April 29, 2025 — Aerial view of tephra blanket from ongoing eruption at Kīlauea

View looking southwest of the southwest corner of Halema‘uma‘u and the tephra blanket from the ongoing eruption at Kīlauea. The tephra is brown and covers center and right side of the photo. Despite being covered in over 2 meters (yards) of tephra in places, Crater Rim Drive (within the high hazard closed area of the Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park) is still perceptible due to USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory field crews driving across it; staff working in this hazardous closed area carry personal protective equipment at all times. The cracks in the upper right portion of the photo are associated with the Southwest Rift Zone (SWRZ), and where the cracks intersect the buried road there is a white speck, which is the top of a mostly buried road sign. USGS photo by N. Deligne.