The data were measured by several instruments (laser rangefinder, webcams, lidar) and are compiled here to provide the most complete dataset yet available on the elevation of Kīlauea’s 2008-2018 summit lava lake. 



The measurement intervals range from 1 second to 1 day, with most of the 9-year period covered by hourly measurements.  The dataset begins with daily measurements of the emergent lake in 2009 and 2010.  After 2010, continuous lake activity was tracked with hourly measurements of lava level that continued into 2018.  The dataset ends with a high-precision (1 Hz) record of the lake draining as the 2018 lower East Rift Zone eruption drew magma from the summit reservoir, terminating the summit lava lake activity in May 2018.  

The data are available here: 

https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/5f8feb0e82ce06b040f1ffa4

Patrick, M.R., Swanson, D., Orr, T., Younger, F., Tollett, W., 2022, Elevation of the lava lake in Halemaʻumaʻu crater, Kīlauea Volcano, from 2009 to 2018: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9ULRPMM.

Other USGS publications related to the 2008-2018 lava lake at the summit of Kīlauea:

The 2008–2018 Summit Lava Lake at Kīlauea Volcano, Hawai‘i, Professional Paper 1867

• Chapter A : Kīlauea’s 2008–2018 Summit Lava Lake—Chronology and Eruption Insights
• Chapter B : Views of a Century of Activity at Kīlauea Caldera—A Visual Essay
• Chapter C : Crater Growth and Lava-Lake Dynamics Revealed Through Multitemporal Terrestrial Lidar Scanning at Kīlauea Volcano, Hawaiʻi
• Chapter E : Patterns of Bubble Bursting and Weak Explosive Activity in an Active Lava Lake—Halema‘uma‘u, Kīlauea, 2015
• Chapter F : Groundwater Dynamics at Kīlauea Volcano and Vicinity, Hawaiʻi
• Chapter G : A Decade of Geodetic Change at Kīlauea’s Summit— Observations, Interpretations, and Unanswered Questions from Studies of the 2008–2018 Halema‘uma‘u Eruption