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. 

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. The cracks in the foreground were created in 2018 when the caldera partially collapse, while the growing cones around the degassing vents are visible in the background, with new lava flows covering the floor of 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. The closed portion of Crater Rim Drive in Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park is visible in the lower left part of the image, and by following the road path, you can see how tephra in the ongoing eruption has buried it. The degassing north and south vent are visisble in the right center area of the image, and they have built an impressive cone feature within Halemaʻumaʻu crater. USGS photo by K. Lynn. 

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. Mulliken. 

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. In this photo, active lava oooze-outs are visible near the vents that erupted in September 2023, which are slowly being buried by lava flows during the recent eruptive episodes. USGS photo by K. Lynn. 

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. USGS photo by K. Mulliken.