Hawaii Center for Volcanology | Episodes of the Pu'u 'O'o Eruption of Kilauea

Summary of Eruption Episodes 1-60

Scientists at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory have subdivided the multi-decade-long Pu'u 'O'o eruption of Kilauea into "episodes". Each new episode denotes vigorous new eruptive activity either from a different vent or after a pause or slowdown. For example, Episode 54 of the Pu'u 'O'o-Kupaianaha eruption began on January 30, 1997 at a new location (Napau Crater), and Episode 55 began on February 24, 1997 after a 24-day pause. Some episodes are well defined; others are more arbitrary. Overall they provide convenient markers along the course of an eruption. At times, two episodes have occured simultaneously (for example, episodes 48 and 49), which can add to the confusion of people not familiar with this numbering scheme. Episode 55 was a very long lived one (a decade). During tis episode HVO stopped releasing episode numbers to the public. They continued using this terminology in publications through 2011, so we continued updating parts of this table through 2011. Please see near the bottom of this document for an explanation of the terminology used here.

The crater walls inside the Pu'u 'O'o cone, 1997

Map summarizing lava flows from episodes 1-58, from Orr, 2011 (full reference at bottom of this document

Episode number	Episode Start (M/Da/Yr)	Repose Period (days)	Episode Length	Flow Area km²	Flow Volume 10⁶m³	Eruption Rate (10³m³/hr)	Vent Location (see below)

1	1/03/83		99 hrs	4.8	14	141	Fissure 1
2	2/25/83	33.0	174 hrs	2.7	14	80	Pu'u 'O'o & "1123" vent
3	3/28/83	23.5	290 hrs	7.9	38	131	Pu'u 'O'o
4	6/13/83	65.3	100 hrs	2.2	11	110	Pu'u 'O'o
5	6/29/83	11.9	90 hrs	3.4	13	144	Pu'u 'O'o
6	7/22/83	19.3	73 hrs	2.0	9.0	123	Pu'u 'O'o
7	8/15/83	20.6	56 hrs	3.7	14	250	Pu'u 'O'o
8	9/06/83	19.5	24 hrs	2.0	8.0	333	Pu'u 'O'o
9	9/15/83	8.4	52 hrs	2.1	8.0	154	Pu'u 'O'o
10	10/05/83	17.2	64 hrs	2.7	14	219	Pu'u 'O'o
11	11/05/83	29.3	43 hrs	4.3	12	279	Pu'u 'O'o
12	11/30/83	22.4	35 hrs	3.0	8.0	229	Pu'u 'O'o
13	1/20/84	50.1	42 hrs	2.6	10	238	Pu'u 'O'o
14	1/30/84	8.3	19 hrs	2.1	6.0	316	Pu'u 'O'o
15	2/14/84	14.3	19 hrs	2.2	8.0	421	Pu'u 'O'o
16	3/03/84	17.0	32 hrs	3.2	12	375	Pu'u 'O'o
17	3/30/84	25.3	23 hrs	3.0	10	435	Pu'u 'O'o
18	4/18/84	18.6	60 hrs	6.6	24	400	Pu'u 'O'o
19	5/16/84	25.0	44 hrs	1.4	2.0	45	Pu'u 'O'o
20	6/07/84	20.8	9 hrs	1.6	4.0	444	Pu'u 'O'o
21	6/30/84	22.2	8 hrs	1.9	5.7	713	Pu'u 'O'o
22	7/08/84	8.0	15 hrs	2.7	7.7	513	Pu'u 'O'o
23	7/28/84	19.1	18 hrs	3.3	9.5	528	Pu'u 'O'o
24	8/19/84	21.7	20 hrs	3.7	11.6	580	Pu'u 'O'o
25	9/19/84	29.9	13.5 hrs	3.3	11.1	822	Pu'u 'O'o
26	11/02/84	43.3	5 hrs	1.6	6.6	1320	Pu'u 'O'o
27	11/20/84	17.3	10 hrs	2.3	8.4	840	Pu'u 'O'o
28	12/03/84	13.4	14.5 hrs	3.6	12.5	855	Pu'u 'O'o
29	1/03/85	29.1	16 hrs	3.8	13.0	813	Pu'u 'O'o
30	2/04/85	31.0	21 hrs	4.1	14.1	671	Pu'u 'O'o
31	3/13/85	36.2	21.5 hrs	4.8	19.4	843	Pu'u 'O'o
32	4/21/85	38.5	17.5 hrs	4.8	16.3	906	Pu'u 'O'o
33	6/12/85	51.6	6 hrs	2.2	7.9	1317	Pu'u 'O'o
34	7/06/85	23.6	14 hrs	2.3	10.6	757	Pu'u 'O'o
35	7/26/85	18.8	7 hrs	2.9	7.2	1029	Pu'u 'O'o
35A	7/27/85	0.7	384 hrs	0.8	4.5	12	Fissure 2
36	9/02/85	21.1	9.5 hrs	2.7	11.5	1211	Pu'u 'O'o
37	9/24/85	21.8	12 hrs	4.4	14.7	1225	Pu'u 'O'o
38	10/21/85	25.9	8.5 hrs	3.9	14.8	1762	Pu'u 'O'o
39	11/13/85	23.1	10 hrs	4.2	13.7	1398	Pu'u 'O'o
40	1/01/86	48.5	13.5 hrs	4.0	11.6	859	Pu'u 'O'o
41	1/27/86	25.8	11.5 hrs		13.7		Pu'u 'O'o
42	2/22/86	25.3	13.1 hrs		12.1		Pu'u 'O'o
43	3/22/86	27.1	11.4 hrs		10.3		Pu'u 'O'o
44	4/13/86	22.2	11 hrs		11.5		Pu'u 'O'o
45	5/07/86	23.5	15.1 hrs		9.4		Pu'u 'O'o
46	6/02/86	24.6	10.9 hrs		9.8		Pu'u 'O'o
47	6/26/86	23.6	12.6 hrs		8.8		Pu'u 'O'o
(1-47 summary)			3.5 yrs	26	385
48	7/20/86	24	~5.5 yrs	41	~500		Kupaianaha
49	11/8/91	none	18 days	4	11		Fissure 3
50	2/17/92	11	15 days	0.5	3		Pu'u 'O'o Flank
51	3/7/92	4	161 days	11	32		Pu'u 'O'o Flank
52	10/3/92	none	15 days	0.5	2		Pu'u 'O'o Flank
53	2/20/93	none	~4 yrs	~14.6	~535		Pu'u 'O'o Flank
54	1/30/97	none	1 day	0.24	0.3		Napau
55	2/24/97	24	10 years	~100 (*)	~1900 (*)		Pu'u 'O'o and Flank
			* estimated values thru Jan 2000, episode ended in 2007
56	2007	brief	brief				Napau
57	2007	2 week	brief				Pu'u 'O'o crater
58	2007		4 yrs				Pu'u 'O'o and then down rift between Pu'u 'O'o and Kupaianaha
59	Mar 2011	brief	brief				uprift of Pu'u 'O'o, near Napau
60	Jun 2011	brief	months...				Pu'u 'O'o crater
note: HVO stopped using this episode system for public release during episode 55 and on their web site. They continued using this terminology in publications through 2011, so we continued updating parts of this table through 2011. see http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/kilauea/summary/main.html for a chronological history without episode numbers.

