Hawai'i Volcano Blog

Tephra that was carried high into the air may still fall over Kaʻū communities despite the abrupt end to the continuous lava fountaining.

Park managers are not expecting temporary closures at this time; however, a post just before 11 a.m. Saturday by Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park reminded that could change based on wind direction, volcanic gas and tephra (volcanic material) fallout.

Professor Bruce Houghton retired in 2025 from University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa after 25 years as the Gordon A. Macdonald Chairperson of Volcanology, but although he retired and returned to New Zealand, his connections to volcanology in Hawaiʻi remain strong.

Those households are now better prepared for ash and tephra fall from the ongoing Kīlauea episodic eruptive activity, protecting the water supplies on which many of them depend.

Despite having breaks in activity during this ongoing eruption at the Kīlauea summit on the Big Island, monitoring data indicates activity is still elevated and the eruption is not finished, even if we don’t always see lava at the surface.

Kīlauea’s Episode 49 eruption at Halemaʻumaʻu crater has ended, prompting the U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory to lower alert levels.

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.