Science· 2026Q1
Insights from more than a year of ongoing episodic lava fountaining at Kīlauea
- 1citations
- Q1SCImago
- 2026year
Short summary
Kīlauea's ongoing eruption, featuring 54 episodic lava fountaining events since December 2024, shows systematic correlations between fountaining and summit inflation, enabling quantitative forecasts.
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Key points
- Kīlauea has produced 54 episodic lava fountaining events since December 2024.
- Fountaining events are typically hours long and separated by days to weeks.
- Systematic correlations between fountaining and summit inflation were observed.
- These correlations enable unprecedented quantitative forecasts of fountaining events.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Episodic lava fountaining is rare globally, with only three occurrences from Kīlauea (Hawaii) since 1823. Beginning in December 2024, an eruption within the summit crater, Halema'uma'u, has produced 54 fountaining episodes to date, each lasting typically for hours and separated by days to weeks. Although multiple mechanisms have been proposed, fundamental questions remain about how magma reservoir pressure, conduit permeability, and volatile exsolution control fountaining onset. We present a multiparameter record of episodic fountaining at Kīlauea using modern geochemical, geophysical, and geologic monitoring. These observations revealed systematic correlations between fountaining and summit inflation, enabling unprecedented quantitative forecasts. This eruption will provide new constraints on the timing, evolution, and processes driving episodic fountaining globally, and highlights Kīlauea's role as a natural laboratory for studying volcanic processes.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Science, 2026 · DOI ↗
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GeologyEarth and Planetary Sciences