Kīlauea2018KIL-082
What the entry records
East Rift Zone, summit
Largest lower East Rift Zone eruption and summit caldera collapse in at least 200 years
The Living Island
See when three Hawaiʻi Island volcanoes were active and what each historical entry says.
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How to explore
Volcanoes build Hawaiʻi Island through activity at their summits and along rift zones on their sides. This chronology brings together written and measured records for Kīlauea, Mauna Loa, and Hualālai, but it is not a hazard map or forecast.
Choose a volcano
Start with Kīlauea in 2018, then use the 25-year bars to move through the recorded timeline.
Compare activity
Choose a period and compare entries at the summit, on a flank or rift zone, and at the ocean.
Check measurements
Switch between recorded lava volume and land area, keeping missing and qualified values out of the ranking.
Open the record
Read the selected entry's date, location, durations, measurements, summary, and recorded impacts together.
- Activity entry
- One row in the USGS chronology; it can describe an eruption, summit collapse, or overlapping summit and flank activity.
- Summit
- The top of a volcano, including its crater or caldera.
- Flank
- The side of a volcano, where activity can follow long cracks called rift zones.
- Lava volume
- The estimated amount of erupted lava, shown here in cubic kilometres (km³).
- Land area covered
- The land surface covered by lava, shown here in square kilometres (km²).
- Summit subsidence
- Downward movement at the summit, which can happen when magma leaves the area below it.
Hawaiʻi Island · 1750–2023
Read a living island's record.
See when Kīlauea, Mauna Loa, and Hualālai were active, where the activity happened, and what each historical entry says.
- 1Choose a volcanoRead its timeline
- 2Compare activitySummit, flank, and ocean
- 3Check measurementsCompare lava volume or area
- 4Open the recordRead the source detail and limits
Recorded timing
Choose a volcano and follow its activity entries.
Each bar covers 25 years. Its height shows how many entries begin in that period. Choose a bar to open that part of the record; changing volcanoes updates every view.
Kīlauea
87 activity entries in this chronology
Entry counts are not a complete eruption rate. Older records are less complete, and summit and flank activity can appear in separate, overlapping entries.
1950–2023 · All entries
Open one Kīlauea entry
41 entries match the current period and activity filter.
Recorded location
Compare where activity happened.
Choose a period, then compare entries at the summit, on a flank or rift zone, and at the ocean. One entry can belong to more than one group, so the columns do not add to the total.
VolcanoAll entriesSummitFlank or riftOcean entry
Recorded measurements
Compare measured lava, with the gaps visible.
The ranking uses entries from 1950–2023 that have one positive, plain-number source value. Choose volume or land area. The exact value stays beside every bar.
Lava volume
Largest plain-number values in 1950–2023
Bar length uses a logarithmic scale: each equal step represents ten times the volume.
Source detail
Read the selected activity entry.
This view keeps the source's own date, location, description, and short summary together. Choose any entry above to replace it.
KIL-082 · Kīlauea
2018
East Rift Zone, summit
USGS short summary
Largest lower East Rift Zone eruption and summit caldera collapse in at least 200 years
Activity description
flank eruption, summit subsidence
- Summit duration
- 95
- Flank duration
- 124
- Ocean entry
- Yes
- Vent elevation
- Not recorded as one plain value
- Lava volume
- 1.06 km³
- Land area covered
- 35.5 km²
Read the source's recorded impacts
716 structures in Leilani Estates, Kapoho, and Lanipuna Gardens destroyed; 30 miles public road covered
Some years are approximate.
Words such as “likely,” “late,” ranges, and question marks remain visible instead of becoming exact dates.
Entries are not independent eruptions.
Long activity can overlap other entries, and summit and flank activity may be recorded separately.
This record cannot predict the next event.
For current hazards and alerts, visitors should use the U.S. Geological Survey's live volcano information.
Why this exists
The question
Linking a period timeline, summit-and-flank comparison, measured-lava ranking, and full source record will make a complex volcanic chronology understandable without turning incomplete historical entries into eruption rates or hazard predictions.
What to try
Start with the documented 2018 Kīlauea activity, then choose a volcano and period, compare where activity happened, switch between recorded lava volume and area, and open any source entry.
Method and limits
About the data
I found the U.S. Geological Survey Volcano Science Center's *Chronology of recent volcanic activity on the Island of Hawai‘i, Hawaii* through the allowlisted USGS catalog. The official data-release page identifies the authors, DOI 10.5066/P9V3NQYB, January 2024 publication date, and CC0 1.0 Universal dedication. I opened the underlying ScienceBase item and retrieved its version-one chronology and reference CSV files on November 1, 2026.
The two files total 233,695 bytes. Their SHA-256 values are `6608dd6aa821e36ee52ff0669f19cdadadd49244004c0a9d05a89ffc8f3bdb10` and `69d4cb667d169f97540da4e5cf60adccbb643847c1282c7391e336640c94cebe`; they also reproduce the MD5 values published by ScienceBase. The standard-library reducer validates both hashes, required columns, unique identifiers, 124 chronology entries, 286 reference rows, and the source split of 87 Kīlauea, 35 Mauna Loa, and two Hualālai entries. Repeated runs produced the same 69,956-byte browser snapshot at SHA-256 `0661e1a9fbe9dab7ad330250cbb30c6b070a01713c25c244f0677ae30926aff4`. The browser makes no request to USGS or ScienceBase.
The interface keeps the source's date label, activity area and description, summit and flank duration labels, ocean-entry field, short summary, impact note, and measurements. A value enters a measurement chart only when the source cell contains one plain number. Ranges, inequalities, footnotes, multi-part estimates, missing values, and zero values remain out of the logarithmic ranking instead of being converted or guessed. The chart shows exact values beside every bar and explains that equal steps represent a tenfold change.
The source describes a chronology assembled from written accounts, maps, measurements, and earlier publications. Documentation varies sharply across 274 years. Some entries overlap, long-lived activity can span decades, and summit and flank activity can appear in separate records. Counts therefore describe this compiled record, not independent eruption frequency. Lava volume, covered area, ocean entry, and recorded impacts do not establish present danger or predict what happens next. The project is a historical reader, not a substitute for current USGS alerts, maps, or emergency guidance.
Skills used
- Data analysis
- Data engineering
- Statistical reasoning
- Systems design
- Visualization
- Information design
- Interaction design
- Visual design
- Product thinking
- Editorial storytelling
- Accessibility
- Performance
What the data shows
- The chronology contains 124 activity entries: 87 for Kīlauea, 35 for Mauna Loa, and two for Hualālai. The entries begin in 1750 and end in 2023, but the early record is less complete.
- Sixteen entries record lava reaching the ocean: eight at Kīlauea, six at Mauna Loa, and both Hualālai entries. This describes the compiled entries, not the chance that a future eruption will reach the coast.
- The 2018 Kīlauea entry records 1.055 cubic kilometres of lava over 35.5 square kilometres, 716 structures destroyed, and 30 miles of public road covered. It also records summit subsidence, so it appears in both summit and flank groups.
- The 1983–2018 Kīlauea flank entry has the largest plain-number lava volume in the chronology at 4.4 cubic kilometres. The value does not by itself measure danger, intensity, or damage.