Description of Vent Locations

Fissure 1: 7 km long, discontinous fissure system extending from Napau to Kalalau.

Fissure 2: just uprift (west) of Pu'u 'O'o.

Fissure 3: ~2 km long, discontinous fissure system between Pu'u 'O'o and Kupaianaha

"1123" vent: 1.5 km downrift (east) of Pu'u 'O'o

"uprift": in the direction of Kilauea summit, generally in or near Napau crater, west of Pu'u 'O'o.

"downrift": farther away from Kilauea summit, generally near Kupaianaha, east of Pu'u 'O'o.

Pu'u 'O'o Flank: These are vents situated outside but near to the Pu'u 'O'o crater. For instance, lavas from episodes 50-53 and 55 rose up in the throat of Pu'u 'O'o vent but drained onto the flow field through vents on the south (episode 52 and 55) and west (episodes 50, 51, 53, 55) flanks of Pu'u 'O'o. Episode 53 began on 20 Feb 1993 by re-occupying an episode 52 vent; episode 51 lavas were still erupting from a nearby vent at this time. Episode 51 and 53 lavas comingled as they fed the lava tube running down to the coast and so all those lavas erupted after this date are considered by the USGS-HVO to be part of episode 53. Episode 55 lavas have arisen from numerous closely-spaced vents both within and without the Pu'u 'O'o crater. Some flows originating from within the crater have overflowed it and mantled the nearby flow field. HVO has lumped all of these vents into episode 55 for simplicity.
After episode 55, the eruption has alternated between events in the crater and outside of it. For instance, episode 56 was a brief eruption in 2007 accompanied by a collapse of the Pu'u 'O'o crater floor. It partially refilled during Episode 57, then Episode 58 shifted downrift to erupt from a new vent in between Pu'u 'O'o and Kupaianaha a 4 year episode that, like episode 55, sent extensive lavas down to the coastal plain and into the ocean. A small uprift eruption (Episode 59) resulted in another collapse of the Pu'u 'O'o crater floor. Episode 60 began soon after within the crater. Subsequent activity, especially events in 2014 and 2015 that sent lavas east towards Pahoa, do not have publicly avalable episode numbers.

Glossary of Terminology Used:

Repose period - duration in days since the last eruptive episode.
Volume - millions of cubic meters of dense rock (vesicles removed).
Rate - average rate of lava erupted during episode in thousands of cubic meters/hour.

Data was compiled by K. Rubin and M. Garcia from the following sources:

Wolfe (1988) U.S.G.S. Prof. Paper 1463; [episodes 1-20].
G. Ulrich (1987) unpublished data; [episodes 21-47].
U.S.G.S. Hawaiian Volcano Observatory unpublished data; [episodes 48, 50-55].
Mangan and others (1995) Bulletin Volcanology, v. 57, p. 127-135; [episode 49].
Heliker and others (1998) Bulletin Volcanology, v. 59, p. 381-393; [episodes 50-53].
Orr (2011), Selected Time-Lapse Movies of the East Rift Zone Eruption of Kilauea Volcano, 2004-2008: U.S. Geological Survey Data Series 621, 18 p. [espisode 56-59].
Eruption updates at HVO website (no longer posted) - [episodes 54, 55].


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