This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Episodic lava fountaining is a rare volcanic behavior in which repeated, hours-long bursts of molten lava and gas are spewed from volcanic vents, with quiet pauses lasting days to weeks between episodes. These lava fountains have been observed in active volcanoes in places like Hawaii, Iceland and Italy, but researchers still do not fully understand what starts, sustains or stops these individual fountain episodes.
In a new study, published in Science, a team of geologists analyzed data from a recent record-breaking lava fountain sequence from Hawaii's Kīlauea volcano. The team's analysis is improving predictions of when these lava fountains will occur, leading to forecasts that can help communicate eruption-related hazards to nearby communities and park staff. Before 2024, Kīlauea had only three documented lava fountaining sequences.
But in late 2024, Kīlauea began a new sequence that, as of September 2026, has produced 54 episodes. This is the most lava fountaining episodes recorded during any Kīlauea eruption. While many of the fountains reached only around 100 meters (330 feet), the highest have reached about 480 meters (1,570 feet).
Windblown volcanic fragments from the fountains have affected roads, park infrastructure and communities up to about 70 kilometers (43 miles) away. Since the eruptions are situated in an easily accessible area of Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park (HAVO) with a regular livestream of the events, they have drawn much attention. The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO), which runs the livestream, has since added two more.
The authors of the new study write, "Although the livestreams reached a global audience, they were used most heavily by Hawaii residents, particularly those on the island of Hawaiʻi, where per capita viewership far exceeded that of any other region, highlighting the webcams' value as a near-real-time communication tool for local communities. "Notably, on December 6, 2025 (episode 38), shallow collapse of the south vent produced a south-inclined fountain, burying one of HVO's livestream webcams under 10 m (33 feet) of agglutinated spatter, ∼630 m (2,070 feet) away. A video clip of the webcam being destroyed was viewed more than 500,000 times across social media platforms." The research team says this is the first Kīlauea eruption tracked by a dense, modern monitoring network, offering a chance to test some of the competing explanations for how the fountains start and stop.
The leading explanation involves rising magma releasing water-rich gas bubbles near the surface, accelerating lava out of the vent. Another potential explanation is that carbon dioxide–rich foam builds up inside a magma reservoir and collapses, driving the fountains. To look for relevant patterns, the researchers combined ground movement, seismic, low-frequency sound, gas, satellite and camera observations from the first 39 episodes.
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