Panorama of 2018 Kīlauea collapse features from the southeast—Feb. 12

While hiking along the rim of the 2018 collapse at the summit of Kīlauea on Friday, February 12, HVO scientists visited a site to the southeast of Halema‘uma‘u known as Akanikōlea—a culturally-significant place that is featured in Hawaiian legends. Though the lava lake from the ongoing eruption in Halema‘uma‘u is not visible from here, Akanikōlea afforded an excellent wide-angle view of features from the 2018 caldera collapse. The present lava lake in the deepest part of the crater is below the lower ledges on the left side of this panorama, and the eastern down-dropped block extends to the right of the photo. The great expanse of this block, most of which dropped more than 100 m (330 ft) in 2018, creates an enormous amount of space for lava to fill before spilling onto the older caldera floor. At current eruption rates, it will be years until this occurs. The snow-capped peaks of Mauna Loa (left) and Mauna Kea (center) can be seen in the background. This photo was taken from an area of Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park that remains closed to the public for safety reasons. The Keanakāko‘i Overlook, just a few hundred meters (yards) to the east, offers a similar view. USGS photo taken by M. Zoeller.