Hawai'i Volcano Blog

However, intermittent spattering was seen from the westernmost large cone in the Big Island volcano’s caldera throughout last night.

Kīlauea eruptions in 2020–2021, 2021–2022, January–March 2023, and June 2023 started and remained within Halemaʻumaʻu crater, The newest eruption that began Sunday, September 10, also started as a lava fountain bursting from within Halemaʻumaʻu.

The ongoing eruption at Kīlauea summit within Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park remains confined to the downdropped block and Halemaʻumaʻu crater.

The roughly east-west trending erupting vents within the Kīlauea caldera now span approximately a half mile — down from about 1 mile — as of this morning and have lava fountain heights of up to about 32 feet.

Hawaiian Volcano Obersvatory’s Deputy Scientist-in-Charge David Phillips said the eruption started with at least six lava fountains extending nearly a mile long at heights of 130 to 150 feet.

As of Sunday, permanent air quality monitoring stations across the state report that air quality levels are elevated at the Ocean View and Pāhala air quality monitoring stations.

This is the fifth eruption in the past four years.

Tilt data was the first geodetic data collected by the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) and continues to be incredibly important both for monitoring and basic research in volcano behavior.

Steady rates of quakes have continued in an area south of the Big Island volcano’s caldera since Aug. 22 and recent tiltmeter data suggest the area is inflating.

Levels of activity are expected to rise and fall during this period of unrest. No unusual activity has been noted along the volcano’s East Rift Zone or Southwest Rift Zone.

Elevated seismic activity continues in an area south of Kīlauea’s summit caldera, as steady rates of earthquakes have persisted in this location since Aug. 22. There were no notable swarms in the past day, and the volcano is not erupting. No unusual activity has been noted along the volcano’s East Rift Zone or Southwest Rift […]

The Big Island volcano is not erupting, but increased seismic activity continues in an area south of the caldera.

Steady rates of earthquakes have persisted in the area south of Kīlauea’s summit caldera since Aug. 22, according to Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. Most of these earthquakes have occurred at depths of 1–2 miles below the surface.

Volcano observatories often use continuous remote monitoring instruments like seismometers and acoustic microphones to detect earthquakes and explosions.

Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park has scheduled multiple flight operations throughout September for various activities, including, ungulate surveys, invasive species control and Hawaiian petrel monitoring.

Earthquake swarms have been rattling the summit for nearly week with none reported Saturday.

Lis Gallant has spent the past two and a half years at the U.S. Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory on the Big Island as a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow and is joining the Department of Geology at the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo as an assistant professor.

Despite the activity, Kīlauea is not erupting, however, the summit is exhibiting signs of unrest.

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.