HAWAIIAN VOLCANO OBSERVATORY DAILY UPDATE U.S. Geological Survey Thursday, November 6

HAWAIIAN VOLCANO OBSERVATORY DAILY UPDATE
U.S. Geological Survey
Thursday, November 6, 2025, 9:25 AM HST (Thursday, November 6, 2025, 19:25 UTC)

KILAUEA (VNUM #332010)
19°25’16” N 155°17’13” W, Summit Elevation 4091 ft (1247 m)
Current Volcano Alert Level: WATCH
Current Aviation Color Code: ORANGE

Activity Summary:

Overflows of degassed lava continued from the south vent until 12am this morning while three small overflow episodes occurred from the north vent into the early morning. Both vents showed strong glow and minor spattering overnight. The last overflows came from the north vent near 4 a.m. HST on November 6. Kīlauea’s summit inflation has stalled over the past several days, lengthening the forecast window. However, repeated overflows in the last day from the north and south vents indicate the start of episode 36 may be close. Models suggest a likely forecast window of November 6–11 for episode 36.

Summit Observations:

Since 4 a.m. HST this morning there has been a pause in overflow activity at the north and south vents. Preceding this period, the north vent produced a number of large overflows with many of these events developing hemispherical dome fountains. Overflows and the dome fountains had very little spattering until drainback, indicating that mostly degassed magma is being erupted at this time.

The summit has not shown strong changes in deformation in the last 24 hours. The Uēkahuna tiltmeter (UWD) has recorded approximately 0.5 microradian of deflationary tilt over the past 24 hours yielding 25.2 microradians of inflationary tilt since the end of episode 35. Tremor patterns until midnight were consistent with periods of low tremor correlating with pond filling and/or overflows followed by longer 15-75 minute tremor spikes related to drainback. That pattern changed just after 1 a.m. HST with more constant and higher tremor marked by small spikes (typically 1 minute) of high tremor occurring sporadically.

Plumes of gas continue from both vents this morning and sulfur dioxide (SO₂) gas emissions remain at background levels, typically between 1,200 and 1,500 tonnes per day. Yesterday wind conditions were favorable and the SO2 array southwest of the vent detected “puffs” of gas related to drainback events as is expected during gas pistoning events.

Episode 35 lava fountains began at approximately 8:05 p.m. HST on October 17 and ended at 3:32 a.m. HST on October 18. South vent fountains reached heights of nearly 1,500 feet (460 meters) and north vent fountains reached heights of about 1,100 feet (330 meters). These were the highest single fountain and highest pair of fountains seen during this eruption so far. Episode 35 fountains produced an estimated 13 million cubic yards (10 million cubic meters) of lava. The combined average eruption rate was over 500 cubic yards per second (400 cubic meters per second) from the dual fountains. Lava flows from the fountains covered about two thirds of the floor of Halemaʻumaʻu crater.

The following notices provide more information about episode 35:

• USGS Volcano Notice – DOI-USGS-HVO-2025-10-18T20:28:54+00:00
• USGS Volcano Notice – DOI-USGS-HVO-2025-10-18T10:16:28+00:00
• USGS Volcano Notice – DOI-USGS-HVO-2025-10-18T07:33:48+00:00
• USGS Volcano Notice – DOI-USGS-HVO-2025-10-17T05:15:25+00:00
• USGS Volcano Notice – DOI-USGS-HVO-2025-10-16T21:59:37+00:00

The following links provide more information about the current eruption that began on December 23, 2024:

• Eruption resources, including the most recent map and a timeline of eruption episodes since December 23, 2024: https://www.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/science/eruption-information
• Three Kīlauea summit livestream videos that show eruptive lava fountains are available here: https://www.youtube.com/@usgs/streams
• Summit eruption webcams: https://www.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/summit-webcams
• Volcano Watch article on gas pistons: https://www.usgs.gov/observatories/hvo/news/volcano-watch-so-what-earth-or-least-kilauea-a-gas-piston

Rift Zone Observations:

Rates of seismicity and ground deformation remain very low in the East Rift Zone and Southwest Rift Zone, with no significant earthquake activity in the past 24 hours outside of the summit. SO₂ emissions from the East Rift Zone remain below the detection limit.

Analysis:

The persistent vent glow, spattering, and lava overflows indicate that the start of episode 36 fountains is close. Spattering is only associated with drainback events indicating the rising magma is still gas poor. Much larger volumes of lava have been erupted from the south and north vents until approximately 4 am HST, indicating the start of episode 36 may be close.  The summit inflation rate is currently flat and the summit deflated at a rate of about 0.5 microradians per day pushing the forecast window to later dates. Models indicate episode 36 is currently likely to occur sometime between November 6 and November 11.

The current eruption has been characterized by episodic lava fountaining not seen in any eruptions since the 1983–86 episodic fountains at the beginning of the Puʻuʻōʻō eruption. Lava fountains and flows have erupted from two vents within Halemaʻumaʻu crater that we refer to as the north vent and south vent. Each of the previous fountaining episodes lasted from a few hours to over a week and was accompanied by strong deflation of the summit region. Pauses between the lava fountaining episodes have been marked by an immediate switch from deflation to inflation as the magma chamber recharges and repressurizes. Lava fountaining episodes have occurred approximately once per week since the start of the current eruption on December 23, 2024.