Helicopter overflight of Kīlauea summit eruption, 12/30/2020

Video from a helicopter overflight of Kīlauea summit eruption on December 30, 2020, around 10:00 a.m., shows the western vents (area of bluish-colored gas emissions on left) erupting through crusted-over channels into a lava lake within Halema'uma'u crater.

As of December 30, at 3:45 a.m., the lava lake was 181 m (593 ft) deep. The lake volume was about 23 million cubic meters (30 million cubic yards or 5.2 billion gallons). The most recent measurement of the lake shows that it covers an area of 29 ha (72 acres). The large “raft” in the center of the lava lake is about 250 m (820 ft) in length, 135 m (440 ft) in width, and about 3 ha (7 acres) in area.

Visual and thermal images collected during the overflight are used to map the ongoing activity and assess hazards during the eruption.