Eruptive episode 45 at Kīlauea ends after nearly 9 hours

Editor’s note: This story was updated at 10:35 a.m. on April 23.

Kīlauea’s 45th eruptive episode in Halemaʻumaʻu in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park is now paused after about eight and a half hours of fountaining.

The fountaining began at 1:34 a.m. on Thursday, April 23. All eruptive vents and lava flows were confined to the crater, according to the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. The eruption ended at 10:01 a.m.

Due to reduced ground and aviation hazards, the U.S. Geological Survey is dropping the Volcano Alert Level from WATCH to ADVISORY and the Aviation Color Code from ORANGE to YELLOW.  Additional details on this eruptive episode will be provided in the next official report from the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.

At 7 a.m., steady fountaining from the north vent continued to reach near 700 feet, “producing a beautiful pāʻū (skirt) of lava spreading onto Halemaʻumaʻu crater floor,” the park stated on its Facebook page this morning.

An ashfall advisory issued for communities downwind in the Ka‘ū District has been canceled.

Lava on the floor of Halemaʻumaʻu crater and the southwest side of Kaluapele, Kīlauea’s summit caldera, remain hot and may slowly move in the days immediately following an eruptive episode. 

Other significant hazards exist around Kīlauea caldera from Halemaʻumaʻu crater wall instability, ground cracking, and rockfalls that can be enhanced by earthquakes. Close to the vents, the tephra material on the crater rim is prone to cracking, slumping, and small landslides that sometimes expose hot and molten material within.

This underscores the extremely hazardous nature of Kīlauea’s caldera rim surrounding Halemaʻumaʻu crater, an area that has been closed to the public since late 2007.

Kīlauea has been erupting on and off since Dec. 23, 2024. Click here for the eruption timeline.