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The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory and Jaggar Museum, shown in this photo, sit atop the summit of Kīlauea Volcano. The snow-capped summit of Mauna Loa, nearly 10,000 feet higher than Kīlauea, looms in the background.
Halema‘uma‘u lava lake and channelized flow on pali
Southerly winds afforded a rare view of the south side of the Overlook vent in Halema‘uma‘u Crater, within Kīlauea's caldera. The collapse crater that defines the opening of the vent is about 160 m (~525 ft) across and 80 m (~260 ft) deep. The fence for the old tourist overlook is faintly visible at the upper right side of the photo.
The channelized flow show here just reaching the base of the Pulama pali is the leading edge of flows that destroyed the last occupied house in the Royal Gardens subdivision. One abandoned structure still stands. Other branches of the flow, spread across the pali at about the level of the top of the photo, will probably pour down over the pali in the coming days.