to closely monitor Kīlauea and will issue an eruption update tomorrow morning unless there are significant changes overnight.

The observatory remains in close contact with Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park and Hawai‘i County Civil Defense.

See the Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park website for visitor information.

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

All activity is contained within the caldera at the summit in Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, and no changes have been detected in the East or Southwest Rift Zones.