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Episode 20 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 0201-1401 UTC on 07 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 20 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 0328 UTC on 07 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 0336 UTC. This prolonged multi-episode Kilauea eruption began on 23 December 2024.

The sustained period of lava fountaining during this episode ended around 0758 UTC — but a GOES-18 thermal signature of prolonged surface lava flow was still apparent several hours later at 1156 UTC, and the bright nighttime glow of this lava flow could be seen in NOAA-21 VIIRS Day/Night Band imagery (below).

GOES-18 Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm, left) and NOAA-21 VIIRS Day/Night Band (0.7 µm, right) images valid at 1156 UTC on 07 May [click to enlarge]

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 0321-0901 UTC on 07 May [click to play MP4 animation]

Categories: GOES-18, NOAA-21, RealEarth, Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images, VIIRS, Volcanic activity