Volcanos

[Buster's Uncle]

That one was about a half hour early, according to whatever standard they use.  https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/hans-public/notice/DOI-USGS-HVO-2025-12-06T18:28:33+00:00

[Buster's Uncle]

My.  South vent went into overdrive while I was posting.

[Buster's Uncle]

Major wall blowout on south vent 9:46.

[Buster's Uncle]

I think it just knocked out v3.

[Lord Avalon]

V2 has a good shot of the horizontal throw of one of the fountains.

[Buster's Uncle]

How is there no lava flow visible from over there, I wonder?

[Lord Avalon]

There's a lot of dark smoke.

[Buster's Uncle]

There's tons of glowing lava.

[Buster's Uncle]

Wild guess, V3 was about a quarter mile distant...

[Buster's Uncle]

https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/hans-public/notice/DOI-USGS-HVO-2025-12-06T19:49:52+00:00

"Activity Summary:

Episode 38 fountains began at about 8:45 a.m. HST from the north vent after several north vent overflows overnight.  Low fountains and overflows were confined to the two sub vents within the north vent cone for several hours prior to the onset of Episode 38.  Fountains and flows from the south vent began at 8:49 HST.  All three vents are currently producing fountains. South vent fountains are close to 1200 feet (370 meters) high while the north vent fountains have dropped well below their maximum height of 500 feet (150 m).  Hot lava and pumice from the south vent fountained destroyed the V3 streaming camera site within the closed area just before 10:00 a.m. HST.   

Prior to the south vent becoming dominant, there were 3 roughly equal sized 500 foot (150 meter) high fountains with 2 from the north vents and 1 from the south vent.  This triple fountain is an extremely rare event, and this is the first time during this eruption it has been observed. "



-That misses a third north sub-vent, not visible since activity stepped up, and I think two extras in the south vent - hard to tell...

[Buster's Uncle]

Looks like the left north sub-vent is done, right almost...

[Buster's Uncle]

...Pretty surprised the south vent has held on this long...

[Lord Avalon]

9.5 hrs for this episode so far.

[Lord Avalon]

From the late Sat update:

"Episode 38 of the ongoing Halemaʻumaʻu eruption ended abruptly at 8:52 p.m. HST on December 6 after 12.1 hours of continuous lava fountaining.

The south vent stopped erupting at approximately 8:52 p.m. HST, marking the end of the episode. The dual north vents stopped erupting much earlier at approximately 11:50 a.m. Lava fountains reached heights of up to 1,000-1,200 ft (300-370 m) during episode 38. Fountains were down to about 400 feet (120 meters) high just before the abrupt end of the eruption. Lava fountaining lasted for 12.1 hours and produced an estimated 16 million cubic yards (12 million cubic meters) of lava. The combined average eruption rate was over 250 cubic yards per second (190 cubic meters per second) from the lava fountains.

Sustained lava fountains began erupting from two vents located within the north cone at 8:45 a.m. HST on December 6 after just over 5 hours of precursory lava overflows. The south vent then began fountaining at 8:49 a.m. By 9:15 a.m. a rare triple fountain event was underway with the two north vents and the south vent all erupting together at heights of about 500 feet (150 meters). By 9:40 a.m. the south vent fountain grew to about twice as high as the north vent fountains. The highest peak or instantaneous effusion rate of 1,300 cubic yards per second (1,000 cubic meters per second) occurred just before 10 a.m. when the south vent exploded. The enlarged south vent produced an inclined fountain over 1,000 feet (300 meters) tall that sprayed the south wall of Halemaʻumaʻu crater. Hot pumice and molten spatter from this fountain destroyed the HVO "V3" streaming camera site.

Lava flows from this episode's fountains covered 50-60% of the floor of Halemaʻumaʻu crater. Lava flows near the vents and on the floor of Halemaʻumaʻu within the southern part of Kaluapele (Kīlauea caldera) may continue to exhibit slow movement or incandescence as they cool and solidify over the coming days."

[Lord Avalon]

Geologist Shawn Willsey discussing latest episode: