Images

Lava burns through thick brush just north of Highway 130, near Kalapana Gardens.

Over the past several days, the lava surface within the vent in Halema'uma'u has occasionally, and temporarily, reached to within about 115 m (375 ft) below the floor of Halema'uma'u Crater, as seen in this photo. During these high-lava stands, the gas plume is generally fairly wispy, providing the rare naked-eye view of the lava surface.

Panorama of Pu'u 'O 'o crater from the south rim of Pu'u 'O 'o cone. Active lava flows (light gray) cover much of the crater floor and are erupting from the degassing vent at the far left.

Close-up view of the erupting vent in Pu'u 'O 'o crater. Lava is not visible because it is going directly into tubes beneath the crusted surface to the right and feeding small lava flows near the flow front.

View of the western edge of the western ocean entry delta near Kalapana.

The Puhiokalaikini entry continues to expand eastward, as small pahoehoe toes advanced on the new black sand beach below the seacliff.

View looking toward the ocean entries in the distance. The 'Ili'ili entry is marked by the tiny plume to the left. The very broad Puhiokalaikini entry comprises the rest of the plumes along the shoreline. The tube system feeding the ocean entries is delineated by the fume in the foreground.

Lava was only slowly oozing from the edge of the flow adjacent to the road. In this photo, a piece of shrubbery is slowly consumed by the lava.

The Puhi-o-Kalaikini entry continues to put up a large plume just west of Kalapana Gardens. No active lava flows have been reported on coastal flats in nearly 2 weeks.

Kilauea's active summit vent is on the southeast side of Halema'uma'u Crater. In this photo, the floor of Halema'uma'u stretches out beyond the vent, and the summit of Kilauea Volcano is at upper right. The observation tower at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory is the highest bump in the photo at Kilauea's summit.

The lava lake at Halema'uma'u has maintained the same basic geometry since February of this year. This thermal image was taken during a helicopter overflight, and shows the lava surface deep within the vent cavity. The lava surface is kidney-shaped and approximately 60 x 90 meters in size, and situated about 170 meters below the rim of the vent cavity.

A close-up view of the lava stream as seen through a lava tube skylight near the top of the Pulama pali. The lava is moving from right to left, and skylight opening is about 1 m (3 ft) across.

View of lava dripping into the ocean on the western edge of the 'Ili'ili ocean entry delta.

Close-up view of the Puhiokalaikini entry.

Close-up view of the 'Ili'ili entry.

The Puhi-o-Kalaikini ocean entry, which is almost 1 km (0.6 mi) long, continues to host a medium size steam plume near the center of the delta. Hidden from view in this photograph, another small plume to the west rises from the same delta, where a stream of lava enters the ocean.

In addition to filling in several small bays, lava has infiltrated small caves in the seacliff as well. Just a week ago this was a blowhole that occasionally shot seawater high into the air. Fresh lava, visible at the bottom of the pit, has since filled in the cave connecting the blowhole to the sea.

The western ocean entry, named Puhiokalaikini, has continued to build its delta to the west. Over the past day, lava filled in this small bay at a remarkable rate. The promontory in the upper right corner of the photograph hosted a popular fishing spot.

Steep view looking west into Pu' u 'Ō 'ō crater. The dominant degassing, obvious in this photo, is from a hole on the eastern wall of the crater.

View looking southwest across the Kalapana Gardens subdivision toward the ocean entries in the background. The slightly lighter-colored surface just past the houses and topped by burned trees marks the area recently covered by lava.

By August 17, the breakout which started on August 16 had reached the end Highway 130. The flows, however, had slowed considerably and were making little forward progress.