DOI: 10.5066/p9dsip05
title: Lava fountain heights and associated timelapse images during the 2018 lower East Rift Zone eruption of Kīlauea volcano, Island of Hawaiʻi

description: The 2018 eruption from the lower East Rift Zone of Kīlauea volcano, on the Island of Hawaiʻi, was one of the most significant and destructive events on the volcano in the past 200 years (Neal and others, 2019; Patrick and others, 2020; Anderson and others, 2023; Mulliken and others, 2024). Between May and September of that year, 24 fissures opened on the lower flank of the volcano, producing lava fountains and expansive lava flows that covered an area of 36 km2 (Neal and others, 2019; Zoeller and others, 2020). Effusion rates at the dominant vent, fissure 8, were often >100 m3 s-1, and the total eruptive volume is estimated at 0.9–1.4 km3 (Dietterich and others, 2021) making it one of the most voluminous effusive eruptions worldwide in the past hundred years. Over 700 structures were destroyed, and thousands of residents were displaced (Houghton and others, 2021; Meredith and others, 2022). The eruption from the lower East Rift Zone was associated with collapse and subsidence of the caldera floor at the summit of Kīlauea, 40 km upslope (Neal and others, 2019; Anderson and others, 2019). This event also terminated the long-lived eruptions at Puʻuʻōʻō, in the middle East Rift Zone, and the Halemaʻumaʻu lava lake within the summit crater (Wright and Klein, 2014; Mulliken and others, 2024).

In this data release we publish measurements of the height of the 2018 lava fountains through time, which may be helpful for understanding the dynamics of lava fountaining and vent behavior in basaltic eruptions. In this first version of the data release, we include only the measurements from the dominant vent, fissure 8. This fountain was monitored with a time-lapse camera that allowed for frequent, regular measurements. Lava fountains at the other fissures were measured more sporadically, normally with a handheld inclinometer, and those data will be included in a later version.

This data release complements Patrick and others (2024) which includes additional timelapse images collected from five other temporary timelapse cameras that collected images during the 2018 lower East Rift Zone eruption of Kīlauea.


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