USGS Volcano Notice - DOI-USGS-HVO-2025-01-06T18:05:57+00:00

Activity Summary: The eruption at Kīlauea volcano that began on Monday, December 23 remains paused as of 8:40 pm on Friday, January 3. Glow from the crater floor remains but is much diminished from the previous night. Glow could persist for days. No unusual activity has been noted along Kīlauea’s East Rift Zone or Southwest Rift Zone.

Summit Instrumental Observations: Seismicity at the summit over the last 24 hours remains low with 2 small detected earthquakes. Seismic tremor decreased with the south vent at the summit shutting down and remains at background levels. Summit tiltmeters reversed from deflationary tilt to inflationary tilt around the same time that the lava fountain shut down. After decreasing by almost 25 microradians during the eruption, the summit tiltmeters have increased by 2 to 3 microradians since 8:40 pm on January 3. The last SO2 emission rate measured was ~30,000 tonnes per day on January 2 during fountaining. Emissions of SO2 remain elevated, but lower than those recorded during eruptive activity, and will be affected by wind conditions.

Summit Eruption Observations: Webcam images over the past 24 hour show diminished glow on the crater floor from residual lava after the lava fountain from the south vent shut down rapidly around 8:40 pm on January 3 (the north vent shut down at 2:16 pm on January 2). The area where the automatic laser rangefinder is pointing on the crater floor increased in elevation by nearly 50 ft (15 m) over the eruption, but has gradually fallen by approximately 13 ft (4 m) since the lava fountain shut down at 8:40 pm on January 3. There has been no visible flow of lava back into the vent after the pause, and the gradual drop in lava level is more likely due to loss of gas bubbles (summit lavas are 50% or more bubbles) or very slow leaking of lava into the vent beneath the crust.

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

December 23, 2024, Kīlauea summit eruption reference map: December 23, 2024—Kīlauea summit eruption reference map | U.S. Geological Survey

Rift Zone Observations: Shallow earthquake counts on the East Rift Zone remain at low levels. Over the last 24 hours, there were 3 earthquakes in the East Rift Zone. The ESC tiltmeter in the upper part of the East Rift Zone was deflating in association with the summit eruption, but is now flat with the eruption pausing. Deformation rates remain low in the middle and lower East Rift Zone and Southwest Rift Zone as recorded by GPS instruments and tiltmeters.

Analysis: The current 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 emission, but has now paused for the third time. Episodes 2 and 3 of this eruption were preceded by re-inflation of the summit; the rapid change from deflation to inflation at the onset suggests that another eruptive episode may occur in the coming days to weeks if the summit magma chambers repressurize sufficiently. Summit eruptions observed over the past 60 years have exhibited vigorous activity in the opening days which can episodically wax and wane, or drop over time to sustainable low effusion rates, or slowly diminish and end.

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.

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.