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Kīlauea's summit eruption continues on the Island of Hawai‘i; the west vent in Halema‘uma‘u erupts lava into the lava lake. Gas emissions and seismic activity at the summit remain elevated. HVO field crews—equipped with specialized safety gear and PPE—monitor the current eruption from within the closed area of Hawai&lsq
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.
During a routine overflight of the Kīlauea East Rift Zone on March 4, HVO scientists visited the Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō area to check for any significant changes in recent months. Their most notable observation was further accumulation of talus—rock collapse debris—in the crater that formed on April 30, 2018, as seen in this wide-angle photo. This talus pile now almost completely fills the lowermost shaft of the crater (bottom-center-right), standing as evidence that the rim of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō remains unstable and prone to collapses. For scale, the crater is approximately 230 m (750 ft) deep in this view. USGS photo by M. Patrick.
Videos from March 4, 2021 East Rift Zone overflight
A routine helicopter overflight of Kīlauea's East Rift Zone allowed Hawaiian Volcano Observatory geologists to conduct an updated visual and thermal survey. This video is shown at 5x speed, and moves from west to east. At the western end of the region affected during the 2018 eruption, steaming remains in residential areas west of Highway 130. The video then enters Leilani Estates and Lanipuna Gardens subdivisions, where steaming is present over some of the 2018 fissures. The steaming originates from groundwater warmed by residual heat following the 2018 eruption.
A routine helicopter overflight of Kīlauea's East Rift Zone allowed Hawaiian Volcano Observatory geologists to conduct an updated visual and thermal survey. This video is shown at 2x speed and circles Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō, the vent region for the East Rift Zone eruption between 1983 and 2018. No major changes were observed in Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō. The bottom of the crater was more shallow compared to previous overflights due to accumulation of collapse rubble.
Visual photographs taken during helicopter overflights of Halema‘uma‘u Crater are used to create 3D models of the crater. This technique is called structure-from-motion photogrammetry and uses the multiple perspectives captured in dozens of photos to reconstruct the crater shape. HVO scientists use these models to help calculate erupted volume, eruption rate, and measure the size of features in the crater. This fly-through of the March 4 model focuses on the island, showing the height of the ledges (measured at 7 meters/ 23 feet) and the height of the island high point above the lake surface (measured at 22 meters/ 72 feet). In the lower right corner, the red 'X' line points toward the East and the green 'Y' line points North.
ANIMATED GIF: This animated image file (GIF) includes a series of thermal maps—ranging from daily to several weeks apart—made from helicopter overflight thermal imagery of Halema‘uma‘u crater, Kīlauea summit. The set of thermal maps are in a continuous loop showing the lava lake changes throughout the eruption. The first map was made on December 22, 2020, and the final map was made on March 4, 2021. The date of each map in the sequence is located in the upper-left corner. The scale of the thermal map ranges from blue to red, with blue colors indicative of cooler temperatures and red colors indicative of warmer temperatures. USGS thermal map GIF.
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