Eruption from Dave's Vent in Pu'u 'O'o Crater (March 2, 2004)

Late 2003 through early 2004 marked a period of heightened eruptive activity at Pu'u 'O'o, on Kilauea Volcano's east rift zone, with lava frequently spilling from vents within the Pu'u 'O'o crater. This time-lapse video, captured by a Webcam located on the northern rim of the Pu'u 'O'o crater, shows lava erupting from a spatter cone on the southwestern side of the crater floor, informally known as Dave's vent, on March 2, 2004. The vent is about 275 meters (900 feet) from the camera. While most of the erupted lava accumulated below the northern crater wall, some also poured out of the crater through the West gap—the low area on the right-hand side of the video—and sent a short lava flow down Pu'u 'O'o's northwestern flank.

The time-lapse video is a panorama composed of two images with the left-hand image acquired about 6 seconds before the right-hand image. The time-stamp shown on each frame is based on the timing of the right-hand image. The image acquisition rate was approximately 1 frame per 45 seconds, and the resulting video is played at 15 frames per second.