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Geospatial data depicting eruptions since 2018 in the State of Hawaii

July 27, 2026

The hulihia (Hawaiian for "upheaval") of 2018 represents a significant benchmark in the history of Hawaiian volcanology. Kīlauea experienced a historically damaging eruption along its lower East Rift Zone in association with the volcano’s largest summit collapse in over a century, which forced the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory to vacate its longtime post at Uēkahuna on the rim of Kaluapele (the summit caldera). These events were a significant disruption from the relatively steady-state activity exhibited for more than a decade prior, with low-effusion lava flows from Puʻuʻōʻō along the middle East Rift Zone in the latter stages of an eruption that began in 1983 and a summit lava lake that had first appeared in 2008. Eruptive activity since 2018 has been substantially more dynamic: following a year of quiescence in 2019, the summit of Kīlauea experienced five eruptions lasting from a week to more than a year between 2020 and 2023, then the volcano had two relatively short eruptions along the Southwest Rift Zone (less than 1 day) and middle East Rift Zone (5 days) in 2024, followed by another summit eruption beginning December 23, 2024 that continues episodically at the time of this writing (February 2026). Meanwhile, neighboring Mauna Loa had a summit and upper Northeast Rift Zone eruption lasting two weeks from late November into December 2022, the volcano’s first in thirty-eight years. This product contains geospatial data depicting features from each of these eruptions—including lava flows—and it will be updated with future effusive activity at the active subaerial volcanoes in the State of Hawaii: Kīlauea, Mauna Loa, Hualālai, Mauna Kea, and Haleakalā.

Publication Year 2026
Title Geospatial data depicting eruptions since 2018 in the State of Hawaii
DOI 10.5066/P1TFQAGR
Authors Michael H Zoeller, Chelsea L Carbo, Chelsea Cook, Steven J Smith, Rick Wessels, Matthew R Patrick, Hannah R Dietterich, Natalia I Deligne, Natália Gauer Pasqualon, Frank A Trusdell
Product Type Data Release
Record Source USGS Asset Identifier Service (AIS)
USGS Organization USGS Volcano Science Center
Rights This work is marked with CC0 1.0 Universal
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