The eruption of Kīlauea within Halemaʻumaʻu crater paused shortly after noon on Saturday when fountain-fed lava flows stopped erupting out of the north vent.

This sixth episode began at 11:28 p.m. on Friday, January 24 and lasted for just over 13 hours.

Fountains of episode 6 had been gradually declining throughout the morning and lava had covered nearly half of the floor of Halemaʻumaʻu crater by the time the eruption paused. Seismic tremor began dropping and deflationary tilt stopped around noon, about 30 minutes before the eruption paused. Overall, the tiltmeter at Uēkahuna (UWD) recorded about 3 microradians of deflation during episode 6, about the same as episode 5 and appears to be recording the start of inflationary tilt at 1:00 p.m. HST.

Each episode of lava fountaining since December 23, 2024, has continued for 14 hours to 8 days and episodes have been separated by pauses in eruptive activity lasting a less than 24 hours to 12 days. Episode 6 began after recovering only 3 microradians of tilt, the amount lost during episode 5. Only 3 microradians of deflationary tilt were recorded during episode 6 as well, so it is likely that another episode could start within 1-2 days if inflation rates are similar to prior pauses.

Kīlauea Volcano Alert Level/Aviation Color Code remain at WATCH/ORANGE. All current and recent activity is within Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park.

 

Photo credit: USGS