USGS Volcano Notice - DOI-USGS-HVO-2024-12-23T18:43:24+00:00

Activity Summary: Kīlauea volcano began erupting this morning, December 23. Fissures on the caldera floor are erupting lava fountains and feeding lava flows in Halemaʻumaʻu and on the downdropped block within Kaluapele (the summit caldera). Eruptive activity is confined to Halemaʻumaʻu and the downdropped block within the caldera, and a plume of volcanic gas is blowing downwind to the southwest. No unusual activity has been noted along Kīlauea’s East Rift Zone or Southwest Rift Zone. 

Summit Eruption Observations:  Webcam images indicate that the new eruption commenced within Kaluapele (the summit caldera) in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park at 2:20 a.m. HST. The main eruptive vent is located on the southwest side of Kīlauea's summit caldera, generating lava flows onto Halema‘uma‘u crater floor and the downdropped block area to the east. Between approximately 2:30 a.m. and 4:30 a.m., vents briefly opened to the north-east along the caldera floor but these vents have since slowed. Currently the initial vent along the caldera's southwest wall remains active and is the dominant effusive source; maximum measured fountain heights overnight were over 295 ft (90 m) tall and had decreased to 230 feet (70 feet) during overflight at 9:30 a.m. HST. Lava flows have currently covered more than 500 acres of the caldera floor and the eruption is generating a vigorous plume of volcanic gas, which is reaching elevations estimated at 6,000-8,000 feet above sea level and being transported downwind to the southwest. HVO field crews observed glowing lava bombs and other ejecta being deposited on the west caldera rim area, within the closed area of Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, underscoring the hazardous nature of this area.  Spatter from the fountains and tephra/Pele's hair in the plume downwind have prevented HVO crews from obtaining measurements of SO2 emission rate on the ground or by helicopter. However, based on the emissions from the five summit eruptions at Kilauea from 2020 to 2023, we estimate that SO2 emissions thus far may be averaging on the order of 50,000-100,000 t/d.

View the Kīlauea summit eruption livestream: https://www.youtube.com/usgs/live. 

Summit Observations: Elevated earthquake activity beneath the summit began at approximately 2 a.m. HST this morning, December 23. It was accompanied by rapid summit inflationary ground motion recorded on the UWD and SDH tiltmeters located in the summit region. With the start of lava effusion, eruptive tremor (a signal associated with fluid movement) began and is still evident in seismic monitoring data. At approximately 2:45 a.m. HST, summit region tiltmeters switched to deflation, which persists as of this writing. The Kīlauea Iki tiltmeter to the east also shows deformation associated with the active eruption. 

Rift Zone Observations: Shallow earthquake counts in the upper and middle East Rift Zone (ERZ) remain at low levels. Over the last 24 hours, there was 1 recorded earthquake in the middle ERZ, 1 in the upper ERZ, and 7 in the Southwest Rift Zone (SWRZ); all were below magnitude-2.0. The ESC tiltmeter on the upper part of the ERZ shows deformation associated with the active eruption. Deformation rates remain low in the middle and lower ERZ and SWRZ as recorded by GPS instruments and tiltmeters. 

Analysis: The ongoing eruption at the summit of Kīlauea is the sixth eruption within the caldera since 2020.  These eruptions in the summit region have lasted for about a week to more than a year in duration. This eruption, like most others, started with vigorous lava and volcanic gas effusion, which has been decreasing over time. 

Hazards: The eruption is occurring within a closed area of Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park. High levels of volcanic gas—primarily water vapor (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), and sulfur dioxide (SO2)—are the primary hazard of concern, as this hazard can have far-reaching effects down-wind. As SO2 is continuously released from the summit during the eruption, it will react in the atmosphere to create the visible haze known as vog (volcanic smog) downwind of Kīlauea. Vog information can be found at https://vog.ivhhn.org/. 

Hawaiian lava flows generally advance slowly downslope and are currently confined to Halemaʻumaʻu and the eastern part of Kīlauea caldera. Additional hazards include Pele's hair and other volcanic fragments from the lava fountains that will fall downwind of the fissure vents and land on the ground within a few hundred meters (yards) of the vent (s), or on the rim of the caldera west of the erupting vents. Strong winds may waft lighter particles to greater distances downwind. Residents and visitors should minimize exposure to these volcanic particles, which can cause skin and eye irritation. 

Other significant hazards also remain around Kīlauea caldera from Halemaʻumaʻu crater wall instability, ground cracking, and rockfalls that can be enhanced by earthquakes within the area closed to the public. This underscores the extremely hazardous nature of Kīlauea caldera rim surrounding Halemaʻumaʻu crater, an area that has been closed to the public since late 2007. 

For discussion of Kīlauea hazards, please see: https://www.usgs.gov/observatories/hawaiian-volcano-observatory/hazards.

Updates: HVO will issue a Status Report this afternoon, after which we will continue to issue Kīlauea Daily Updates. Additional messages will be issued as needed. 

HVO continues to closely monitor Kīlauea and is in contact with Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park and the Hawai‘i County Civil Defense Agency. 

Please see the Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park website for visitor information: https://www.nps.gov/havo/index.htm.