February 26, 2026 — Sampling on Halemaʻumaʻu crater floor, Kīlauea summit

At the end of their Kīlauea summit overflight on Thursday, February 26, two USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory geologists were dropped off on the floor of Halema‘uma‘u crater to sample lava from summit eruption episode 42 on February 15. Here, one of the geologists works to bag the cooled lava fragments, surrounded by typical sampling gear: a small sledgehammer, water and a bucket for cooling the samples (if necessary), and fabric sample bags labelled with key details: date/time, type of sample, and GPS coordinates. These monitoring and sampling overflights of Kīlauea summit region are done with permission from and in coordination with Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park. USGS photo by M. Zoeller.