Volcano Minute — Kīlauea's Halemaʻumaʻu eruption reaches a historic milestone

Aloha, it's your weekly Volcano Minute, brought to you by the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. 

Today, we’re celebrating a milestone at Kīlauea: the Halemaʻumaʻu eruption had its 47th fountaining episode on May 14—tying the number of fountaining episodes in this eruption to that of the opening years of the Puʻuʻōʻō eruption from 1983-1986. 

These eruptions are part of a tradition of spectacular Hawaiian fountains, going back to Kīlauea Iki in 1959 and Maunaulu in the late 1960s. But what makes today’s activity stand out is how accessible it is—offering visitors and residents views from around the caldera of lava fountain displays not seen in decades at Kīlauea. 

Even though both Halemaʻumaʻu and Puʻuʻōʻō reached 47 episodes, Halemaʻumaʻu did it in just a year and a half—twice as fast as it took the Puʻuʻōʻō eruption to reach that number. This eruption also has a magma supply rate that is about 25 percent higher than Kīlauea’s long‑term average. And while Kīlauea Iki still holds the height record lava fountain height of 1,900 feet, Halemaʻumaʻu isn’t far behind, with the episode 43 lava fountain reaching over 1,700 feet high. 

This ongoing Halemaʻumaʻu eruption is reshaping the summit: the eruptive vents have grown more than 500 feet from the crater floor over the past year and a half, and the cone is 150 feet above the crater rim. This eruption is a historic event—and someday, today’s witnesses will be telling their grandchildren about the fountains of lava reaching high into the Hawaiian sky that they got to see. 

Mahalo for listening, I’m Katie Mulliken and this was your weekly volcano minute brought to you by the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.