Halemaʻumaʻu eruption · episode 53 of 55
Kīlauea episode 53
Episode 53 of Kīlauea's Halemaʻumaʻu eruption began at 3:45 p.m. HST on August 12, 2026 and ended at 1:23 a.m. HST on August 13, 2026. USGS gives the duration as 10 hours. HVO's Uēkahuna tiltmeter (UWD) recorded about 14.0 microradians of deflation during the episode. HVO notes: Precursory lava flows from north, south, and "crack" vents; north vent erupted lava fountain.
Episode 53 at a glance
- Start (HST)
- August 12, 2026, 3:45 p.m.USGS timeline
- End (HST)
- August 13, 2026, 1:23 a.m.USGS timeline
- Duration
- 10 hoursUSGS timeline
- UWD tilt (deflation)
- about 14.0 microradiansHVO notice
- Max fountain height
- about 150 mUSGS timeline
- Lava erupted
- about 4.6 million m³USGS timeline
- Pause that followed
- 12 daysUSGS timeline
In HVO's words
The sentences these figures come from, quoted from USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory notices.
“The Uēkahuna tiltmeter (UWD) recorded about 14.0 microradians of deflationary tilt during episode 53.”
Other HVO notices about episode 53 gave: approximately 13.9 microradians.
HVO notices about episode 53
- Volcano Activity Notice · Aug 12, 2026, 11:46 a.m. HSTPrecursory low-level eruptive activity in advance of episode 53 of the ongoing Halemaʻumaʻu eruption began around 11:20 a.m. HST on August 12, 2026.
- Volcano Activity Notice · Aug 12, 2026, 3:53 p.m. HSTEpisode 53 of the ongoing Halemaʻumaʻu eruption began at 3:45 p.m. HST on August 12, 2026.
- Volcano Activity Notice · Aug 12, 2026, 5:45 p.m. HSTEpisode 53 of the ongoing Halemaʻumaʻu eruption continues at 15:30 p.m. HST on 12 August 2026.
- Volcano Activity Notice · Aug 13, 2026, 1:26 a.m. HSTEpisode 53 of the ongoing Halemaʻumaʻu eruption ended abruptly at 1:23 a.m. HST on 13 August 2026.
- Status Report · Aug 13, 2026, 1:56 a.m. HSTSummary: Episode 53 of the ongoing Halemaʻumaʻu eruption began at 3:45 p.m. HST August 12 and ended at 1:23 a.m. HST on August 13, 2026, after 9.6 hours of fountaining.
Daily updates: USGS Kīlauea volcano updates. Full table: USGS Timeline of Eruptive Episodes.
Times are Hawaiʻi-Aleutian Standard Time (HST). Start and pause times, durations, fountain heights and lava volumes come from the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory's Timeline of Eruptive Episodes; tilt figures and episodes not yet in that table are quoted from HVO notices. USGS describes these as unreviewed, preliminary estimates that are subject to revision. Durations for episodes 17 and earlier may include precursory activity, and HVO rounds durations to the nearest hour, half-hour or day. A blank cell means HVO hasn't published that figure in a form we could read; we don't estimate it.
Credit: U.S. Geological Survey. This archive is generated automatically and is not an official USGS product.