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Rockfall triggers an explosive event in summit lava lake
VIDEO CLIP captured by HVO webcam: At 11:59 a.m., a rockfall from the south wall of Halema‘uma‘u Crater triggered a small explosive event in the summit lava lake. The explosion threw spatter (fragments of molten lava) onto the rim of the crater, mostly to the west of the former visitor overlook. This area has been closed to the public since 2008 due to ongoing volcanic hazards, including explosive events like the one that happened today.
HVO scientists visited the rim of Halema‘uma‘u this afternoon (11/28) to collect samples of tephra and check for equipment damage. This view, taken on the approach to the Halema‘uma‘u, shows the tephra deposit on the crater rim. New spatter is seen as dark lumps scattered across the center of the image on top of older brown-colored Pele's hair. The closed Halema‘uma‘u overlook is in the background at right; HVO and the Jaggar Museum are on the caldera rim in the distance near upper left.
This view shows the main body of the tephra deposit, which comprises the dark fragments scattered from the foreground to the web camera in the background (the HTcam thermal webcam). The rim of Halema‘uma‘u is to the right; the closed overlook is behind the photographer.
The larger spatter bombs bounced after hitting, leaving divots in the layer of Pele's hair that blankets the area, as seen here. These bombs are the diameter of large dinner plates.
The largest spatter bombs traveled the farthest, perhaps aided by momentum, landing on the trail between the Halema‘uma‘u parking area and overlook. Upon landing, these bombs splatted to form complexly shaped bomb fragments connected by thick strands and masses of Pele's hair.
Only a relatively small amount of spatter reached the rim of Halema‘uma‘u, compared to the thick, continuous layer of spatter seen here on the intermediate ledge midway between the lava lake and the Halema‘uma‘u Crater rim.
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