Visitors gather at the Keanakākoʻi area overlook to watch Kīlauea erupt. (NPS Photo/J.Wei)

(BIVN) – The Kīlauea summit eruption is once again paused, following the end of Episode 11 on Wednesday morning. 

After erupting for 12 hours and 44 minutes, lava fountains stopped at the vents within Halemaʻumaʻu crater at 7:06 a.m. HST. 

The USGS Volcano Alert Level for Kīlauea remains at WATCH. 

Episode 11 began at 6:22 p.m. HST on Tuesday, February 25th. A few hours after the lava emerged, fountains reached towering heights of 600 feet (180 m). Glow from the eruption could be seen as far away as Hilo.

From the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory: 

Summit Observations:

Lava flows and fountains stopped erupting from the south vent within Halemaʻumaʻu crater at about 7:06 a.m. HST on February 26. Lava flows from episode 11 covered approximately 75%-80% of the Halemaʻumaʻu crater floor. and sent lava flows onto the down dropped block around the September 2023 vents. Both the north and south vents continue to degas. The north vent began erupting at 6:22 p.m. HST last night February 25 with low fountains. Over the next hour the fountains grew in height to approximately 600 feet (180 m). Small spatter fountains began at the south vent just before 7 p.m. HST and by 8 p.m. HST were producing small flows. The south vent fountains and flows increased in size by 9:00 p.m. HST and continued fountaining together until 6:35 a.m. HST on February 26 when fountaining stopped at the north vent. The south vent fountains began to drop at this time and by 7:06 a.m. HST lava fountaining and flows stopped at the south vent marking the end of Episode 11.

The onset of episode 11 was preceded by the appearance of glow along the row of September 2023 vents on the east side of Halemaʻumaʻu crater. The glow began at one cone on the evening of February 24 and became visible along the entire 2023 fissure around 6 p.m. HST on February 25. Glow on the 2023 fissure remained persistent through much of the night. This suggests that magma within the vent system may have intruded into the molten interior of Halemaʻumaʻu crater prior to the onset of episode 11. Similar glow was not observed along the 2023 vents prior to or during episode 10.

Large amounts of pumice, Peleʻs hair, and lighweight reticulite were deposited up on the west rim of Halemaʻumaʻu crater last night blanketing the area. A few light weight “ribbon” bombs up to about 1-2 feet (0.3-0.6 m) were also found on top of the pumice.

Summit tilt changed rapidly from inflation to deflation at the onset of the eruption (6:22 p.m. HST February 25) and dropped about 10 microradians during the eruption. Tilt turned back to inflation at 6:35 a.m. HST February 26 when fountaining at the north vent stopped. Seismic tremor increased rapidly at the onset of the eruption and decreased sharply when the north vent fountains stopped and returned to the high background levels when the fountaining at the south vent stopped a half an hour later. The Uēkahuna (UWD) tiltmeter has recorded less than 0.5 microradians of inflationary tilt since the end of episode 11. No seismicity was recorded at Kīlauea’s summit over the past 24 hours.

Volcanic gas emissions remain elevated. Based on measurements made during earlier episodes and pauses, sulfur dioxide (SO2) emission rates are likely to be approximately 1,000 t/d during the current pause. An SO2 emission rate of 2,100 t/d was measured at 11am on February 20.