Images

In July 2016, lava erupted from Kīlauea Volcano's East Rift Zone reached the ocean for the first time in almost three years, building the Kamokuna lava delta, shown here in October 2016.

This video, at 50x speed to illustrate the motion of the lava lake surface, shows typical lava lake activity within Halema‘uma‘u Crater. Lava upwells in the northern portion of the lake (left side of image), with most of the lake surface flowing towards the south (right side). Spattering is active within a small grotto at the southeast margin of the lake.

As you watch this VIDEO CLIP, note the rocky ledge (yellow arrow) at the bottom of the webcam image. At 6:58 a.m., HST, today, this large slab of the summit vent wall, located directly below HVO's HMcam, collapsed.

USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory geologist Frank Trusdell (right) discusses methodologies for lava flow hazard assessment in Hawaii with a volcanology colleague from Ethiopia during the recent Volcano Observatory Best Practices Workshop in Vancouver, Washington.

Another view of Halema‘uma‘u with its lava lake. The view is to the southeast.

Lava continues to enter the ocean at Kamokuna, where a lava delta about 19 acres in size has been built. The gravel emergency access road is visible on both sides of the surface flow that cut it. The view is to the southwest.

A breakout from the episode 61g vent at the head of the lava tube on November 21 sent lava streaming downslope. That breakout was still active when observed on November 29 and had traveled about 1.3 km (0.8 miles), partly surrounding Pu‘u Halulu, a tephra cone formed in 1983 at the start of the Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō eruption.

Kīlauea's summit lava lake in Halema‘uma‘u is about 255 m (~840 ft) long (left to right in the image) and 195 m (~640 ft) wide. From this perspective, magma rises into the lake near its north edge (upper left) and circulates to the south, where it sinks all along the south margin of the lake.

This map shows recent changes to Kīlauea's East Rift Zone lava flow field. The area of the active flow field as of November 3 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the active flow as of November 29 is shown in red. The new flow branch east of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō started from a breakout at the episode 61g vent on November 21.

Large cracks parallel to the shoreline are still visible on the Kamokuna delta, indicating instability. The view is to the northeast.

Lava is transported to the Kamokuna ocean entry, its plume is visible in the distance, via a lava tube. The trace of an active lava tube is often identifiable by a line of fume, as seen here for the episode 61g lava tube above the Pūlama pali.

A close-up of one of several streams of lava entering the ocean at the front of the Kamokuna lava delta on Kīlauea's south flank. The billowy white plume formed by the interaction of hot lava and seawater may look harmless, but it is a mixture of superheated steam, hydrochloric acid, and tiny shards of volcanic glass—all of which should be avoided.

The U.S. Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory and the National Park Service Jaggar Museum are perched together near the summit of Kīlauea, about 1.7 km (~1.1 mi) from the lava lake in Halema‘uma‘u, producing a plume in the background.

A wide view of the ocean entry, showing the broad lava delta on the right. Lava deltas (new land formed at the ocean entry) are built on a foundation of rubble, so they can (and do) collapse without warning.

Graphic shows an east to west cut-away of Mount St. Helens with an interpreted model of seismic wave speeds under the volcano and earthquakes from 2008-2016. The colors of the model represent changes in seismic p-wave velocities from tomographic studies (Waite and Moran, 2009; doi:10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2009.02.009).

VIDEO CLIP captured by HVO webcam: At 11:59 a.m., a rockfall from the south wall of Halema‘uma‘u Crater triggered a small explosive event in the summit lava lake. The explosion threw spatter (fragments of molten lava) onto the rim of the crater, mostly to the west of the former visitor overlook.

Only a relatively small amount of spatter reached the rim of Halema‘uma‘u, compared to the thick, continuous layer of spatter seen here on the intermediate ledge midway between the lava lake and the Halema‘uma‘u Crater rim.

HVO scientists visited the rim of Halema‘uma‘u this afternoon (11/28) to collect samples of tephra and check for equipment damage. This view, taken on the approach to the Halema‘uma‘u, shows the tephra deposit on the crater rim. New spatter is seen as dark lumps scattered across the center of the image on top of older brown-colored Pele's hair.

This view shows the main body of the tephra deposit, which comprises the dark fragments scattered from the foreground to the web camera in the background (the HTcam thermal webcam). The rim of Halema‘uma‘u is to the right; the closed overlook is behind the photographer.

The larger spatter bombs bounced after hitting, leaving divots in the layer of Pele's hair that blankets the area, as seen here. These bombs are the diameter of large dinner plates.

The largest spatter bombs traveled the farthest, perhaps aided by momentum, landing on the trail between the Halema‘uma‘u parking area and overlook. Upon landing, these bombs splatted to form complexly shaped bomb fragments connected by thick strands and masses of Pele's hair.