Rockfalls trigger explosions in Kīlauea Volcano's summit lava lake

This video shows a rockfall and subsequent explosion that occurred at 7:03 a.m. HST today within the "Overlook crater" at the summit of Kīlauea. This collapse was followed by a smaller rockfall at 7:07 a.m. (not shown in video). Rocks falling into the lava lake agitated the lake surface and caused the lake to "slosh" back-and-forth for at least 15 minutes following the collapse. Explosive events triggered by rockfalls, like those this morning, occur with no warning and are one of the reasons why the Halema‘uma‘u crater rim area remains closed to the public. Fallout from today's explosion would have resulted in serious injury to anyone on the impacted crater rim.