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January 6, 2023—Kīlauea summit eruption reference map

January 6, 2023
Color map of eruption at summit of volcano
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
A new eruption at the summit of Kīlauea volcano began at approximately 4:34 p.m. on Thursday, January 5, 2023. This reference map depicts activity on the second day of the eruption, based on measurements taken from the crater rim at approximately 9:00 a.m. this morning. Multiple eruptive vents on the eastern floor of Halema‘uma‘u crater are effusing directly into a lava lake that sits atop them, with the vents taking the form of dome fountains. Lava from these dome fountains is flowing laterally across the rest of the crater floor. The extent of the active lava lake—the area in red—is 218 acres (88 hectares); part of this area is comprised of the active lava lake footprint from the end of the 2021–22 eruption, which has filled with new lava that upwelled from below. The full extent of new lava from this eruption, totaling both the active lava lake (red) and flows that have crusted over (pink) is 277 acres (112 hectares). Although this eruption has expanded the footprint of post-2018 lava within Halema‘uma‘u crater, citizen scientists may note that this full extent value is smaller than that at the end of the 2021–22 eruption: 295 acres (119 hectares). This discrepancy exists because a higher-standing section of crater floor (yellow) around the former active lava lake has not yet been overflowed with new lava. The current laser rangefinder measurement (available at https://www.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/past-week-monitoring-data-kilauea) places the new lava lake depth at 274 meters (899 feet), about 8 meters (26 feet) above the level of the cooled lava from the 2020-2022 summit eruption.

Citation Information

Title January 6, 2023—Kīlauea summit eruption reference map
Record Source USGS Publications Warehouse