Episode 25 comes and goes after Kīlauea put on a show for thousands of people

Episode 25 of the ongoing Halemaʻumaʻu eruption on Kīlauea ended at 8:08 p.m. on Wednesday after about 8 hours of continuous fountaining.

Continuous eruptive activity at the north vent of the Big Island volcano started at 11:57 a.m. on Wednesday and stopped at approximately 7:36 p.m. The south vent started erupting at approximately 1:30 p.m. and stopped at approximately 8:08 p.m., according to the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory update.

In total, the two vents erupted for just over 8 hours with lava fountains from the north vent reaching over 1,000 feet during this episode. Lava flows from this episode on the floor of Halemaʻumaʻu within the southern part of Kaluapele (Kīlauea caldera) may continue to exhibit slow movement or incandescence as they cool and solidify over the coming days. 

“The Uēkahuna tiltmeter recorded about 14 microradians of deflationary tilt during this episode. The end of the episode was coincident with a gradual change from deflation to inflation at the summit and a decrease in seismic tremor intensity,” according to the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.

Most episodes of Halemaʻumaʻu lava fountaining since the eruption started on Dec. 23, 2024, have continued for around a day or less and have been separated by pauses in eruptive activity lasting generally at least several days.

Timeline of eruptive episodes since Dec. 23, 2024: USGS Eruption Information has a timeline of eruptive episodes since Dec. 23, 2024 and three Kīlauea summit livestream videos are available on the USGS YouTube page.

No changes have been detected in the East Rift Zone or Southwest Rift Zone. The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory continues to closely monitor Kīlauea and will issue a volcano activity notice at the start of the next eruptive episode, or if possible, before at the onset of low-level activity. The next regularly scheduled daily update will be posted at the usual time.

The Kīlauea Volcano Alert Level/Aviation Color Code remains at Watch/Orange. All current and recent activity is within Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park.