Paused Eruption at Kilauea Volcano Has Reactivated

The eruption of Kīlauea volcano that paused through the night, reactivated at several of the vents along the southwest of Halema‘uma‘u crater floor. Eruptive activity remains confined to Halemaʻumaʻu and the downdropped block within the caldera and may fluctuate in vigor over the coming days. No unusual activity has been noted along Kīlauea’s East Rift Zone or Southwest Rift Zone. Seismicity at the summit over the past day has been low with about 8 earthquakes all below magnitude-2.0. At the onset of the eruption yesterday morning, Dec 23, seismic tremor was high. However, around 3 pm yesterday, seismic tremor began to decrease, and currently there is low to moderate tremor related to vent activity. After the summit eruption began, summit tilt meters recorded rapid to moderate deflation until late afternoon. Around 3 pm yesterday, Kīlauea’s summit began slowly inflating. Based on ground instruments, the SO2 emissions were estimated to be over 100,000 tonnes per day during the initial stages of the eruption and dropped to about half of that by mid-day yesterday before the pause. Fountaining decreased abruptly at 3:30 pm yesterday and had ceased by 4:00 pm. Drainback of lava into the original vents began soon after fountaining stopped and continued through the night. Drainback reversed around 8 am this morning, Dec 24, and low-level eruption of sluggish lava occurred from several of yesterday’s vents. Fountains began increasing in vigor around 11:00 am, signaling the onset of a second episode of this eruption. Breakouts of red lava are also visible on the surface of the lava lake as it continues to circulate. A data problem last night resulted in images from Halemaʻumaʻu crater being displayed on a Nāpau Crater camera site. There is no eruptive activity in Nāpau Crater, and the camera has been temporarily taken offline for maintenance. View the Kīlauea summit eruption livestream at: https://www.youtube.com/usgs/live