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Kilauea volcano in Hawaii remained in a prolonged precursory phase on 14 September 2026, still awaiting Episode 55 of lava fountaining at the Halemaumau crater.
The north vent produced continuous spatter bursts overnight on 13-14 September; summit inflation stalled, pushing the expected onset back again.
The USGS Volcano Alert Level stayed at WATCH and the Aviation Color Code at ORANGE, both raised from ADVISORY and YELLOW when precursory activity began on 7 September 2026.
Between 7 and 12 September the north vent produced 104 short precursory lava overflows, forming two flows extending about 1 km to the south-west and north-east.
The episodic eruption at Kilauea's summit has been running since 23 December 2024, with Episode 54 on 25 August 2026.
Kilauea lies on the south-eastern side of the island of Hawaii, the largest and youngest island of the Hawaiian chain, in the central Pacific Ocean. Its summit caldera is Kaluapele, and Halemaumau is a crater within it. Mauna Loa, the world's largest active shield volcano, rises immediately to the north-west on the same island. The chain is built by a stationary mantle hotspot beneath the moving Pacific Plate, which is why the islands grow older towards the north-west.
A broad, gently sloping volcano built by runny basaltic lava that flows far before solidifying. Eruptions are usually effusive rather than explosive, which is why Hawaiian eruptions produce lava flows and fountains rather than the ash columns of steep composite cones.
Simple Analogy: Thin syrup spreads wide and flat; thick batter piles up steep.
GS Paper I > Physical Geography > Volcanism, plate tectonics and hotspots
A fixed plume of rising mantle material that produces volcanism in the middle of a plate; the moving plate above it leaves a chain of islands, as in Hawaii.
A large depression formed when a volcano's summit collapses into an emptied magma chamber; Kaluapele is Kilauea's caldera and Halemaumau a crater within it.