Hawai'i Volcano Blog

he swarm occurred in the same location as the swarm on Aug. 16 and is likely caused by movement of magma in Kīlauea’s south caldera region, and is a process observed consistently at the summit.

The number of earthquakes at Kīlauea’s summit has decreased compared to the past three weeks of increased seismic activity. Increases in ongoing summit inflation also have stopped.

Seeing that this eruption produced relatively thin and fast-moving pāhoehoe flows, we know the lava had a low viscosity. Essentially, it spread across the pre-existing ground surface like a coat of spilled paint rather than sticky tar. But why was the viscosity so low?

Elevated seismicity decreased following the swarms and remains steady as of the morning of Aug. 16, but the activity is still elevated compared to the previous week.

The elevated unrest suggests that an eruption at Kīlaueaʻs summit might be possible with little or no warning, but there is no sign that an eruption is imminent.

It’s important to evaluate what generates such large eruptions of the Big Island volcano because a similar eruption today would be devastating to communities surrounding Kīlauea summit and downwind.

Scientists at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa for the first time have been able to estimate the ages of the most recent eruptions — as well as eight older eruptions going back about 2,000 years — of the submarine Hawaiian volcano formerly known as the Lōʻihi Seamount off the south coast of the Big Island.

In the latest Volcano Watch, scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey return to American Samoa a year after Taʻū volcano started shaking residents of the Manuʻa Islands of Ofu-Olosega and Ta‘ū Islands.

The Puna Road and Waterline Draft Environmental Assessment — for areas inundated by lava during the 2018 Kīlauea eruption — is complete and now available for public review.

Recovery efforts have been frustratingly slow on all fronts during the nearly five years since the catastrophic Kīlauea eruption ended in September 2018, leaving a big wake of destruction. But work and property buyouts continue five years later.

Ocean swells interact with the ocean crust below, creating continuous ocean noise that travels around the Earth, including through our active volcanoes here in Hawai‘i.

Kīlauea’s activity from 2018 until 2023 has been compared to cycles of summit collapse and refilling of lava prior to 1924, but it also exhibited similar behavior during the 1967-68 Halema‘uma‘u eruption.

This summer marks 200 years since English missionary William Ellis visited KIlauea caldera with Hawaiian guides and published the first contemporary written observation of the volcano’s eruptive activity.

In this week’s Volcano Watch, international scientists come to the Big Island to resume a training course about volcano hazards monitoring.

In the latest Volcano Watch, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists are looking for a new place to put a summit gas measuring station to replace the one destroyed by the 2022 Mauna Loa eruption.

Construction of the new U.S. Geological Survey research facility on the Big Island, which will house the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory and Pacific Island Ecosystems Research Center, is expected to be completed by late 2025.

The highest level of lava in the past two centuries on KIlauea was reached in the first few months of 1894, according to the most recent Volcano Watch.

The summit eruption at Kīlauea volcano on the Big island has paused, the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said Monday night.

An eruptive vent on the southwest side of Halema‘uma‘u crater has exhibited renewed lava fountaining since June 16 as it continues to pump lava into a lake in the far southwest portion of the crater.

This week’s Volcano Watch is dedicated to U.S. Geological Survey scientist Duane Champion, who helped unlock Pele’s secrets by studying the magnetic properties preserved in lava flows.