Close-up view of active western portion of Halema‘uma‘u lava lake

This close-up view of the active western portion of the Halema‘uma‘u lava lake at the summit of Kīlauea was captured on Thursday, May 6 through the lens of a laser rangefinder used by HVO scientists to measure distances to features within the crater. HVO scientists observed that the area immediately surrounding the inlet to the lava lake (above-center) was slightly perched relative to the rest of the active surface, and it was intermittently feeding lava channels to lower-lying parts of the lake (below-center and below-right). The western fissure is out-of-view to the upper-left and the main island in the lava lake is out-of-view to the right. USGS image.