Kilauea, the restless shield volcano on Hawaii’s Big Island, has been erupting in dramatic, repeating bursts since late 2024, with lava fountains and volcanic gas-and-ash plumes rising high above the summit caldera. The eruption’s episodic nature, now stretching past 40 distinct fountaining events, has forced scientists to rethink how long this cycle of pressure buildup and explosive release can sustain itself. What makes this sequence unusual is not any single episode but the sheer persistence of the pattern, with pauses between bursts often followed by renewed fountaining.
Episode 38 Launches a Strong December Sequence
The eruption’s intensity became impossible to ignore on December 6, 2025, when Episode 38 began at 8:45 a.m. HST, with tremor and ground tilt signaling the burst before lava broke the surface. The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory raised the alert level to WATCH/ORANGE, a designation that warns aviation of significant ash and gas hazards in the region. Multiple vents opened simultaneously, and fountain growth was rapid enough to catch even monitoring equipment off guard.
The force of Episode 38 was severe enough to bury and damage a monitoring camera under falling tephra, a detail that reveals how close scientific instruments sit to the eruption zone and how quickly conditions can overwhelm them. USGS scientists reported elevated sulfur dioxide emissions during the event, and a plume rose to roughly 2 kilometers (about 6,600 feet). For anyone living downwind, elevated SO2 can cause respiratory irritation and contribute to volcanic smog, or “vog,” which can affect air quality well beyond the crater depending on wind conditions.
Fountains Reaching 1,400 Feet During Episode 39
Less than three weeks later, Episode 39 demonstrated that the volcano was not losing steam. According to the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory’s daily update, the maximum fountain height during that event reached approximately 1,400 feet, or 425 meters, with the entire episode lasting roughly six hours. That height is significant because it indicates the magma supply feeding the eruption remains under considerable pressure, with each recharge cycle between episodes building enough force to drive molten rock hundreds of meters into the air.
The pattern that has defined this eruption since it began on December 23, 2024, is a cycle of fountaining followed by a pause during which the summit inflates as fresh magma accumulates underground. The USGS counted 36 episodes by the time scientists published a detailed retrospective on the sequence, and several more bursts have followed. Most coverage of Kilauea treats each episode as a standalone event, but the more telling story is the regularity of the cycle itself. A volcano that reliably refills and erupts dozens of times in roughly a year is behaving less like a one-off crisis and more like a system with a sustained, deep magma supply that shows no sign of exhaustion.
The Eruption Stays Bottled in the Summit Caldera
One factor that has limited the eruption’s destructive reach is its confinement. All activity has remained within the summit caldera of Kilauea, specifically inside the Halemaʻumaʻu crater, rather than migrating into rift zones that could send lava flows toward populated areas. The Associated Press noted this containment while describing the 37th fountaining episode, a detail that separates the current sequence from the far more destructive 2018 lower East Rift Zone eruption that destroyed hundreds of homes. As long as the eruption stays at the summit, the direct threat to residential communities remains low, though air quality impacts from SO2 emissions extend well beyond the crater rim.
That containment, however, does not mean the eruption is harmless. The south vent produced four short-lived overflows on January 24, 2026, with the first beginning at 4:11 a.m. HST. Overflows from the vent suggest the lava lake periodically rises high enough to spill beyond its immediate basin, a behavior that scientists monitor closely because it can indicate changes in the eruption’s plumbing. If the magma supply route shifts or the summit reservoir becomes more pressurized, scientists watch for signs of a rift zone intrusion, where magma can travel laterally underground before surfacing miles from the summit. For now, tilt and inflation data have not indicated such a migration, but the possibility keeps the observatory on high alert.
What Visitors and Residents Should Know
The eruption is occurring within a closed section of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, but it remains visible from open areas of the park, giving visitors a rare chance to witness active volcanism from a safe distance. The National Park Service has maintained closures around the most hazardous zones while keeping viewing areas accessible, a balancing act that reflects both the scientific value and the genuine danger of the ongoing activity. Visitors should check current conditions before arriving, as episodes can begin with little warning and viewing areas may be temporarily restricted when gas levels spike or ash falls near trails and roads.
For residents, the most persistent concern is air quality rather than lava flows. Sulfur dioxide and fine ash can aggravate asthma and other respiratory conditions, especially for children, older adults, and people working outdoors. Local agencies and park officials urge communities to follow vog forecasts, limit strenuous activity during high-emission periods, and keep indoor air as clean as possible by closing windows and using filtration where available. Even when the summit looks calm, gas can continue to vent from the crater, so a quiet crater floor is not a guarantee of clean air downwind.
Monitoring a Long-Lived, Stop-and-Go Eruption
Keeping track of such a stop-and-go eruption demands constant surveillance. The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory relies on a network of seismometers, GPS receivers, tiltmeters, and gas sensors to watch how the volcano’s interior responds between episodes. Subtle changes in ground tilt or earthquake patterns can signal that magma is moving, sometimes hours before a new fountain begins. High-resolution cameras, including the summit webcam system, provide near-continuous visual confirmation of lava lake levels, vent activity, and ash production, giving scientists and emergency managers a real-time window into the crater.
The longer this sequence continues, the more valuable the data become for understanding how Kilauea stores and releases magma. Each episode adds another datapoint to a growing record of how quickly the summit inflates, how high fountains climb, and how gas emissions evolve as the system recharges and drains. That record will help volcanologists refine hazard models not only for Kilauea but for similar basaltic volcanoes worldwide, where eruptions can shift from contained summit events to destructive flank outbreaks. For people living on Hawaii’s Big Island, the message remains nuanced: the current eruption is largely confined and closely monitored, yet its persistence underscores that Kilauea is not a dormant backdrop but an active, dynamic volcano whose behavior can still surprise even the experts watching it around the clock.
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*This article was researched with the help of AI, with human editors creating the final content.
