Images

While the south vent within Halemaʻumaʻu crater at the summit of Kīlauea has been actively fountaining on April 8, the north vent has hosted a lava pond with weak spatter. At times, this pond has overflowed to feed short lava flows down the flanks of the vent structure. USGS photo by M. Zoeller. 

Following the onset of the Kīlauea summit eruption's seventeenth episode in the late evening of April 7, USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory geologists visited the southern rim of Halemaʻumʻau crater on the morning of April 8 to observe vent activity.

Episode 17 of the ongoing Halemaʻumaʻu eruption at the summit of Kīlauea began last night, April 7, with lava flows erupting from the south vent at 10:15 p.m. HST. Low lava fountaining (100 feet, or 30 meters) was active overnight and continues this afternoon, feeding a lava flow on the crater floor.  USGS photo by M. Zoeller. 

This set of thermal maps shows activity near the beginning and just after the end of episode 16 lava fountaining at the summit of Kīlauea. On April 1, lava fountaining was reaching over 200 meters (660 feet) and was beginning to produce a lava flow covering the western portion of the crater floor.

This close-up thermal map shows the crater floor at the summit of Kīlauea just an hour after the end of episode 16 lava fountaining on April 2. This map provides a good example of the different zones of lava flow activity on the crater floor that have been observed in many of the eruptive episodes.

Lava fountaining during episode 16 of the ongoing summit eruption at Kīlauea. USGS webcam image. 

Ground tilt associated with episodic eruptions at Kīlauea. Top panel, two years of summit tilt spanning episodic fountaining at Maunaulu in 1969, as measured by a watertube tiltmeter at Uēkahuna  bluff.  Middle panel, an ideal aerosmith measurement of summit ground tilt during the initial years (1984-1986) of the Puʻuʻōʻō eruption that span a period o

Aerial view of Kaluapele, the summit caldera of Kīlauea, hours after the end of episode 16 of the ongoing eruption in Halemaʻumaʻu. USGS photo by K. Lynn. 

USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory geologists captured this view during a monitoring overflight just after noon on April 2, 2025, following the end of episode 16 of the ongoing eruption in Halemaʻumaʻu.

USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory geologists landed briefly on the floor of Halemaʻumaʻu crater and captured this image of an active ʻaʻā lava flow. Episode 16 of the ongoing eruption at Kīlaeua summit had ended a couple of hours prior to this photo being taken, and several lava flows retained residual activity at the time of the monitoring overflight.

Episode 16 of the ongoing eruption in Halemaʻumaʻu stopped just after noon today, April 2, 2025. On a USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory monitoring overflight within the hours following its end, the crater floor was a patchwork of active and inactive lava flows.

During a monitoring flight on April 2, 2025, USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory geologists captured this aerial view of Halemaʻumaʻu, within Kaluapele (Kīlauea summit caldera), just after the end of episode 16 of the ongoing eruption.

During each eruptive episode in Halemaʻumaʻu, tephra is deposited on the crater rim downwind within the closed area of Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park. This sign for the Southwest Rift Zone of Kīlauea, which used to stand at least 6 feet (2 meters) above the ground surface, provides a visual for how thick the tephra deposit is at this location. USGS photo by K.

USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory geologists captured this aerial view of Kīlauea summit on April 1, 2025, during a helicopter overflight about 3 hours after high fountaining started during episode 16 of the ongoing eruption. USGS photo by N. Deligne.

On April 1, lava fountains from Kīlauea's ongoing summit eruption prevented geologists from accessing the rim of Halemaʻumaʻu crater within the closed portion of Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park. Instead, they hung back along the closed portion of Crater Rim Drive to collect samples of tephra that was intermittently blown in their direction.

Episode 16 lava fountains were visible from Highway 11 in Kaʻū on April 1. In this view, the top of the lava fountain is just visible above Halemaʻumaʻu crater rim, and Uēkahuna (the highest part of the caldera rim) is visible to the left. USGS photo by K. Mulliken. 

Episode 16 lava fountains deposited tephra and Pele's Hair on Highway 11 in Kaʻū on April 1. In this photo, taken around 3:30 p.m. HST, the tephra and Pele's Hair is visible along the centerline and on the shoulder of the highway. USGS photo by K. Mulliken. 

USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory geologist captured this aerial view during a monitoring helicopter overflight of episode 16 at around noon on April 1, 2025.  The lava fountain feeds a lava flow from the western end of Halemaʻumaʻu.

Helicopter overflight view of episode 16 lava fountain and its lava flow on the crater floor of Kaluapele at around noon on April 1, 2025. The lava flow at this time had traveled 2,300 ft (700 m) from the fountain along the floor of Halemaʻumaʻu. USGS photo by D. Downs.

Late in the evening on April 1, USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory geologists watched the ongoing Kīlauea summit eruption from Kūpinaʻi Pali (Waldron Ledge). This view of the active eruptive vents was captured through the lens of a laser rangefinder device the geologists were using to measure lava fountain heights. USGS photo by M. Zoeller. 

On April 1, a USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory geologist captured this zoomed-in photo of the upper portion of the active lava fountain during Kīlauea's ongoing summit eruption.