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The west vent in Halema‘uma‘u remains active; Kīlauea's summit eruption continues, Island of Hawai‘i. Gas emissions and seismic activity at the summit remain elevated. HVO field crews—equipped specialized safety gear and PPE—monitor the current eruption from within the closed area of Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park with NPS permission.
HVO scientists collect detailed data to assess hazards and understand how the eruption is evolving at Kīlauea's summit, all of which are shared with the National Park Service and emergency managers. Access to this hazardous area is by permission from, and in coordination with, Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park.
The Kīlauea summit eruption continues from the west vent within Halema‘uma‘u crater with no significant changes in the past few days. Early this morning (January 2) at approximately 1:30 a.m. the lava lake was measured at about 189 m (620 ft) deep. HVO scientists monitor the eruption from within an area of Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park that remains closed to the public for safety reasons. USGS photo taken by H. Dietterich.
The west vent within Halema‘uma‘u crater continues to erupt with no significant changes over the last several days. Glowing is seen from skylights above the vent and occasional spatter, visible in the photo, is ejected from these skylights. The weak spatter has slowly been building a cone at the vents. The channel of lava, which crusted over several days ago, continues to supply lava to the lake. The bright upwelling site adjacent to the vent is where lava is entering the lake through the crusted channel. USGS photo taken by H. Dietterich on January 2.
HVO scientists continue to monitor the eruption in Halema‘uma‘u crater at Kīlauea Volcano's summit. This morning (Jan. 2) at approximately 7:10 a.m. HST the lava lake depth was measured at about 189 m (620 ft), which has not changed significantly since yesterday afternoon. The spatter cone, that was built by the now inactive northern vent (center), is almost downed by the slowly rising lava lake within Halema‘uma‘u. USGS photograph taken by K. Mulliken.
There have been no major changes in the Kīlauea summit eruption over the past week. These two thermal webcam images compare the Halema‘uma‘u crater on December 26, 2020 at 12:00 p.m. HST (left) and January 2, 2021 at 12:00 p.m. HST (right). Around 3:00 a.m. HST on December 26 the dominant northern fissure vent was drowned by the lava lake and shut down. In the week since then the west vent has continued to erupt and supply lava to the lake. Occasional weak spatter has slowly built a cone at the vent, visible in the lower center of the right image. The main island in the lava lake has migrated west (bottom of frames) and rotated over the past week. Additional summit webcam images can be found here. USGS F1cam thermal webcam images.
In the past week, no major changes have occurred in the eruption within Halema‘uma‘u crater at Kīlauea summit. The west vent has been the only site of eruptive activity since the morning of December 26, 2020. The depth of the lava lake has increased approximately 11 m (36 ft) in the past week, from about 178 m (584 ft) on December 26 (left) to about 189 m (620 ft) on January 2 (right). These images are from the KWcam webcam both taken at approximately 12:00 p.m. HST one week apart. Additional summit webcam images can be found here. USGS photos.
This afternoon at Kīlauea summit, good weather provided clear views of the volcanic gas plume (center) produced by the ongoing eruption. SO2 emission rates remain elevated and were measured at approximately 4400 t/d yesterday, January 1. View is looking northwest over the lava flow from the 1982 fissure (foreground) with Mauna Loa Volcano visible in the background. This area of Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park remains closed to the public for safety reasons. USGS photo taken by C. Parcheta on January 2 at about 2:40 p.m.
ANIMATED GIF: This animated image file (GIF), viewing the west vent in Halema‘uma‘u crater, shows a burst of incandescent clasts being ejected from one of the vent skylights. Occasional spatter bursts, such as this one, have been slowly building a spatter cone (center) over the vent. USGS GIF by H. Dietterich from today (Jan. 2) at 3:30 a.m. HST.
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