Images

Aerial photo showing the location of the building that formerly housed the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory within Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park. Photo taken on July 19, 2022, after eruptions had partially filled in the collapsed area. USGS photos.

During a Hawaiian Volcano Observatory Kīlauea summit monitoring overflight on July 19, 2022, lava was oozing out the northern edge of Halema‘uma‘u crater floor. Incandescent lava is visible in this area, near the bottom center of this image, where lava is slowly encroaching on the large down-dropped block that formed during the 2018 caldera collapse.

An aerial image of the western portion of Halema‘uma‘u crater at the summit of Kīlauea. The active lava lake within the western portion of Halema‘uma‘u crater is visible in approximately the center of the image, and lava spattering is visible along the eastern edge of the lake.

An aerial view of the Sulphur Banks area and Ha‘akulamanu trail within Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park taken during an overflight of Kīlauea summit on July 19, 2022. Hawaiian Volcano Observatory gas geochemists sample fumaroles in the Sulphur Banks area approximately every three months to track long-term changes in volcanic gas chemistry at Kīlauea.

Aerial view looking west across the floor of Halema‘uma‘u crater during a Hawaiian Volcano Observatory Kīlauea summit geology overflight on July 19, 2022.

Aerial view of the north wall of Kīlauea caldera. The bright green area near the center of the image is the Volcano Golf Course. Between it and the caldera edge is the Kīlauea Military Camp. Mauna Kea rises beyond the slopes of the Northeast Rift Zone of Mauna Loa in the background. USGS image by J. Chang. 

A helicopter overflight on July 19, 2022, allowed for aerial visual and thermal imagery to be collected of Halema‘uma‘u crater at the summit of Kīlauea. The active lake surface is limited to the western portion of the crater.

A helicopter overflight on July 19, 2022, allowed for aerial visual and thermal imagery to be collected of Halema‘uma‘u crater at the summit of Kīlauea. The active lake surface is limited to the western portion of the crater.

A photo of Halema‘uma‘u crater, at Kīlauea summit, taken on July 13 from the western rim of the crater. SO₂ gas emissions remain elevated and were measured at about 1250 tonnes per day on July 14. Volcanic gases, and steam from rain on the crater floor, often obscured visibility with only intermittent views of the crater floor and active lava lake.

A telephoto image of the active lava lake within Halema‘uma‘u crater, at the summit of Kīlauea, taken on July 13. During the current deflationary tilt phase of a deflation-inflation event, the active lava lake level is about 9 m (30 ft) below the lake rim. The west vent cone (lower right) is about 24 m (79 ft) tall, with a few areas that were weakly incandescent.

Image of the cover of "Report of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Hawaiian Volcano Research Association."

A Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientist uses a laser rangefinder to measure the distance to different areas of interest around the crater. These measurements help us to track changes in the lava lake and crater floor, and to measure features such as the lava lake and west vent cone. USGS photo taken by L. DeSmither on July 13, 2022.

This reference map depicts the ongoing Kīlauea summit eruption on July 12, 2022. One eruptive vent (orange) is active within Halema‘uma‘u, on the western side of the crater floor. An adjacent pond (purple) is feeding lava to a larger lake (red) via a crusted-over tube. The eruption statistics provided here are current as of the last HVO overflight on July 7, 2022.

A telephoto view of the island that formed during the December 20, 2020, eruption within Halema‘uma‘u crater at the summit of Kīlauea. The island has been slowly shrinking as lava flows encroach around and onto it. In the background, the line of steam marks where the rising floor of Halema‘uma‘u is lapping on to the down-dropped block to the northeast.

Telephoto image of a degassing hornito on the surface of the eastern part of Halema‘uma‘u crater floor. Halema‘uma‘u crater floor has several hornitos on its surface; each is several tens of feet tall (less than 30 meters) and is fed lava via a tube network beneath the solid surface crust. USGS photo by M. Loewen.

This photo shows the east end of Halema‘uma‘u crater, where the rising crater floor is lapping on to the sloped edge of the down-dropped block to the east. The down-dropped block formed during the collapse of Kīlauea summit in 2018. USGS photo by M. Loewen.

The eruption within Halema‘uma‘u crater, at the summit of Kīlauea, continues. The lava level in the active lake, pictured here on July 8, dropped by several meters (yards) yesterday in association with summit deflation. USGS photo by K. Mulliken.

From the south rim of Halema‘uma‘u crater, USGS scientists make observations of the eruption at Kīlauea summit. The western edge of Halema‘uma‘u crater floor is visible in the lower right part of the image, as is a section of Crater Rim Drive that collapsed in 2018. Mauna Loa is prominent in the background of the photo. USGS photo by K. Mulliken.

Fragments of spatter are visible above the west vent in Halema‘uma‘u in this telephoto image taken during a Kīlauea summit eruption monitoring shift on July 8. This low-level spattering, which was intermittent, reached heights of no more than 10 meters (33 feet) above the vent. USGS photo by M. Loewen.

Minor spattering was visible in the east end of the lava lake within Halema‘uma‘u, at the summit of Kīlauea, on July 8. Sulfur dioxide is visible emanating from the lake surface (the bluish-colored fume). A sulfur dioxide emission rate of approximately 2,800 tonnes per day (t/d) was measured on July 8. UGSS photo by K. Mulliken.

At left, the degassing plume at Kīlauea in 2013 as seen by a standard, visible-light camera. Note that plume is mostly transparent, with some blue/brown tones from aerosol scattering, and hard to distinguish from background cloud. At right, the plume from the same vantage point as seen by a UV camera.