Insights from more than a year of ongoing episodic lava fountaining at Kīlauea

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, Halemaʻumaʻu, 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.