Kīlauea continues to tease 55th fountaining episode as it enters day 8 of precursory activity

Minor new eruptive activity began near the base of the northwest wall of Halemaʻumaʻu crater at Kīlauea Monday night.

Spattering continues at two new vents: one from the north, along with periodic bursts from a south vent. Summit inflation stalled with the opening of the new vent, according to the latest report from Hawaiian Volcano Observatory on Tuesday.

The summit region continues to be highly pressurized, but it is not possible to forecast what might happen next. Two possibilities include the new vents erupting continuously or the new vents shutting down and returning all activity to the established vents.

“Magma remains shallow in all of the vents, indicating that current conditions remain favorable for the onset of episode 55 fountaining,” according to the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.

This precursory activity for lava fountaining episode 55 of Kīlauea within Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park has continued for about eight days, which is now the longest period of precursory activity since high fountains began after episode 4, and has included 104 overflows.

The next longest period of precursory activity was 6.2 days before episode 44. The most overflows recorded was 179 from the north and south vents combined before episode 36.

The two new vents opened up on and near the base of the northwest wall of Halemaʻumaʻu crater Monday at 9 pm., north of the established vent complex. The vents opened in the region of a small earthquake swarm on Sunday night.

“No fountaining was associated with the new vents, which continue to feed a small flow this morning in the northwest corner of the crater floor,” according to the latest news from Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.

Intermittent eruptions of spatter bursts continued to build a small cone around the north vent and sporadic spatter bursts were also observed from the south vent. No precursory lava flows have erupted from the main vent complex since Sept. 12.

No significant activity has been noted along Kīlauea’s East Rift Zone or Southwest Rift Zone.

Summit reinflation has been very unsteady since lava fountaining episode 54 on Aug. 25.

The abrupt switch from summit deflation to inflation at the end of lava fountaining episode 54, glow from the vents, overflows, inflation, and continued seismic tremor bursts at Kīlauea summit indicate that another lava fountaining episode could occur.

Kīlauea has been erupting episodically since Dec. 23, 2024, from two vents (north and south) in Halema‘uma‘u. Lava fountaining episodes, which generally last for less than 12 hours, are separated by pauses of two or more weeks.

See the Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park website for visitor information: https://www.nps.gov/havo/index.htm.