Hawai'i Volcano Blog

This eruption is most remembered for the destruction of Ho‘ōpūloa village, a few miles north of Miloliʻi Bay.

Large eruptive plumes produced by the ongoing episodic summit eruption of Kīlauea volcano, which contain high concentrations of volcanic gases and tephra, and wind direction are the key to this answer.

An estimated 7.3 million cubic yards of lava erupted and covered about 40% of the Halemaʻumaʻu crater floor. 

Hawaiian Volcano Observatory reported that the window for the next lava fountaining episode of the ongoing episodic eruption that began Dec. 23, 2024, is now between Saturday, May 30, and Monday, June 1.

The base of Mauna Loa sitting on top of the old oceanic crust is only 6 miles below sea level, so the major magnitude-6.0 earthquake the night of Friday, May 22, happened deeper than the volcano — even deeper than the base of the ocean crust, which is bent downward by the weight of the Hawaiian Island chain.

Episode 47 of lava fountaining during the ongoing episodic summit eruption of the Big Island volcano tied the 1983-86 initial phase of the Pu‘u‘ō‘ō eruption on Kīlauea, which had a total of 47 events, for the most fountaining episodes ever recorded — so far — at the volcano; so how do these historic eruptions compare?

Fountaining episodes have recentuly occurred at the Big Island volcano once the system has regained the volume of magma lost during the previous episode.

In March, a team of U.S. Geological Survey scientists, including two from Hawaiʻi, visited El Salvador in Central America for volcanological field studies and a workshop on lava flow hazards.

The Hawaiʻi County Council passes a resolution that aims to secure and preserve the culturally and historically significant Kumukahi as public land that will be managed through local stewardship.

While researching Mauna Loa’s eruption patterns and lava flows through more satellite data, Ian Flynn is learning what information is needed to understand other volcanoes.

Lava geysers from the north vent within Halemaʻumaʻu Crater stopped shortly before 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 5; tephra fall was greatest within 3 miles from the two active vents.

Episode 46 of the ongoing Halemaʻumaʻu eruption is forecast to start before Thursday, May 7.

These past eruptions outside Halemaʻumaʻu are evidence that such eruptions could also occur in the future; and while there have been ongoing earthquakes beneath Kīlauea’s summit, they are not indicative of an imminent eruption along the south rim of Halemaʻumaʻu.

Conditions in and around the closed area at the summit of Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park can evolve quickly, and elevate the risk of rockfalls, ground cracking and other potentially life‑threatening hazards.

U.S. Geological Survey is dropping the Volcano Alert Level from WATCH to ADVISORY.

Most of Nāhuku Lava Tube will remain open during construction; entrance and exit will move to the east end only until the project is completed by the end of June.

On Tuesday afternoon, shallow earthquakes are being detected beneath the south rim of Halemaʻumaʻu crater, as well as localized ground deformation in the south caldera region of Kīlauea summit.

Comparing different eruptions can be a bit like comparing apples to oranges. But no matter how you compare, the ongoing eruption made an impression in terms of its longevity, with two active vents and impacts to areas downwind, including the changing topography of the summit.

The outage started about 1:45 p.m. Saturday, April 11; despite the partial outage, remaining data coming into the observatory are sufficient to allow the observatory’s researchers to detect major changes at Hawaiian volcanoes.

A look further back in the geologic record reveals that several lava fountaining eruptions similar to the ongoing one in Halemaʻumaʻu occurred within Kīlauea caldera within the past 500 years.