Summit eruption of Big Island’s Kīlauea volcano restarts after overnight pause

Kīlauea volcano on the Big Island slept for just one night, still wowing hundreds of people descending on Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park with its glowing red lava lake, before awakening again Tuesday morning at several of the vents along the southwest of Halema‘uma‘u Crater floor.

A live view at about 12:45 p.m. of the eruption, which remains confined to the crater and downdropped block within Kīlauea’s caldera, showed fountaining lava some in the live chat estimated reaching heights of “probably 80 feet.”

“It’s gushing pretty good again now!” exclaimed one chatter. “Nice.”

Hawaiian Volcano Observatory reported in its 11:48 a.m. daily Kīlauea update that renewed, low-level eruption of sluggish lava began at about 8 a.m. Tuesday morning.

The infrasound array picked up a clear signal from the summit at about 10 a.m.corresponding to low-level fountaining, and by about 11 a.m. more gas-rich lava began reaching the surface, causing fountaining to become more vigorous.

“Increased fountaining accompanied by increasing tremor and the resumption of summit deflation mark the onset of a second eruptive episode,” said the observatory. “Repressurization of the summit appears to be forcing, degassed lava that drained back into the vents last night back to the surface.”

The volcano’s alert level remains at Watch and aviation color code at Orange.

This is the sixth eruption since 2020 within Kaluapele, Kīlauea’s caldera, in Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park. It started at 2:20 a.m. Monday, with the main vent located on the southwest side of Halemaʻumaʻu.

By midday, lava flows had erupted across the floor of Halema‘uma‘u and overflowed onto the down-dropped block area to the east by midday, covering 650 acres, or 1 square mile — about one-quarter of the entire caldera floor.

Large glowing bombs, pumice and Peleʻs hair were deposited downwind during the peak of the eruption. Sulfur dioxide emissions were estimated to be more than 100,000 tonnes per day during the initial stages of the eruption and dropped to about half that by midday.

SO2 is the primary hazard of concern during the eruption, as the gas can have far-reaching effects downwind, reacting in the atmosphere to create vog, or volcanic smog.

At the onset of the eruption, seismic tremor was high. However, at about 3 p.m. Monday, tremor began to decrease, and there is now low to moderate tremor related to vent activity.

Immediately after the summit eruption started, tilt meters recorded rapid to moderate deflation until late afternoon when Kīlauea’s summit began slowly inflating.

Fountaining decreased abruptly at 3:30 p.m. Monday and had ceased by 4 p.m.

The eruption then paused through the night.

Drainback of lava into the original vents began soon after fountaining stopped and continued overnight Monday into Tuesday morning.

Drainback reversed about 8 a.m. Tuesday and low-level eruption of sluggish lava started from several of the vents that opened Monday during the initial stage of the eruption.

The onset of the second episode of the eruption was signaled when fountaining began to increase in vigor 3 hours later.

By 1:20 p.m. Tuesday, people in the live chat watching the eruption livestream were estimating lava fountains had increased to 200 to 225 feet in height.

Breakouts of red lava are also visible on the surface of the lava lake as it continues to circulate.

Hawaiian Volcano Observatory says while eruptive activity is ongoing, it could fluctuate in vigor during the coming days.

“These eruptions in the summit region have lasted for about a week to more than a year in duration,” the observatory said in its daily update.

Elsewhere on the volcano, shallow earthquake counts in the upper and middle East Rift Zones remain low, with just 1 earthquake recorded in the middle East Rift Zone, 1 in the upper East Rift Zone and 7 in the Southwest Rift Zone, all below magnitude-2, during the past 24 hours.

Deformation rates remain low in the midde and lower East Rifts as well as the Southwest Rift.

Hawaiian Volcaon Observatory continues to closely monitor Kīlauea and is in contact with Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park and Hawai‘i County Civil Defense. 

Visit the Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park website for visitor information.

For discussion about Kīlauea hazards, click here.