Dec. 23 - Kīlauea summit eruption at 5:30 a.m. HST

As of about 8 a.m. HST this morning (Dec. 23), HVO field crews noted that the Kīlauea summit lava lake surface is now 464 m (1522 ft) below the crater rim observation site, indicating that the lake has filled 156 m (515 ft) of the bottom of Halema‘uma‘u crater. This compares to a measurement just before 5 am HST on Dec 22, when the lake surface was 487 m (1598 ft) below the crater rim observation site, indicating that the lake rose 23 m (75 ft) in just over 24 hours. The current depth is more than triple the depth of the water lake that was in the crater until the evening of Dec. 20 when it was vaporized. Fountaining continues at two locations, more vigorously at eastern vent, and both vents continue to feed the growing lava lake. Photo taken approximately 5:30 a.m. HST. USGS photo by H. Dietterich.