Refilling of Pu`u `Ō`ō Crater

This Quicktime movie shows the refilling of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō over the past two months, taken from a thermal camera on the south rim of the crater. Lavadrained from Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō on March 5 during the Kamoamoa fissure eruption, and remained absent for several weeks. This thermal camera began recording on March 18, and shows the abrupt return of lava to the crater floor on March 26. Lava refilling has been very unsteady since then, occurring in fits and starts, and has culminated in the development of a perched lava lake over the past several weeks. This perched lava lake has steep walls about 8-10 m (26-33 ft) above the surrounding crater floor. The temperature scale is in degrees Celsius.