Hawaii had an explosive 6 hours starting on December 23 and ending Christmas Eve with a stunning eruption of the active volcano Kilauea on the Big Island of Hawaii. While the eruption has stopped for now, USGS believes another eruption event will unfold at the volcano in about 2 weeks in early January. The volcano has been regularly erupting since December 23, 2024, bringing this latest eruption to the one year anniversary of the ongoing eruption cycle. This latest eruption was the 39th of the cycle.
Episode 39 fountaining began on December 23 at 8:20 pm local time. The initial eruption from this ongoing cycle occurred at 2:20 am on December 23, 2024. Fountains continued for just under 6 hours and ended at 2:13 am yesterday. The fountains of lava reached a maximum height of about 1,400 feet. Beyond the impressive fountains of lava at the summit, USGS said there was no significant activity has been noted along Kīlauea’s East Rift Zone or Southwest Rift Zone.
Since the end of episode 39, Kīlauea has inflated 1.75 microradians which is indicative of the volcano refilling ahead of the next eruption.
Volcanic gas emission rates have dropped significantly since the end of episode 39. USGS says gas levels “probably remain in the range of 1,000 to 5,000 tonnes of SO2 per day”, which is typically observed during the previous eruptive pauses.
