USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory geologists visited the caldera rim at Kīlauea summit to assess the aftermath of episode 32 lava fountaining. The vent was quiet, with no audible sounds, and a thick outgassing plume rose from the vents. The broad lava channel that was fed from episode 32 lava fountaining can be seen here extending to the left side of the image. USGS photo by M. Patrick.

Tephra is the material erupted that travels through the air before falling on the ground. During the ongoing eruption of Kīlauea, tephra from each episode of lava fountaining tells us about the magma storage conditions leading to the eruption. Sometimes collecting tephra is difficult, as the collection buckets may not be ideally situated, or they may get damaged by large, hot bombs. In this case, the collection bucket worked perfectly, and provided a nearly full sample. This bucket is situated just west of the north vent, near the caldera rim. USGS photo by M. Patrick.

The tire tracks in this photo trace the path of Crater Rim Drive (closed to the public) in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park. This part of the road is covered by more than a meter (yard) of tephra erupted since December 23, 2024. Just south of this photo, a large mound of tephra accumulated during the ongoing eruption has buried the road over 20 meters (yards) deep. USGS photo by M. Patrick.

This view is from the south rim of the summit caldera on Kīlauea and shows the vent complex formed during the ongoing eruption. The vent area consists of overlapping lobes of spatter-fed flows, layers of tephra, and thin fluid lava flows. Much of the rubbly material in the central portion of the photo originates from "spatter-fed" flows, which forms as hot spatter from the lava fountains piles up around the vents, and then coalesces to form a very viscous type of secondary lava flow. USGS photo by M. Patrick.

South of the active vents at Kīlauea summit, sections of Crater Rim Drive (closed to the public) in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park are covered in thinner deposits of tephra. The main axis of deposition of tephra was to the west of the vents, where the tephra has formed a mound over 20 meters (yards) deep over the road. USGS photo by M. Patrick.

This view is taken from the flank of the new tephra mound at Kīlauea summit, over Crater Rim Drive (closed to the public) in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park. The tire tracks of the vehicle mark the path of Crater Rim Drive. An expansive area west of the vents is a now a continuous plain of tephra deposited during episodic lava fountains that have been occurring since December 23, 2024. USGS photo by M. Patrick.

A USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory geologist descends from the new tephra mound at Kīlauea summit that has been deposited over part of Crater Rim Drive (closed to the public) in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park. The short wooden post in the bottom left is the top of a sign post for the road. A tephra collection bucket is situated here for tephra sampling. USGS photo by M. Patrick.

This timelapse video (taken by the S2cam on the south rim of the crater) shows all of episode 32 of the ongoing Kīlauea summit eruption, which was active from 6:35 a.m. HST to 8:01 p.m. on September 2. Lava fountains at the north vent reached up to 500 ft (150 m) during this episode. The north vent stopped erupting at 7:49 p.m. HST while the south and intermediate vents stopped erupting at 8:01 p.m. HST. Fountains from the south and intermediate vents remained smaller, less than 80 feet (25 meters) for most of the eruption, but the intermediate vent fountain height peaked at 100-160 ft (30-50 m) during the eruption.  USGS video. 

This timelapse video shows changes to the eruptive vent structure in Kaluapele (Kīlauea's summit caldera) due to repeated episodic lava fountaining that began on December 23, 2024. The images were taken by the B1cam, which is located on the east rim of Kaluapele, and they have been cropped from their original versions. USGS video.