An aerial photograph of Halema‘uma‘u crater, Kīlauea Volcano’s summit

An aerial photograph of Halema‘uma‘u crater at Kīlauea Volcano’s summit shows changes to the ongoing eruption. Around 2:40 a.m. HST the western fissure, which has been weakly active for several days, increased in eruptive vigor as all three vents started producing spatter and streams of lava. Shortly before 3:00 a.m. HST the northern vent, which had been the dominant eruptive vent, was drowned by the lava lake and shut down. SO2 emission rates, as measured this morning, have dropped significantly but are still elevated. This USGS photo was taken at approximately 9:30 a.m. HST on December 26 by M. Patrick.