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Eruption of Kilauea on the Big Island of Hawai`i

By Scott Bachmeier •

5-minute GOES-18 Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm) images, from 1601 UTC on 06 December to 0701 UTC on 07 December [click to play MP4 animation]

5-minute PACUS Sector GOES-18 (GOES-West) Shortwave Infrared images (above) displayed the pronounced thermal signature associated with an eruption of Kilauea on the Big Island of Hawai`i on 06 December 2025. According to the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, this Episode 38 of the ongoing Halema`uma`u eruption (Episode 1 started on 23 December 2024) began at 1845 UTC — and there were 3 roughly equal sized 500 foot (150 meter) high lava fountains, with 2 from the north vents and 1 from the south vent. Such a triple fountain is an extremely rare event, and this is the first time during this current sequence of eruption episodes that it has been observed. Episode 38 abruptly ended at 0652 UTC on 07 December, after 12.1 hours of continuous lava fountaining.

As early as 1856 UTC, the thermal signature exhibited a 3.9 µm brightness temperature of 137.88ºC (below) — which is the saturation temperature of GOES-18 ABI Band 7 detectors.

GOES-18 Shortwave Infrared image at 1856 UTC on 06 December, with a cursor sample of the brightness temperature value [click to enlarge]

GOES-18 Ash RGB images created using Geo2Grid (below) showed the rapid eastward transport of 2 long plumes of volcanic cloud that were composed primarily of SO2 (pale shades of green), in addition to the slower south-southwest transport of volcanic clouds that were composed of both SO2 and a mixture of ash and SO2 (shades of yellow). A dense volcanic cloud also emerged from the summit of Kilauea beginning around 2001 UTC, composed of both ash and SO2, which moved eastward.

5-minute GOES-18 Ash RGB images, from 1851 UTC on 06 December to 0656 UTC on 07 December [click to play MP4 animation]

GOES-18 True Color RGB images from the CSPP GeoSphere site (below) provided a closer view of the dense volcanic cloud that formed at 2001 UTC and moved eastward — and an overshooting top was frequently seen directly over the eruption site.

5-minute GOES-18 True Color RGB images, from 1701 UTC on 06 December to 0306 UTC on 07 December [click to play MP4 animation]

Categories: Geo2Grid, GOES-18, Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images, Volcanic activity