Update: Episode 22 abruptly ends after Kīlauea gets in some OT to end work week

Update at 5:17 p.m. May 16: Kīlauea put in a little bit of overtime Friday during Episode 22 of the ongoing eruption in Halemaʻumaʻu Crater at 3:29 p.m., turning in 10 hours and 16 minutes of another awesome display of high lava fountains from the north vent in the southwest portion fo the crater before abruptly clocking out for at least the weekend.

Hawaiian Volcano Observatory reports that lava flows from this episode covered about 40% of the Halemaʻumaʻu Crater floor within Kaluapele, the summit caldera of Kīlauea, inside Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park.

The observatory estimates the volume of erupted lava is 5 million cubic yards.

Deflationary tilt at the summit recorded about 10 microradians during Episode 22. The end of this eruptive episode — as with all those that preceded it — coincided with a rapid change from deflation to inflation at the summit and decrease in seismic tremor intensity.

Episode 22 lasted 10 hours and 49 minutes in total after beginning at 4:40 a.m. Friday with low dome fountains and continuous overflows from the north vent.  

No changes have been detected in the volcano’s East Rift Zone or Southwest Rift Zone. All current and recent eruptive activity is contained within Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park.

Kīlauea’s Volcano Alert Level and Aviation Color Code remain at Watch and Orange, respectively.

Hawaiian Volcano Observatory continues to closely monitor Kīlauea and will issue an eruption update Saturday morning unless there are significant changes before then.

Original post at 7:55 a.m. May 16: After a spectacular show just in time to celebrate Mother’s Day, Kīlauea turned up the dial again this morning to end the work week with a new display of eruptive action.

Episode 22 high fountains began at 5:13 a.m. today, just 4 days, 8 hours and 37 minutes after Episode 21 ended the night of May 11.

Fountains from the north vent in the southwest portion of Halemaʻumaʻu Crater have reached maximum heights of up to 1,000 feet.

You can check out the progress of the new eruptive activity — even if you can’t make it to Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park in-person — with the Kīlauea summit livestream.

Episode 22 was preceded by small, sporadic gas-piston events that produced spatter fountains and short lava flows that began at 10:45 p.m. Thursday. Five more gas piston overflows occurred during the early morning hours Friday — at 12:30, 1, 1:25, 1:54 and 2:43 a.m. — until 4:40 a.m., when dome fountains overflowed the vent.

Sustained fountains from the north vent peaked at 800 to 1,000 feet high at about 6 a.m. and began oscillating in height at about 328 to 492 feet by about 6:17 a.m.

Fountains were feeding multiple lava streams at 6:10 a.m., with about 30% to 40% of Halema‘uma‘u Crater covered by lava flows.

Inflationary tilt reached just more than 7 microradians between the time Episode 21 ended and Episode 22 began.

Seismic tremor started increasing and tilt at the summit switched from inflation to deflation at about the same time Episode 22 high sustained lava fountains started today.

Eruptive episodes of Halemaʻumaʻu lava fountaining since the ongoing Halemau’ma’u eruption started Dec. 23, 2024, have lasted from 4.5 hours to as many as 8.5 days and have been separated by pauses in activity of just less than a day to as many as 12 days.

A timeline of episodes can be found here.

No changes have been detected in the volcano’s East Rift Zone or Southwest Rift Zone.

High levels of volcanic gas, specifically sulfur dioxide that will react in the atmosphere to create the volcanic haze called vog, remains one of the primary hazards associated with this eruption as it can have far reaching effects downwind from the summit.

Other hazards including volcanic fragments such as Pele’s hair, strands of volcanic glass often produced by lava fountaining activity, and tephra, which can fall within a few hundred yards of the eruptive vents — or even greater distances downwind if winds are strong.

Click here for additional information about Kīlauea hazards.

Kīlauea’s Volcano Alert Level and Aviation Color Code remain at Watch and Orange, respectively.

All current and recent activity is contained within Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park.

Hawaiin Volcano Observatory continues to closely monitor Kīlauea and will issue an eruption updates as warranted if additional changes happen.