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Episode 19 of the latest Kilauea eruption on the Big Island of Hawai’i

By Scott Bachmeier •

GOES-18 Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm, left) and Fire Mask derived product (right), from 0711-1631 UTC on 02 May [click to play MP4 animation]

5-minute CONUS Sector GOES-18 (GOES-West) Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm) and Fire Mask derived product images (above) displayed a pronounced thermal signature associated with Episode 19 of the ongoing eruption in the Halema’uma’u crater (located within the Kilauea summit caldera) on the Big Island of Hawai’i, which began around 0728 UTC on 02 May 2025. Shortwave Infrared 3.9 µm brightness temperatures exhibited values of 137.88ºC — the saturation temperature of GOES-18 ABI Band 7 detectors — for several hours, beginning at 0741 UTC. This prolonged multi-episode Kilauea eruption began on 23 December 2024.

Since this latest episode of the Kilauea eruption began during the nighttime hours, its thermal signature was also apparent in GOES-18 Near-Infrared 0.86 µm, 1.61 µm and 2.24 µm spectral bands (below).

GOES-18 Near-Infrared (0.86 µm, left, 1.61 µm, middle and 2.24 µm, right) images, from 0711-1551 UTC on 02 May [click to play MP4 animation]

GOES-18 SO2 RGB images from the RealEarth site (below) indicated that a low-altitude plume of SO2 (pale shades of green) was drifting southwest from Kilauea — the cluster of dark blue pixels denoted the thermal anomaly associated with the eruption site.

GOES-18 SO2 RGB images, from 0801-2201 UTC on 02 April [click to play MP4 animation]

GOES-18 True Color RGB images from the CSPP GeoSphere site (below) showed the southwest transport of hazy volcanic fog (vog) — a mixture of SO2, CO2 and water vapor — from the Kilauea eruption site.

GOES-18 Nighttime Microphysics RGB +True Color RGB images, from 1601-2201 UTC on 02 May [click to play MP4 animation]

Categories: GOES-18, Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images, Volcanic activity