Kīlauea Fountain Heights Data Now Public

A USGS archive of 50 eruptive episodes gives researchers a documented, comparable record of Kīlauea's lava fountains.

Updated on Nov. 6, 2026 in Geology

Weathered camera enclosure on a tripod at a dark volcanic caldera rim, facing a tall glowing lava fountain under drifting steam, with a dark basalt foreground in low warm sunlight. — Scientists at the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory have published lava fountain height measurements from the first 50 eruptive episodes at Kīlauea, creating a public archive for comparing eruption intensity. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

The USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory has released a public data set documenting lava fountain heights from the first 50 eruptive episodes at Kīlauea. The release is a documented, published data set rather than a new instrument or product, and it reflects measurement methods that scientists have already been using and refining.

Why it matters

Lava fountain height is a key indicator of eruption intensity, and a standardized public record lets researchers compare episodes against each other over time. The release shows how observatory measurement methods are being turned into a shared, reusable archive.

The measurements rest on a network of timelapse cameras around the caldera that captures one image every minute, with geologists marking the top of the continuous fountain in each frame. Pixel positions are converted into real heights using each camera's calibrated field of view and its measured distance to the vent.

The players

USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory

The U.S. Geological Survey observatory that monitors Kīlauea and produces its eruption measurements, including fountain-height records from its camera network.

The details

Lava fountains erupt at the summit of Kīlauea, and after each episode ends, scientists collect images from timelapse cameras positioned around the caldera, the bowl-shaped depression at the volcano's summit. Geologists review hundreds of these images in the lab, manually marking the top of the continuous fountain in each frame. Each marked pixel position is then converted into an actual height using the camera's calibrated field of view and the measured distance to the vent, and the resulting heights form the data set.

Nov. 5, 2026: USGS publishes the public data set covering the first 50 eruptive episodes.

The Tech Race

The release sits within the observatory's long-running Kīlauea monitoring work, where camera-based measurement is the established method. Its stated projection that artificial intelligence may eventually perform fountain-height measurement marks the next possible step beyond manual frame-by-frame analysis.

Residents and visitors on the Big Island can access the lava fountain data set directly as a reference record of past eruptions. The data is a published archive, so it is available now for anyone to use rather than requiring a future rollout.

The takeaway

The release turns camera-based eruption measurements into a shared public record that researchers can reuse and extend. Watch whether the observatory expands the data set beyond the first 50 episodes and whether automated methods replace the current manual pixel-marking process.