HVO reported that during 20-27 January lava flowed SE through a tube system from underneath Kilauea's Thanksgiving Eve Breakout (TEB) and rootless shield complex, reaching the Waikupanaha ocean entry. Explosions at the ocean entry were seen on 20, 21, and 26 January. On 22 January, the Prince lava flow, W of the main lava-tube system, entered the ocean at Waha'ula but was too small to generate a steam plume. Thermal anomalies suggesting surface flows were noted on the coastal plain and on the pali; geologists found active lava flows on the coastal plain on 26 January.

The vent in Halema'uma'u crater continued to produce a predominantly white plume that drifted mainly SW. Small amounts of newly ejected tephra, including rock dust, spatter, and Pele's Hair, were collected. Incandescence was intermittently seen from the vent, and sounds resembling rushing gas, rockfalls, and rock impacts were sometimes heard in the vicinity of the crater. The sulfur dioxide emission rate at the summit was 900 tonnes per day on 22 and 23 January; the 2003-2007 average rate was 140 tonnes per day.

Geological Summary. Kilauea overlaps the E flank of the massive Mauna Loa shield volcano in the island of Hawaii. Eruptions are prominent in Polynesian legends; written documentation since 1820 records frequent summit and flank lava flow eruptions interspersed with periods of long-term lava lake activity at Halemaumau crater in the summit caldera until 1924. The 3 x 5 km caldera was formed in several stages about 1,500 years ago and during the 18th century; eruptions have also originated from the lengthy East and Southwest rift zones, which extend to the ocean in both directions. About 90% of the surface of the basaltic shield volcano is formed of lava flows less than about 1,100 years old; 70% of the surface is younger than 600 years. The long-term eruption from the East rift zone between 1983 and 2018 produced lava flows covering more than 100 km2, destroyed hundreds of houses, and added new coastline.

Source: US Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO)