Videos

The lava lake at Kilauea's summit has risen over the past few days, providing improved views of the lake activity. Spattering along the southern lake margin was vi orous this evening, but within the range of normal activity for the la e. Spatter was thrown as high as the Halema'uma'u Crater floor, about 25 m (80 ft) above the lake surface.

The two breakouts that began at Pu'u 'Ō'ō on May 24 are still active. This morning, the active portions of both flows remained relatively short, extending no more than 1 km (0.6 miles) from their breakout points. The eastern breakout, shown here, was developing a lava tube. A collapse in the roof of the tube provided a view of the lava stream.

Video of spattering along the north margin of Kīlauea Volcano's summit lava lake.

The two breakouts that began at Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō yesterday (May 24) are still active. This morning, the active portions of both flows remained relatively short, extending no more than 1 km (0.6 miles) from their breakout points.

Two new breakouts at Pu`u `Ō`ō began this morning just before 7:00 a.m., HST. The larger of the two breakouts, shown here, originated from the northeast flank of the cone, and fed a vigrous channelized flow that extended about 1 km (0.6 miles) towards the northwest.

The crater floor at Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō has recently experienced minor uplift due to inflation within Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō cone. The crater floor uplift is subtle, and probably no more than about 1 meter (3 feet) since May 15. Small, hot cracks have appeared on the crater floor during the uplift.

Breakouts remained scattered northeast of Pu`u `Ō`ō, on Kīlauea's East Rift Zone. This breakout was one of many on the flow field today. The breakout was fairly vigorous at this time as geologists encountered it just moments after it started.

A small vent in Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater throws spatter a short distance, building up a small cone around its opening. A thick layer of Pele's hair covers the downwind part of the cone. This vent was also the source of a small lava flow erupted on the crater floor in the past day.

This movie, created from a sequence of HVO webcam images, shows lava erupting from a spatter cone within the south embayment in the Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater (see February 24 image below for location). The activity started around 8:15 a.m., HST, on Wednesday, March 2, 2016, and covered part of the crater floor before ceasing at about 3:00 p.m.

When large rockfalls impact the lava lake, they trigger explosive events that propel volcanic rock fragments (tephra) upward. This morning's event was vigorous enough to hurl incandescent fragments onto the rim of Halema‘uma‘u Crater, about 110 m (360 ft) above the lava lake surface.

A rockfall on the east rim of the summit vent within Kīlauea Volcano's Halema‘uma‘u Crater triggered a small explosive event at 3:51 a.m., HST, on January 8, 2016. Explosive events like this occur more frequently when the lava lake level is relatively high, as it has been this past week—around 30-35 m (100-115 ft) below the vent rim.

This Quicktime movie shows the same rockfall as captured by the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory webcam perched on the rim of Halema‘uma‘u Crater. Note the fragments of molten lava flying toward the camera—just one of the hazards that led to the closure of this area.

Around 2:17 p.m., HST, on January 2, a rockfall from the east rim of the Overlook vent within Halema‘uma‘u Crater at the summit of Kīlauea impacted the lava lake, generating a small explosive event captured by HVO webcams. This Quicktime movie shows the rockfall as seen from HVO and Jaggar Museum.

This Quicktime video shows lava sample collection from the perspective of an HVO geologist.

An animated GIF of the sampling shot can be found at: https://www.usgs.gov/media/images/lava-sampling-0

This Quicktime movie shows spattering at the margin of the summit lava lake in Halema‘uma‘u Crater. Spattering has been common at the lake, and when it occurs is easily visible from the public viewing area at Jaggar Museum. This video shows a closer view from the rim of Halema‘uma‘u, which is closed to the public due to volcanic hazards.

This Quicktime movie shows a small explosive event that occurred at 1:20pm today at the summit lava lake. A collapse of a portion of the Halema‘uma‘u Crater wall impacted the lake and triggered an explosion of spatter. Fist-size clasts were found scattered along the rim of Halema‘uma‘u Crater near the closed visitor overlook.

Quicktime movie of the rockfall and subsequent explosion at 10:20 a.m., HST, on April 28, 2015. Rocks falling into the summit lava lake generated an explosion that threw large fragments of molten lava onto the rim of Halema‘uma‘u Crater, 85 m (280 ft) above the lake.

The lava lake in the Overlook Crater, within Halema‘uma‘u Crater at the summit of Kīlauea Volcano, has been rising over the past few days. Today the lava was as high as 14 meters (46 feet) below the Overlook crater rim. Several areas of spattering were active along the lake margin.

This Quicktime movie provides a brief aerial overview of the active flow front.

This Quicktime movie provides a brief aerial overview of the active flow front.

An aerial overview of the position of the flow front