Images

A ranger in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park talks to a visitor at the Volcano House, where there have been good views of the recent lava fountaining. USGS photo by M. Patrick.

A new episode of lava fountaining began late last night at the summit of Kīlauea, with continued fountaining this morning. Both the north and south vents were active this morning, February 4, with the northern fountains typically about 130-165 feet (40-50 meters) high. In the upper right corner, recent snow on Mauna Kea is visible. USGS photo by M. Patrick.

During the Kīlauea summit eruption's eighth episode, two eruptive vents have been actively fountaining. This telephoto view of those two vents was captured from the floor of Halema‘uma‘u crater by geologists visiting to collect lava samples on Tuesday, February 4.

The thick volcanic gas plume produced from the lava fountaining at the summit of Kīlauea created a red tinge to the sun. USGS photo by M. Patrick.

This aerial overview of the western part of Halema‘uma‘u crater was captured on Tuesday, February 4, during the eighth episode of Kīlauea's ongoing summit eruption. Looking to the northwest, the two active eruptive vents can be seen in front of the far (western) crater wall, while silvery lava on the crater floor represents newly emplaced flows from this episode.

This view from the western caldera rim shows the fountaining at the summit of Kīlauea during the morning of February 4, 2025. Lava fountains were supplying lava into a large ponded area, which had numerous small channels sending lava north and east across the crater floor. USGS photo by M. Patrick.

This telephoto view of the active eruptive vents within Halema‘uma‘u crater was captured during the eighth episode of the ongoing Kīlauea summit eruption. Like most of the other recent episodes, this one has had two eruptive vents, known informally as the north vent (right) and south vent (left).

The rising gas plume from the lava fountains had a mirror-like resemblance to an ‘Ōhi‘a tree at the Volcano House. USGS photo by M. Patrick.

USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory field crews observed weak spattering from the interior of the north vent at Halema‘uma‘u during a Kīlauea summit field shift on February 3, 2025.

During a monitoring overflight on February 3, 2025, USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory crews had excellent views of Kīlauea's west crater walls, where tephra deposits have been exposed following the collapse of the summit in 2018. This image shows talus (rock debris from the crater walls) surrounding a triangle-shaped exposure of tephra that is many meters thick.

With quite clear conditions on the morning of February 3, 2025, USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory crews on a monitoring overflight of Kīlauea summit had excellent views of the snow-capped Mauna Kea (shown here) and Mauna Loa. Both mountain summits received snow during a winter storm that passed over the Island of Hawai‘i last week. USGS photo by K. Lynn.

During a helicopter overflight around 7:30 a.m. HST on February 3, 2025, USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory field crews observed weak spattering in the north vent of the 2024-2025 Kīlauea summit eruption.

During a monitoring overflight around 7:30 a.m. HST, USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory field crews observed that spatter had built up a small cone within the north vent of the 2024-2025 Kīlauea summit eruption cones. The vent was weakly spattering within the cone during the flight. USGS photo by K. Lynn.

Episode 8 of the ongoing Halemaʻumaʻu eruption at the summit of Kīlauea began last night, February 3, 2025, at 9:52 p.m. HST. This view, captured just after 10 p.m. HST by the S2cams shows vigorous fountaining feeding multiple lava flows. USGS photo.  

January 2025 was the 16th annual Volcano Awareness Month on the Island of Hawai‘i. The USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory promoted the importance of understanding and respecting the volcanoes on which we live, in part through an art and poetry contest. Winners of the art contest are displayed here. 

Sunrise at the summit of Kīlauea this morning, January 28, 2025. Episode 7 of the ongoing Halemaʻumaʻu eruption began at 6:42 p.m. HST last night, January 27, and continued through the night. Lava fountains fed a small flow onto the crater floor.

USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory geologists observed episode 7 of the Kīlauea Halema‘uma‘u eruption on the morning of January 28, 2025. The eruption resumed in both the north and south vents with fissure fountains and outpouring of lava flows on the caldera floor.

Telephoto view of both eruptive vents in the Kīlauea Halema‘uma‘u eruption during episode 7 on January 28, 2025. Both vents reactivated during this episode. The north vent (upper left vent) fountain produced lava channels outpouring from its base but also out the sides of the vent as seen in this photo.

View of the south vent erupting during episode 7 of the Kīlauea Halema‘uma‘u eruption. The south vent reactivated for episode 7 (January 27-28) though it was relatively inactive during the prior episode 6. The vent shows a fountain and lava flow channel originating from the base of the cone. Lava has pooled at its base and flows down to the caldera floor.

Overview photo of episode 7 from the Kīlauea Halema‘uma‘u eruption. This photo was taken the morning of January 28, 2025, during a USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory morning monitoring field shift. Both vents (north and south) were active during this episode, with fountains and lava flows.

The north vent that was erupting during episode five of the recent Kīlauea summit eruption has a small patch of lava that was weakly spattering during the morning of January 24, 2025. USGS photo by J. Barnett.