Images

An early morning view of the lava lake with a recent overflow onto the floor of Halema‘uma‘u Crater.

Photo of the overflowing lava lake taken from the rim of Halema‘uma‘u.

A rockfall from the wall of Halema‘uma‘u Crater impacted the lava lake around 10:20 am, triggering an explosion of spatter and smaller particles. HVO geologists working on the far side of the crater captured the initial moments of the plume rising. The explosion deposited a large amount of spatter around the closed Halema‘uma‘u visitor overlook.

A close look at one of the large pieces of spatter thrown onto the rim of Halema‘uma‘u Crater by today's explosion (keys are for scale). The spatter hit the ground in a semi-fluid state, deforming on impact.

The explosion threw spatter that hit the remaining fencing on the Halema‘uma‘u overlook, partly burning it. Keys for scale.

Portions of the Halema‘uma‘u overlook fencing were knocked down by previous explosive events, and also by the wind over the past several years. The downed fencing, shown smoldering here, was then ignited by hot spatter from today's explosive event.

A closer look at the Halema‘uma‘u Crater overlook. The large boulders were ejected during the 1924 explosion, but today's explosive event carpeted the ground with many large pieces of brown spatter.

Rocks from the crater wall fell into the summit lava lake and generated an explosion that threw large fragments of molten lava onto the rim of Halema‘uma‘u Crater, 85 m (280 ft) above the lake. Gas in the lava lake was rapidly released during the 10:20 am explosive event, causing the lava lake surface to drop a few meters (yards) after the explosion.

Spatter from the explosion also landed on the Halema‘uma‘u webcam, melting some of the wire insulation but not enough to interrupt its operation.

Gas in the lava lake was rapidly released during the 10:20 am explosive event, causing the lava lake surface to drop a few meters (yards). This photo was taken moments after the explosive event, and shows the overhanging ledge of lava along the rim that was exposed as the lava level dropped.

Early this morning, prior to the explosive event at 10:20 am, the lake was close to the floor of Halema‘uma‘u Crater, with spattering along the lake margin.

This photo shows the lava lake in the Overlook crater this morning, when it reached to within 3 m (10 ft) of the floor of Halema‘uma‘u. This is the highest the lava lake has reached during the current summit eruption.

This is a view of spattering at the east corner of the lava lake this morning.

This photo shows another view of the lava lake, from a different perspective, when it was at its highest level.

Another view of spattering this morning.

The lava lake within the Overlook crater in Halema‘uma‘u, at Kīlauea volcano, continues to rise. It was measured at 12 m (~39 ft) below the floor of Halema‘uma‘u at about 8 AM this morning, when this photo was taken.

This grainy evening photo shows the lake at 6:30 PM, when it was a mere 7 m (23 ft) below the Halema‘uma‘u Crater floor.

This photo, taken at mid-day, shows the lava lake as seen from the west side of Halema‘uma‘u, which offers a different perspective. The lava lake was about 10 m (33 ft) below the floor of Halema‘uma‘u at this time.

Four airgun arrays towed behind R/V Marcus G. Langseth.

Preview image for video: The lava lake in the Overlook Crater, within Halema‘uma‘u Crater at the summit of Kīlauea Volcano, has been rising over the past few days. Today the lava was as high as 14 meters (46 feet) below the Overlook crater rim. Several areas of spattering were active along the lake margin.

The level of the lava lake within the Overlook crater, set within Halema‘uma‘u Crater at the summit of Kīlauea Volcano, continues to rise. Today, the level was as high as 14 meters (46 feet) below the Overlook crater rim.