Volcano Activity in 2026: Which Volcanoes Are Active?
Which volcanoes are erupting right now, and what happened recently? This page tracks the most important volcanic activity of 2026 — with the date each status was last checked, based on the official observatories.
This is a snapshot, not a live monitor. Every status shows the date it was checked. For current warnings, use the official sources at the bottom of this page.
On this page
Kīlauea, Hawaii as of 30 Sep 2026
On 23 December 2024 a new eruption began in Halemaʻumaʻu crater at the summit of Kīlauea, and nearly two years later it is still going. Its rhythm is unusual: the volcano “recharges” for days to weeks, then erupts in an episode of lava fountaining lasting hours, sometimes hundreds of metres high. Through 25 August 2026 the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory counted 54 fountaining episodes; episode 54 lasted about nine hours with fountains up to roughly 150 m. From 14 to 16 September 2026 six new vents opened in the crater and erupted lava flows without fountaining, and at the end of September lava was again active at the north and south vents.
All activity is confined to the closed summit area of Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park. The main hazards for visitors and residents are volcanic gas (SO₂, “vog”) and, during high fountains, fallout of fine volcanic glass (Pele’s hair) downwind.
Etna, Sicily as of 4 Oct 2026
Etna had a busy 2026:
- January: effusive activity with a lava flow in the Valle del Bove.
- 26 June – 4 July: a fissure at the base of the North-East Crater (~3,000 m) fed a lava flow toward the Valle del Leone.
- 5–7 July: ash emission from the Voragine crater; Catania airport had to cancel flights.
- 30 July – 2 August: a paroxysm with a lava fountain and an ash plume about 7 km high, followed by a new fissure at ~2,700 m.
- 6–8 August: a violent lava fountain from the Voragine that evolved into flank eruptions with new vents at ~2,750 and ~2,550 m in the Valle del Bove.
In early October 2026 Etna was quiet, with the aviation colour code at yellow and some lingering heat and tremor. Paroxysms can return with little warning. Source: INGV-Osservatorio Etneo and local reports.
Reykjanes Peninsula / Sundhnúkur, Iceland as of 30 Sep 2026
Since December 2023 there have been nine eruptions along the Sundhnúkur crater row, between the fishing town of Grindavík and the Svartsengi power plant with the Blue Lagoon. The latest began on 16 July 2025 and ended on 5 August 2025. Since then the ground at Svartsengi has kept rising slowly as magma flows into a shallow reservoir: according to the Icelandic Met Office (IMO), about 27.5 million m³ had accumulated by late September 2026 — the largest volume between two eruptions in the entire series.
IMO considers a new magma intrusion, possibly leading to an eruption on the Sundhnúkur crater row, the most likely scenario. The alert level for the Reykjanes–Svartsengi system stood at orange (level 2, “substantially increased activity”), and Grindavík is in the “considerable hazard” category. Previous eruptions were fissure eruptions lasting days to weeks, with lava fountains and flows that damaged roads, pipelines and part of Grindavík.
Campi Flegrei, Naples as of Aug 2026
The Campi Flegrei caldera beneath Pozzuoli, west of Naples, has been restless since 2005. The ground is rising (bradyseism) and earthquakes are getting stronger. On 31 July 2026 a magnitude 4.7 quake struck at about 3 km depth near the Solfatara — the strongest in the area in about forty years — damaging buildings and injuring at least 21 people, followed by dozens of aftershocks. There is no eruption; INGV scientists attribute the unrest to a combination of hydrothermal pressure and magma at depth. The last eruption was Monte Nuovo in 1538.
Other notable eruptions of 2024–2025
- Lewotobi Laki-laki (Flores, Indonesia), November 2024: a night-time explosive eruption killed at least nine people; the volcano stayed active through 2025.
- Krasheninnikov (Kamchatka, Russia), August 2025: its first eruption in about 600 years, days after the magnitude 8.8 earthquake off Kamchatka on 29 July 2025.
- Hayli Gubbi (Ethiopia), 23 November 2025: an explosive eruption from a volcano with no known previous Holocene eruption; its ash drifted over Yemen, Oman and India.
- Sundhnúkur (Iceland), 2023–2025: nine fissure eruptions in under two years (see above).
Volcanoes that are almost always active
Some volcanoes have been active almost continuously for years or centuries. On any given day 40 to 50 volcanoes are erupting worldwide. Examples of (near-)persistent activity:
| Volcano | Country | Type of activity |
|---|---|---|
| Stromboli | Italy | Small explosions every few minutes for over 2,000 years |
| Sakurajima | Japan | Vulcanian explosions, often hundreds per year |
| Fuego | Guatemala | Frequent explosions and lava flows |
| Popocatépetl | Mexico | Ash plumes and dome growth, active since 1994 |
| Erta Ale | Ethiopia | Lava lake / lava flows |
| Erebus | Antarctica | Long-lived lava lake |
Find them on the volcano map or read about their styles in types of eruptions.
Check the current status yourself
Official observatories publish daily or weekly updates. Reliable sources:
- Smithsonian GVP – Weekly Volcanic Activity Report (global summary every Wednesday)
- USGS – Kīlauea and the USGS Volcano Hazards Program
- Icelandic Met Office (IMO) for Iceland
- INGV – Osservatorio Etneo for Etna and Stromboli
- KNMI for the volcanoes of Saba and Sint Eustatius
What does an alert level mean? See our volcano safety guide.